Comments on: Review: 1967 Chrysler Imperial

By: Vork

Vork — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:22:19 +0000

The 1967 and 1968 Imperials were still separate from the rest of the Chrysler line; they just shared the unit-body construction principle with Chrysler. The Imperial used a separate system at the time, with a front subframe used to isolate the passenger compartment from shock and vibration. After two years of this, the Imperial and the Chrysler shared body tooling. But the Imperial was still separate in some ways; it had four-wheel disc brakes available, for example, and other features, in addition to slightly different styling. After 1975, the Imperial was dropped, and the New Yorker got its styling, to separate it from the lesser Chryslers. But the New Yorker did not retain the optional four-wheel disc brakes.

By: Avinash Machado

Avinash Machado — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:54:03 +0000

Great review and excellent car.The sheer size of these cars adds to the charm.

By: ImpsRule

ImpsRule — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:51:17 +0000

Many thanks to David for his review of my ‘67 Imperial Crown convertible! One small clarification: yes, mine is equipped to original specs with front disc brakes, and rear drums (not unlike most American luxury cars of the late ’60’s). Thanks also to those who took time to leave kind remarks about my ride, or insightful comments about Imperials in general! Might I suggest: the real test would be to drive a similar vintage Cadillac or Lincoln after driving an Imperial(!) A non-believing vintage GM collector friend of mine did so, and now admits his luxury Mopar is his best vintage long-distance road car. Once you’ve driven a “Crown,” you won’t want to ’step down’ ;-)

By: Hellhund

Hellhund — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:20:04 +0000

David, my dad was a Chrysler man, and we had a ‘64 New Yorker in light blue for about nine years. The styling was so different from any other car. I remember the square steering wheel and the matching push-button automatic transmission and air conditioning buttons on either side of the steering column. Power windows too. Dad was a pilot, so he had seat belts installed on the car.

It was shipped over to Okinawa with us when we moved there, and undercoated to keep it from rusting. My mother used to skillfully pilot that land yacht thru the narrow streets and alleys in town, scaring everyone else in the car with the inches of clearance.

I never got to drive it, though my brother did. He preferred the ‘67 Chevy Malibu with the heavy-duty 3=speed on the floor and its sweet 283 small-block V8. But we always loved floating around in the New Yorker.

By: David Holzman

David Holzman — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:27:00 +0000

It is a Crown.

By: autonerd

autonerd — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:22:41 +0000

Nice review. Imperial was still a separate brand in 1967, so I believe the proper way to refer to this car is not as a 1967 Chrysler Imperial, but just as a 1967 Imperial. Actually, I think it’s an Imperial Crown. I only know this because my One That Got Away was a 1967 Imperial LeBaron. It had a telescoping steering wheel, dial-operated cruise control (”Auto Pilot”), and a radio with a display that flipped over when you pushed the AM or FM buttons. Sigh.

By: David Holzman

David Holzman — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:49:04 +0000

It was discs.

By: tigeraid

tigeraid — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:22:30 +0000

Besides the Imperial’s wonderfully floaty, boaty feel, and the effortlessly numb steering, this land yacht’s four disc brakes feel as competent as those on any contemporary appliance.

4 wheel drum, I assume you mean? Or has this been upgraded.

By: David Holzman

David Holzman — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:34:05 +0000

I first saw (and photographed) Byers’ 1960 Imperial in 1992. It was the second classic car I photographed, of probably a few thousand now (see my website, motorlegends.com for some of the cars and characters I’ve met). I saw it (and photographed it again) about a year later at the mid-October Rockville MD car show, one of the best car shows I’ve been to. (Probably half the Panhards in the US were present that year, which was four of them, I think.) I met Byers the first time in the mid-90s, after encountering his 1960 on the street again.

In general, I love Chrysler cars from the late ’50s to the mid-60s. The former pushed the baroque generally, and fins specifically, to the limits. The ‘60 Imperial, the ‘60 Valiant, and the ‘64 Chrysler NYer and ‘64 Imperial are my favorites.

By: golden2husky

golden2husky — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:59:30 +0000

I can so relate! I still own my first car, a 72 Plymouth Fury Sport. As a college kid, I upgraded every suspension part I could get, added Eagle GT’s, and wow, thought I had a well handling car. Fast forward to today: I will take the old Fury out for a blast and wonder how I drove that huge car so fast. Love that low end grunt, though. After driving the Fury, I’ll drive my Probe GT, or G35 and feel that I’m in a F1 car, the inputs seem so direct!

By: HarveyBirdman

HarveyBirdman — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:48:51 +0000

Beautiful car, and a great review. However, your descriptions of the ride and handling of this 60s land yacht sound suspiciously like my ‘91 Mercury Grand Marquis (unfortunately not a convertible, but still stylin’ with a white vinyl roof). I think its technology came from the same era as the Imperial, which is probably why I constantly forget the car was built in the last decade of the 20th century.

Long live the land yachts, especially the convertibles!

By: DweezilSFV

DweezilSFV — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:28:41 +0000

The last finned Imperial was the 61. They were trimmed so far back for 62 -63,they couldn’t be counted as “fins” any longer. Perhaps technically, a “fin”, but not on the order of anything from 1957-1961.

The 62 used “microphine” style suspended tail lights perched on the tops of the fenders [and called "bird strainers"] the 63 use tail lights similar to the 64 Valiant and positioned in the fenders vertically.

64 was the re-styled Imperial that was greatly influenced by the Lincoln Continental.No fins of any kind.

The 67 used the unit body of the Chrysler rather than the Imperial’s traditional body on frame.

Great article. And I love the “big car ride” of the cars of the 60s.

By: Johnster

Johnster — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:39:53 +0000

Meh! The last “real” Imperial was the 1966.

Beginning with the 1967 model year the Imperial began going to hell. It started using the same unibody chassis as lesser and cheaper Chryslers and even though the sheet metal was different, it still looked like a Chrysler. A very fancy and expensive Chrysler, but still just a Chrysler. Beginning with the 1971 model year, Imperial was no longer a separate “make” and was reduced to being a model in the Chrysler line.

By: bumpy

bumpy — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Yeah, the headline should be “1967 Chrysler Imperial”. 1960 was an entirely different barge.

Rear view: http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1967/MobileDirector/1967/Axelrod/IrvsRearA.jpg

By: Robert Schwartz

Robert Schwartz — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:01:04 +0000

Guy down the street owns one from the late 50s painted in one of those 50s colors that was named after a fruit, but never was found in nature. It is beautiful to see it set sail.

By: tced2

tced2 — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:50:52 +0000

@ragtopman,
The shown car (1967) was the first year when the tail fins were tamed. The Imperial switched to a unibody (shared with Chrysler) over a body-on-frame of previous years. The 1966 Imperial had pretty big tail fins and the 1967 ones were very restrained.

By: ragtopman

ragtopman — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:45:20 +0000

Nice column, but this looks more like a mid-’60s edition to me. Where are the tail fins?

By: speedlaw

speedlaw — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:37:58 +0000

I had a 67 Grand Fury Sport, a three ton yacht with a “supercommando v8″. The 383 was all the big old motors were famous for, down to the 8 mpg.

This was a luck “old man” car with 28k on it. I had i for two years of college.

A six footer could lay out straight in the back.

The only car I ever had stolen, and I missed it…especially when the replacement was a 73 Nova with a I-6

You didn’t drive it, as much as you moved your living room around. the unsmogged v8 would laugh at the Transams and tape job Z28’s

By: rodster205

rodster205 — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:19:45 +0000

tced2: My favorite exterior feature was the wall-to-wall tail lights.

Speaking of which, why are there no photos of the rear of the car? Great review, and this is not the only article missing them. I’ve noticed this trend for a while but why are there so few photos of the back of the car? After all, the back of the car is what we see most in traffic and I know that when I picture most 80’s and 90’s cars in my mind the first image I see is the taillights. If I got behind this car on the street I wouldn’t recognize it, because I have never seen one from the rear…

By: N8iveVA

N8iveVA — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:09:14 +0000

Hey, i’ve seen this car parked on 17th Street before. Great car.

Detroit-Iron

It’s next door at the Burger King

By: tced2

tced2 — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:20:06 +0000

My grandfather owned a haze green metallic 1967 Imperial sedan. It was sharper handling than the similar year Cadillac. But these were large cars and the term “land yacht” applied. My favorite features were the single idiot light that informed you that any of the full set of gauges were out of normal range. And the floor mounted button (next to the headlight dimmer button) that moved the radio to the next station. My favorite exterior feature was the wall-to-wall tail lights. As I recall there were lighters in each door next to the ashtray for your smoking pleasure.

By: Detroit-Iron

Detroit-Iron — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:04:51 +0000

FYI if you’re in the area, in Manassas at the intersection of 28 and 234 there is a fast food joint (McDonalds?) that has a very cool cruise-in in the summer. In addition to some great muscle cars there is also random weirdness like the guy who stuffed an STi engine into a gray market import VW Notchback.

By: Jack Baruth

Jack Baruth — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:49:32 +0000

Nice review… Imperial, as a brand, deserved to stick around.

By: Dynamic88

Dynamic88 — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:41:44 +0000

Nice piece. I love driving those floaty-boaty cars of the ’60s. I doubt anyone today would actually favor the novacaine steering, but that once was the standard for luxury cars.