Junkyard Find: 1991 Chrysler Imperial


By 1991, Chrysler was using the K platform as the basis for everything from penny-pinching econoboxes to minivans to the once-majestic Imperial. One thing about the Whorehouse Red Interior Era (approximately 1983 through 1994), though, was that enough red velour and gold-plastic emblems could make even an Iacoccan front-wheel-drive first cousin to the Plymouth Reliant-K into a quasi-credible luxury sedan. Here’s a ’91 Chrysler Imperial that I found in California a couple of weeks ago.

I see a fair number of these cars in wrecking yards, but only this ’92 has graced the pages of this series prior to today.

If the K-based Imperial (technically a Y-body) had evolved into an early-2000s luxury SUV, this Imperial Eagle emblem would have been enlarged to dinner-plate size and slapped on the tailgate.
























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- Tassos https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rj5Blq50/2001-volkswagen-eurovan-mv-weekenderNote the seller's name: "My VW Sucks" (!!!)WHy am I not in the very least surprised.
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- Zznalg Now, a slam of Subaru. I own an Outback Wilderness. Subaru has capitulated to lawyers and the regulatory environment to render life with their vehicles quite unpleasant. A few cases in point: The vehicles won't allow you to drive one MPH without ALL the seatbelts fastened. You cannot pull a Subaru out of a garage or parking space with no seatbelt without the car screaming at you. First there is the annoying beeping. After a few seconds Subaru ups its game and raised the volume ridiculously. To get it to shut up, I've even had to turn off the car and open a door. It is not enough to put it into park. The beeping continues. I am Not talking about driving without a seatbelt. I'm talking about 1 MPH maneuvers in one's own driveway. Next, the car's auto-breaking is tuned to slow you down or even slam on your brakes at every possible opportunity. The other day, my Wilderness decided to do just that almost resulting in my being rear ended. For NO reason. Next, the Outback Wilderness' transmission is tuned to prevent forward motion. It does its best to NOT GIVE POWER in nearly every situation unless you keep the accelerator depressed for more than 1-3 seconds. This is actually unsafe. In fact at highway speeds, when one presses the gas, the car momentarily reduces power and slows down. The paddle shifters help. But overall, Subaru has so neutered the Outback Wilderness to make a potentially great vehicle quite a drag to own and actually unsafe, in the service seemingly of preventing lawsuits and satisfying the EPA. I know not all of this may apply to the Crosstrek Wilderness but if you test drive one, you would be advised to look for these flaws.
- Undead Zed I'm not particularly interested in the truck, but do look forward to the puns that the marketing department may try to work into the adverts."Visit your local dealership for a Flash drive today."
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Guess that rose is not as popular as it once was, I haven't seen one in 20 years.
My father ordered a 1985 Olds 98 Regency from the factory that didn't look all that different from this. His was a metallic red with a tan velour interior. Aside from the choice of the cloth interior (he had a hatred of leather at the time that he go over in later cars) the car was loaded with every gizmo available in a top of the line 80's Oldsmobile, including a trip computer and a pre-federal law CHMSL. He drove the car until I got my license, which made the insurance more than we could afford. He sold it, picked up a mid 70's Dodge window van to get back and forth to his job at GM, and pocked the difference. I made it up to him years later by lending him my '91 Z-28 convertible long-term as a commuter. By that time I was onto VWs and the Camaro was becoming a bit of a money pit.