IML: dealership attitudes to Imperials back in the day

["Hugh, 58 Imperial" <imperial58@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

While I briefly sold new MOPARS a few years ago, I was working with a 
semi-retired former dealership owner whose establishment was in Karnes City, 
Texas, the county seat of Karnes County, a rural and none too affluent part 
of the state maybe half way between San Antonio and Corpus Christi.  His 
business dealt mainly with Plymouths.  It is important to note that Chrysler 
Corp. never had a separate Imperial distribution chain.  Imperials were 
tacked onto existing dealerships. The guy who started this thread actually 
enlightened me as to who sold Imperials in San Antonio as I could not find 
that out going through old business directories and stuff like that.  Often 
there was some arm twisting involved in getting a dealer to carry, and 
therefore service, Imperials.

My friend from Karnes City refused to carry the name plate for a number of 
very good business reasons.  He mainly sold Plymouths.  A Plymouth buyer 
knew he was at the low end of the spectrum and his or her demands were 
relatively manageable.  An Imperial buyer was a different breed altogether. 
Much fussier and more particular about every aspect of the car.  It took far 
more time and effort to sell an Imperial than it did to get a Plymouth off 
the lot.  I went through this myself with the Dodge Viper.  In my seven 
months at possibly the worst job I ever had in my life, I could sell new 
Dodge Ram pick ups all day with little hassle.  I finally managed to unload 
the dealer's one and only Viper, but it took months and months.  Loads of 
rotten test drives involving way too much testosterone and far too little 
actual skill but that's a different story.  The second reason why selling 
Imperials was bad deal was servicing them.  He would have to send his 
mechanics for additional training, at his own expense, plus carry a whole 
different set of parts in his already crammed service area.

So, even back then, dealerships were trading off the prestige value of 
carrying the Imperial against considerable additional extra costs.  The 
dealership where my car was originally purchased sold Plymouths and used 
cars.  I was told by the niece of the original owner he bought a new 
Imperial every year, which made the additional effort worth it for the 
dealer.

Hugh Hemphill
58 Imperial
San Antonio, Texas 



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