Re: IML: Is it just me?

[Tim Durrer <tdkd99@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim!

You said it all Brother! I grew with all B-bodies. My
Dad loved Chargers and I learned to drive on a '72 318
rust bucket. When visiting my Grandparents they would
often let me drive their '70 Fury (440). That's when I
acquired my taste for the C and Y body Mopars. When I
got my first car at age 17 I got a '73 Imperial True
Blue. Mom and Dad thought I was crazy. Well now I have
another '73 Imperial, this one is finished in Blue Sky
with a white top. Wherever I drive it, people always
stop and look. Some even lean inside the car to take a
look! And yes, the first question is always what year
Cadillac is this? When I bought the car in Florida I
drove it back to my home here in Northern Virginia.
All along I-95 some people I passed would honk and
give me the thumbs up! Don't get me wrong, I also have
a soft spot in my heart for the B-bodies. I think all
of these cars represent an era in American motoring
that we, unfortunately, will never again experience.
This is why I think it so important to preserve all
cars from the '50's,'60's and '70's.

As my 5 year old son would say, "Daddy, can we take
the big blue car?"

Tim Durrer
73 Blue Sky

--- parrow33@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> We Imperial owners are some of the luckiest in the
> hobby.  We like automobiles that everyone at car
> shows love to look at but don't want.  I was in the
> Dallas Mopar Club for many years and was the only
> member without a "muscle" car. Most of the guys in
> the club would rather have been dead than own an
> Imperial, unless they could pull the engine(to drop
> in a Roadrunner or some other seen-one-seen-them-all
> B-body)and push the carcass in the river. But when
> show time came, you could barely see the car for the
> solid wall of people looking at it!  A friend of
> mine & I would take turns staying with the car('61
> LeBaron) just to explain what it was and to detail
> the joys of Imperial ownership. One of the best
> comments I ever recieved was "Good looking Cadillac!
> What year is it?     I once had a '65 LeBaron, good
> silver  paint, black leather that was flawless,
> everything worked, good chrome, no dents or rust,
> and tried to sell it. I couldn't give it away! I
> finally traded it for a '61 Crown parts car. We
> Imperial owners rough it with cars th
> at have ALMOST no reproduction parts made and very
> few remaining parts cars. I have better luck findng
> parts for a '36 Pierce-Arrow than I do for the
> Imperials. I wouldn't trade the experience for
> anything!
> 
> Jim Payne
> '59 LeBaron
> '61 LeBaron
> '65 Crown Coupe
> '65 Crown Cv. 
> > 
> > From: <dansgarage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Date: 2006/12/10 Sun PM 11:08:40 EST
> > To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: IML: Is it just me?
> > 
> > Hi All...Last week my January issue of Hemmings
> Motor News arrived and with it, not surprisingly,
> enclosed in the plastic wrapping, were a coupe of
> catalogs filled with 'Car Guy' stuff for Christmas
> presents! Again, this is nothing I'd call 'new'!
> Also included was a booklette referring to the
> upcoming ('07) Barrett-Jackson auction in Scotsdale,
> AZ. Usually I would look through this type of
> auction brochures with 'curiosity' more than
> anything else, since unless I hit the lottery I
> could no way afford to even think !! about affording
> one of these cars! Yes, there are always vehicles up
> for auction that i would LOVE to own, but I have to
> ask myself "If I bought a $100,000.00 GTX with only
> 250 miles on it, would I even take it out on the
> road??'......Sure there are less expensive cars out
> there but USUALLY the best ones (I realize that the
> term 'best' here is relative!) go to auctions such
> as the Barrett-Jackson ones since there are usually
> lots of folks with the big bucks attending these
> functions. Now, after looking through the b
> rochure that came with my Hemmings, I saw a number
> of great vehicles I would love to be able to own,
> but!!! although I may have missed it, I SAW NO
> IMPERIALS AT ALL listed for the upcoming auction!
> After thinking about this for a bit I guess its a
> good news/bad news thing, cause if  the IMPERIALS
> were as in-demand as, say, Dodge Daytona's,
> Roadrunners, Chrysler 300's or any of the muscle
> cars, there would be no way that someone like myself
> could ever have bought one in the first place!
> ...and I have been fortunate enough to currently own
> two! I must admit though, it is beyond me why
> IMPERIAL's in general are not MUCH more in demand
> then they currently are! I think they were built so
> much better then other cars of that era, they
> certainly are not a vehicle you are liable to see
> passing you on the road whenever you DO go out for a
> drive, the production numbers are certainly not high
> enough for them to have been called 'commonly seen'
> even when they were new!! If I had a 10 car garage (
> and the $$ to fill it up!) I'd surely have 10 Im
> perials in it (OK, maybe only 9 with one Hemi,
> 4-speed GTX!). I know it sounds corny and allthat,
> but I truly enjoy owning my Imperial(s) even if I
> just stand there and look at them! So, its GOOD NEWS
> that these cars not not skyrocketing in price (so
> far) so we can all afford to own one! The BAD NEWS
> (if you want to call it that) is that because they
> are not in great demand, the parts are not as easy
> to find as, say, parts for a '57 Chevy or a
> Roadrunner might be. I guess thats what EVERY old
> car owner has to deal with....and, the more I think
> about it, thats part of the enjoyment of owning an
> old car in the first place!...that, along with the
> looks you get when taking the car out for a drive! I
> just know that some of those folks are saying to
> themselves "I sure wish we had kept Grampy's old
> Imperial! what a car that was!!".......But I'm still
> disappointed that there were no Imperials going to
> the Barrett-Jackson auction! (that I know of)
> > I hope everyone has a GREAT Holiday ...stay safe
> and have a Happy!
> > Dan Melnik
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> 
> 
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