How the '74 Imperial came about.

[commando1]

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Reposted without permission and with apologies to:
1974 Chrysler Imperial Contents | AUTOMOTIVE MILEPOSTS
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The Imperial That Almost Never
The strikingly beautiful, all-new 1974 Imperial was breathtaking, yet it was the Imperial that almost never was. Always a distant third in the sales race for top luxury make in America, the Imperial's best sales year was 1957, when its new styling with soaring tail fins sent the stylists at General Motors and Ford rushing back to their drawings to revise them. In 1957, the future looked bright for Imperial, but quality control was lacking, which gave the Imperial (as well as other Chrysler products) a bad reputation, and 1958 was a recession year, so most makes saw a drop in sales that year. But the Imperial was never quite able to recover.

First, the Imperial lost its exclusive assembly plant in 1962, then in 1969 it lost its unique body, next came its exclusivity, bearing the Chrysler name in 1972 after having been a separate make for years, and by 1973 it appeared the end of the road was approaching for the Imperial. Without its own unique body and styling, it would be difficult to compete with Cadillac and Lincoln, which of course had their own bodies. This meant sales were likely to remain elusive, as image and appearance was an integral part of the luxury car appeal at the time. And without sales, there was no money to tool a special body for the Imperial. It was a vicious circle to which there appeared no easy way out for the Imperial, and Chrysler had planned on quietly discontinuing the line at the end of the 1973 model year.

CONTINUE READING AT: 1974 Chrysler Imperial Contents | AUTOMOTIVE MILEPOSTS

 

[garyh]

Thanks for sharing! I allways liked the '74 & '75 Imps.Now I want a nice Crown coupe!!!

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Reposted without permission and with apologies to:
1974 Chrysler Imperial Contents | AUTOMOTIVE MILEPOSTS
÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷​

The Imperial That Almost Never
The strikingly beautiful, all-new 1974 Imperial was breathtaking, yet it was the Imperial that almost never was. Always a distant third in the sales race for top luxury make in America, the Imperial's best sales year was 1957, when its new styling with soaring tail fins sent the stylists at General Motors and Ford rushing back to their drawings to revise them. In 1957, the future looked bright for Imperial, but quality control was lacking, which gave the Imperial (as well as other Chrysler products) a bad reputation, and 1958 was a recession year, so most makes saw a drop in sales that year. But the Imperial was never quite able to recover.

First, the Imperial lost its exclusive assembly plant in 1962, then in 1969 it lost its unique body, next came its exclusivity, bearing the Chrysler name in 1972 after having been a separate make for years, and by 1973 it appeared the end of the road was approaching for the Imperial. Without its own unique body and styling, it would be difficult to compete with Cadillac and Lincoln, which of course had their own bodies. This meant sales were likely to remain elusive, as image and appearance was an integral part of the luxury car appeal at the time. And without sales, there was no money to tool a special body for the Imperial. It was a vicious circle to which there appeared no easy way out for the Imperial, and Chrysler had planned on quietly discontinuing the line at the end of the 1973 model year.

CONTINUE READING AT: 1974 Chrysler Imperial Contents | AUTOMOTIVE MILEPOSTS[/QUOTE]

 

[Carmine]

While I find nothing to quarrel with in that story, I think he might be pushing the last-minute cliffhanger aspect. There were Imperial ideas being worked on concurrent with the other C-body redesigns in 1974...

More sketches and story here:
1974 - 1975 (Chrysler) Imperial WPC News Article

But I do believe the decision was made to kill the line, and the front end idea was a last-minute save.

 

[Bill Watson]

Imperial's exclusive assembly plant was used for 3 model years - 1959, 1960 and 1961. And even then the Imperials built in June, 1961 came off the line at East Jefferson Avenue.

Cadillac did not use unique bodies. They started using the GM C body in 1940. Thus the Cadillac deVilles used the same body as the Olds 98 and Buick Electra. The only unique Cadillac body in that era was the 75 LWB sedans and limousines. GM spent the money to give the Cadillac a unique look, but not a unique body.

As for Imperial bodies, 1966 was the last unique body. The 1967-68 Imperials were unibody models based on the C body. Yes, the sheetmetal was unique, but so was the sheet metal on the other C body cars - Fury, Polara/Monaco and Chrysler. Imperial roof lines were shared with the 1967 Chrysler New Yorker.

Imperial did lose their unique sheetmetal in 1969, though, using the Chrysler body with a different rear end and a unique front clip.