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As Chrysler's Director of Body Engineering (1979 - 1983) I
want to put my "two cents worth" in. Big ("C" Body) convertibles did
not have any friends in Engineering or Manufacturing. They were noisy (wind
noise, squeaks, rattles), they shook on rough roads or from out-of-balance or
out-of-round tires/wheels, and they had to be built on a separate assembly line
in the plant. When convertible sales went down to a few thousand a year we
lobbied to pull the plug. The automotive press blamed "safety" but that was not
the reason. Convertibles were a pain to engineer and build and took a lot more
of our time then was justified.
After Lee Iacocca came on board in 1978 the convertible
came back at his direction. It was a better car structurally than previous
convertibles because it was built on a smaller ("K" car)
platform. I don't remember the production numbers
exactly but Lee had the right marketing instinct because we built around 50,000
LeBaron convertibles a year.
Burt Bouwkamp
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 3:04
PM
Subject: Re: IML: 67 & 68 Imperial
Convertibles--survivors?
Chris:
From what I understand there was so little demand for convertibles that
Chrysler stopped making Imperial and New Yorker convertibles for the 1969
model year.
Remember the "last" American convertible was the 1976 Cadillac.
GM actually got sued by someone who purchased one of these "last"
American convertibles when American auto companies started making convertibles
again some years later!
-----
Original Message -----
From: "Chris Strohmeyer"
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:
Re: IML: 67 & 68 Imperial Convertibles--survivors?
Date: Wed, 31 Jan
2007 08:58:51 -0800
As for rust on at least mine, there is none
to
be seen so far. Maybe they took more care on
metal prep because
these are on the luxury
line? My wife had a good question, why did
they make so few? Was there little demand for
the
convertible?
Chris
67 Convertible
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Hubbard"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 5:41
AM
Subject: IML: 67 & 68 Imperial
Convertibles--survivors?
> Is it just my imagination or is
there an unusual
> survival rate for these boats? The ragtops come
up
> with surprising frequency on eBay and
>
collectorcartraderonline.com. Especially considering
> how few of them
were manufactured.
>
> Either they were assembled really well
(and those
> years don't seem especially prone to rusting out)
or
> they were maintained with exceptional care over the
years.
>
>
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