IML: '67/'68 Imperials (Why no moniker?)
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IML: '67/'68 Imperials (Why no moniker?)



So does anyone have an accurate answer as to why Chrysler stopped adding the monikers when the '67s rolled off the line?  Was that no longer the advertising rage?  I liked the monikers (gave the cars more 'lift', as if they needed any) and wished they had given the '67 and '68 Imps. a really elegant one.  I say elegant because to me those cars were the epitome of sixties elegance!  The slab sided bodies were so clean and uncluttered.  They remind me of a limousine!  I've driven Mark McDonald's (now owned by Ed Buitenwert) beautiful '68 Military Blue convertible.  It is without a doubt one of the most streamlined and visually appealing Imperials ever made (imho)!  I own a '65 but would love owning a '67 or '68 in a heartbeat! 
 
Please help me on this everybody:  I have read an article somewhere (maybe in Collectible Automobile) about how Engel came up with the design for the '61 Lincoln when he was still employed by Ford Motor Company.  In that article were archive photos of clay mules as well as sketches of the possibilities for the car and what it might look like.  One of the photos shows the taillight treatment Engel was considering.  The end caps used on the rear of the '67 and '68 Imps. (or some mighty similar) were on that Lincoln mule!  Anyone else see that article?  It was really interesting to see those end caps being considered for the early sixties Lincolns and actually end up being used by Engel much later in '67! 
 
As for the debate about the name, I think something better and far more suitable to the cars elegance could be applied to those two years (on the website that is).  But I'm not in charge so my thoughts don't count.  Seems a shame though that Chrysler Corp. didn't give those years a really rich and luxuriously sounding moniker because the cars certainly were (and still are) that!
 
Greg McDonnell
~ owner of a '65 Crown convertible from The Incomparable Years 


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