My new to me 1971 Paisley Imperial

[nitoh]

I haven't been here for a very long time though........
4 weeks ago I saw a this nice Paisley Imperial for sale here in Germany.
I saw the car a few years ago and thought to myself, I would like to have it in the garage at some point.
The Imperial is now in my garage.
In 2012 the seller bought the car from the first owner family, that's what I was told.
Since then the Imperial has only been driven to a few meetings.
The Imperial is in good condition, everything electrically works except the passenger seat.
Engine runs well, carburettor needs adjustment. And a few other little things.
Hope it stays that way...

 

[Fratzog]

Very nice car. Congratulations. Do you have any idea if the top was a factory option or added later by a previous owner?

 

[Boydsdodge]

I love the mystery Paisley top. Great looking car, looks to be in great condition, shame about the paint. Give it a good polish and it will shaine.

 

[The_Eagles’_Nest]

Adam made a video featuring this very car.

 

[GOLDMYN]

shine ?

 

[The_Eagles’_Nest]

Adam erroneously states the paisley and mod-top were the same, they are not, mod-top is floral pattern.

 

[Marv]

congrats from Oldenburg, will you bring it to the Spring Fling in Stade? This 4 door has been for sale for quite a while on Kleinanzeigen. The Paisley top makes it unique, I think there´s also a registry for paisley top cars

 

[Lycidias]

Glueckwunsch aus Koblenz! / Congrats from Koblenz, GER.

 

[nitoh]

congrats from Oldenburg, will you bring it to the Spring Fling in Stade? This 4 door has been for sale for quite a while on Kleinanzeigen. The Paisley top makes it unique, I think there´s also a registry for paisley top cars

Spring Fling Stade, its the plan!

 

[nitoh]

Paisley Top on 1971 Imperials, the story behind (from Imperial Club Side):

The paisley mod roof on the Imperial never was!!! Here's what happened: In 1971, the Imperial vinyl roofs were in their usual grain. In the 11th hour (probably June or July of 1970), the powers that were made the decision to add a "Burgundy" colored roof to go with 1971 Imperial's exclusive (not shared with any other 1971 Mopar) "Sparkling Burgundy Metallic". However, for reasons unknown, they had tons of Mod-Top material left over. The decision had already been made to discontinue that choice, as it had not lived up to sales target projections. With all of this material left over, they had "AN IDEA!" That idea was to use the paisley Mod-Top material, and to PRINT the color (burgundy) onto it. Surely, being a dark color, there'd be no problems . . . or so they thought! If you have a 1971 showroom color & trim book, turn to the back and you'll see the actual material. Look at and rub the pad of a finger across all of the other color selections, and then do the same with the burgundy! See, the burgundy is smooooth, just like the paisley selections on the Dodges & Plymouths were. It should be noted that this paisley SMOOTH material was the sole domain of Barracudas (1969 only) and Dodge Darts and Coronets and Plymouth Satellites of 1969 and 1970. Such was never offered on the full-size Fury, Polara, Monaco, Newport, 300, New Yorker, or Imperial.
Well . . . the 1971s began rolling, and in short order (September 1970), the cars began arriving at their dealers. Immediately, the cars were parked outside, and by November '70, guess what? The "rich" burgundy began to fade, and guess what began to show through?? Right! Paisley! Immediately dealers screamed, and the factory send out some reps to eyeball the examples. When they reported back their findings, Chrysler immediately pulled the plug on the "Burgundy" vinyl roof. For examples that were really bad, the factory offered to replace the top for the buyer with either a black or a white vinyl roof. Others were sold with the burgundy roof still in place, which began to fade later on. After the roof color was pulled, the Sparking Burgundy paint option remained, but was offered with either the white or the black tops, depending upon the interior color selection. No, they never tried THAT cost cutting measure again!

 

[chrysler_fan]

Very nice car. Congratulations. Do you have any idea if the top was a factory option or added later by a previous owner?

you can read more about the imperial paisley on the Imperial website. It was not intended to be that way . It was dyed from prior vinyl they had left They quickly found out the dye they used was not resilient and the paisley soon came through. I think they stopped it quickly but a few early model year cars came out that way

 

[cuda hunter]

So, does this mean that this car does indeed have an original "burgandy" paisley top?
Very interesting!

@nitoh Any chance of seeing the trim tag? Does it call out this burgandy vinyl top?

Great looking car!!

 

[chrysler_fan]

So, does this mean that this car does indeed have an original "burgandy" paisley top?
Very interesting!

@nitoh Any chance of seeing the trim tag? Does it call out this burgandy vinyl top?

Great looking car!!

The top code might have been burgundy but it was not intended by Chrysler to be paisley

 

[polara71]

I forgot about this story that was written in a magazine years ago.
Cool car.

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

So, does this mean that this car does indeed have an original "burgandy" paisley top?
Very interesting!

@nitoh Any chance of seeing the trim tag? Does it call out this burgandy vinyl top?

Great looking car!!

V1M code.

The option V1M was deleted after they found out about the discolouring problem.
The current roof is something Ma Mopar didn't wanted or ordered back in the day

Carsten

 

[ayilar]

@nitoh — beautiful! Would you be willing to post the fender tag? Would love to see all the codes.

 

[kmccabe56]

I haven't been here for a very long time though........
4 weeks ago I saw a this nice Paisley Imperial for sale here in Germany.
I saw the car a few years ago and thought to myself, I would like to have it in the garage at some point.
The Imperial is now in my garage.
In 2012 the seller bought the car from the first owner family, that's what I was told.
Since then the Imperial has only been driven to a few meetings.
The Imperial is in good condition, everything electrically works except the passenger seat.
Engine runs well, carburettor needs adjustment. And a few other little things.
Hope it stays that way...





View attachment 651394View attachment 651395View attachment 651396View attachment 651398View attachment 651399View attachment 651400View attachment 651401

Any idea who put that vinyl top on? Chrysler sure as hell didn't.

 

[ayilar]

Any idea who put that vinyl top on? Chrysler sure as hell didn't.

AFAIK, yes, they did -- see above posts.

 

[nitoh]

@nitoh — beautiful! Would you be willing to post the fender tag? Would love to see all the codes.

 

[ayilar]

GM8. MLM9. V1M. I believe that YM43T1C141826 is the first car on which I’ve seen those codes together. Thank you!

@69CoronetRT @cuda hunter @kmccabe56