IML: Best possible or elegantly wasted?

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

As is ever the case, there seem to be two main schools of thought on what is 
the best condition when it comes to purchasing an Imperial.  One group 
maintains you should only acquire the very best car available.  The other 
buys virtual basket cases and then rebuilds them.  Its a symbiotic 
relationship, of course.  Many of the best possible group buy cars from the 
basket case restorers.

Some years ago, in a garage in Dallas, I had the pleasure of seeing a 1967 
or 1968 Imperial convertible.  It was so elegantly wasted I would have liked 
to acquire it pretty much as is and keep it that way.  I cannot recall if it 
actually ran or not but that's a detail.  It was a patch work of colors and 
the interior was kind of shot but it had that Keith Richards ultimate 
coolness about it.

I recently saw Patrick Moore's 1958 four door Southampton which he rescued a 
few years ago.  It seems to be intact but, my goodness, it will be a project 
and a half to get it back into shape.  Just as I was doing mental math to 
calculate the cost my dear wife chipped in her own two cents.  She told 
Patrick the only difference between his car and mine was that I drove mine. 
Hmm.  She had a point.

My car looked pretty good when I got hold of it.  However, looks can be 
deceiving. I dare say I have had to work on or replace just about every 
mechanical component on the car.  The paint and the interior were the least 
of my worries.  The headliner simply wore out, it was so thin.  The padding 
in the seat had atrophied so much it turned to powder and fell on the floor 
through the springs.  The cheap paint job was so bad it actually washed off 
at a gas station's "Touchless" cleaning bay.

I kept plugging away, learning about its mechanicals as I went along because 
I could not find anyone willing to work on it even if they were being paid 
and also because I found I was having to redo the projects myself anyway 
when I got it back because they had been done so badly.

In my local Mopar club the same two types of people seem to peacefully 
coexist.  There are those who love to buy old junkers and fix them up. 
However, once they finish the project and enter it into a show or two they 
get bored and sell it off to get a new project.  There are those who then 
buy them to campaign them.  There goal is to buff and polish them on their 
way to show prizes.  Sometimes the two traits can be satisfied by owning 
more than one car.  they have their show car and their go car.  They seem to 
like the latter more but have enormous pride in their show boat nonetheless.

I'm not sure that the Imperial as show car is entirely worth the effort. 
They will lose every time to common denominator cars like 57 Chevrolets and 
early Ford Thunderbirds, cars that everyone seems to know.  The other thing 
is that our Imperials are great driving vehicles. So I say get one that not 
only looks good but one that you truly enjoy driving under different 
conditions, such as the freeway and smaller country roads.  That way, how 
can you go wrong?

Hugh 




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