IML: Top 10 things to know about the club website - plus; 10 bonus links

[Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>]

In order of relevance:

1.  Covers every year that the Imperial was made by
Chrysler, showing as much information as has been
found/donated over the last decade.  Unlike any other
resource online for old cars that I'm aware of for
breadth ans scope, but I would love to be proven
wrong.  Allpar.com is a strong contender, although
heavy on text and much wider on focus - one must mine
deeper to get to the many real nuggets there, in my
opinion.

2.  Site Contains Many hidden gems that defy casual
skimming to be found.  One must open pages and read
the text, contrary to the custom in our 1000
page-per-hour online image-skimming-world.  This stuff
was in print orginally, when there was more time and
visual information attention spans had not shrivelled
to mere seconds.  The viewer must explore to find them
- I will list a few at the bottom, but if you're not
looking outside your specific area of interest and
bothering to READ, you're REALLY missing some good
stuff.

3.  Free page(s) for your car, photos of it, and it's
story.  My 1960 epic is 19 pages, so you're encouraged
to write your car's story.  You're also encouraged to
wash your car and take it someplace more scenic than
your driveway (I went to the golden gate bridge for
one, and the bay bridge here in SF for another), but
it's your deal.  The CONTACT US buttons all over the
website will yeild an email address so that you can
send your stuff in and/or update it any time.

Here are a few good examples:
http://imperialclub.com/Yr/1960/60Burgess/Page01.htm
http://imperialclub.com/Yr/1960/LukeNola/index.htm
http://imperialclub.com/Yr/1960/HenryHopkins/index.htm


4.  PARTS.  Need a part?  Push this button and get
instant access to every parts vendor and wrecking yard
known that might have Imperial parts.  Sorted by type.
 BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE - we even offer reviews and a
comment section so that you can see who's on the ball
and who's maybe not all that hot to deal with.  This
area is something like 4-5 clicks in, and people just
don't always seem to make it past click number 3.  A
shame, really, since it really answers almost any
question that starts with "who has" or "where can I"
that revolves around parts.

5.  REPAIR.  Now that you have your PART, you want to
put it in?  Click this button for an awesome
amalgamation of almost everything we have ever
discussed here on the IML.  Really.  Click on Wheels
and see what comes up, for example - how much could we
possibly have about wheels?  Silly metal
things...Right?  If you have not seen this, it is the
Death Star of how-to information.  Really. 

6.  ARCHIVE SEARCH.  Duh, which way did it go?  The
site is giant.  Use the "Google" feature and search
only our site.  Creative use of key words will
sometimes turn up unusually helpful artifacts.  You
may be surprised!

7.  IMPERIAL HIGHWAY (located on the MAILING LIST
page).  Lists people by map that want to be found and
contacted.  Great way to contact local people for
borrowing tools or couch-surfing or whatever it is
that you might want to do after contacting someone. 
If you're on, maybe now is a good time to check that
your email is correct, and if you're not, maybe it's
time to consider getting added?  It's FREE.

8.  IMPERIAL REGISTRY.  Also on MAILING LIST as well
as each yearly page.  How many imperials are left? 
The 50 DMV's certainly aren't telling, and don't count
the cars that are not registered anyway.  Good place
to insert some info about your car.

9.  LITERATURE.  Powerful button, this one.  Over 300
period articles, some very insightful with specs and
road tests and so forth.  Also part numbers as well as
service literature that is reference-grade and can be
printed to take under the car or passed to your
mechanic so he can take it under the car.  Nothing
beats a highlighted passage or red arrows to refer to
when doing the Deed.

10.  Those oval buttons at the bottom.  Been into
ODDITIES or WHATS NEW?  And hey! Isn't that a
redundant REGISTRY button down there?  We think the
registry is pretty important, although some folks are
cranky about putting their vin numbers in, but we
don't share that, and really already have all the cars
we will ever personally need, so it's a pretty safe
place with only one or two people on the planet even
able to access that sort of hidden info, so come on
in, it's safe.



So there's my 4 minute tour of the website.

My top picks for places that the "normal" person might
not ever find without being pointed to them?

1.  Where the Chrysler PentaStar came from (long read,
but worthwhile, I think):  
http://imperialclub.com/Articles/Identity/index.htm

2.  Ghia - Coachbuilder to the World:
http://imperialclub.com/Articles/87Ghia/index.htm

3.  How the HiWay HiFi Under-Dash Record Player was
invented:
http://imperialclub.com/Repair/Accessories/HiWay/invent.htm

4.  Building the ultimate Imperial Drag car:
http://imperialclub.com/Articles/EBerg/index.htm

5.  Trifon Special: Birth of the Airflow:
http://imperialclub.com/Articles/Trifon/index.htm

6.  WAR YEARS - What Chrysler was up to 1941-45.  See
"A Job Thought Impossible" - fascinating!
http://imperialclub.com/Yr/1945/index.htm

7.  REPAIR/Wheels & Tires/Wheel Cover ID - pictures of
every wheel treatment ever offered:
http://imperialclub.com/Repair/Wheels/covers.htm

8.  Electronic Marvel Brochure:  1981-83 sort of gets
shorted in the talk about 1950's/1960's cars, but try
reading the print on this and think about how
incredible the car was at that time - NOBODY else was
doing this stuff, but they sure are now!
http://imperialclub.com/Yr/1981/Literature/ElectronicMarvel/index.htm

9.  Painting 101, by Kerry Pinkerton (hint: perform an
archive search on this name for other brilliantly
executed stories on 1973, 1950, and 1957 cars):
http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Body/Painting101/

10. As far as I'm concerned, this is the crown jewel
for people who like fins.  Reading required - the
pictures aren't enough:
http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/57Styling/index.htm






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