Hardtop V. Sedan & Coupes

[chrycordoba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Southampton was the nomenclature used to designate Imperial's hardtop between 
1955 and 1962, the same as Buick's Riviera, Oldsmobile's Holiday, and 
Chrysler's Newport names were used in the Fifties.  It had nothing to do with 
trim levels, as there were Custom Southamptons, Crown Southamptons and LeBaron 
Southamptons.  By 1961, all Imperials were hardtops or convertibles, and with 
Exner on his way out by 1963, dropping the name made even more sense, i.e. to 
distance the make from what had then become dated styling and passe names.  Of 
course, Riviera and Newport went on to subsequent lives as models in their own 
right.

Neal Herman
1959 Imperial Crown 4-door Southampton
1965 Pontiac Bonneville 4-door Vista (Pontiac's mid-60s name for hardtops)
1972 Buick Riviera
et al.
  

-----Original Message-----
From: JosephStil@xxxxxxx
Sent: Jul 14, 2004 10:31 AM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: Fw: Hardtop V. Sedan & Coupes

Hello everyone:

Let me muddy the waters somewhat surrounding this VERY interesting (at least to 
me it is) discussion of coupes, hardtops, & sedans by asking the following:

Of those body styles, where does "Southampton" come in?  Or, is/was it just a 
trim level and not an actual body style.

In doing some research on these beautiful rolling-works-of-art, I have run 
across the Southampton "badge" on a couple of occasions.  From what I have 
read, I couldn't tell if it was a body style or a trim level.  I also noticed 
that the use of the Southampton name/badge faded (sometime in the 60's?).

I am looking forward to the discussion.

Joe