IML: They built a good one that day
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IML: They built a good one that day



During last week I saw my 1958 Imperial. It's been a while. It was dark and drizzling. I was hoping to visit the owner of the trucking company where it is but he wasn't there so I made up an excuse to get something out of the Imperial's trunk while I was there. The poor old thing is behind the main shop, minus its engine and transmission. The surprising thing was that the rear end has also risen, something I had not noticed before. Of course, minus all that weight in the front, the front end is considerably higher than normal. The engine and transmission are stashed away somewhere, shrink wrapped on a palette. It has been shoved so far back, forget about the back burner, it's off the stove and out of the kitchen completely. My visit to the owner was ostensibly for other reasons but I'm sure the Imperial would have come up in the conversation and he is the only one who will be able to raise the car's priority. The shop did not appear to be that busy, so maybe now would be a good time to remind them about the Imperial.

A few years ago a man of almost one hundred years of age was brought to the transportation museum I work at, which owns the 58 Imperial, which is why the trucking company was willing to work on it for free in the first place, back in March. This old man had, seventy years earlier, worked on the production line of the REO factory in Lansing, Michigan. He came to see our 1929 REO Flying Cloud coupe with rumble seat. He sat, frail and thin, with watery eyes, and stared at the car. After a while he opined, "Well, we made a good one that day." Asked what he meant by attentive relatives he was logical. "It's still here."

I thought about the man as I drove home. No, I didn't build this oddly beautiful old car. And, no, the car isn't unique. Some 16,000 were built, of which around half were four door hardtops. Thirty are listed on the Imperial club web site, which reminds me I really should add mine. But me and this car, named Mrs. Blueberry by my daughter about five years ago, have traveled a long way together. I would be prepared to wager that I have spent more time working on it than I have driving it but consider that to be time well spent and maybe one of the better time investments I have made in my lifetime so far. The old man went to work and did his job and, unexpectedly, made something that escaped, barely, the ravages of time and survived to be a cherished museum piece. The car was restored in the early 1980s and then traded to a man who died and whose wife then donated it to us. The 58 Imperial was owned by a collector who donated half a dozen cars to the museum before he died. There were two other Imperials and both of them were disposed of long before I came along and "rescued" the 58. When we first started it, I didn't know I was embarking on this long, difficult and expensive journey. Maybe I would have been smarter and avoided it if only I had known.

At some point, next year, I hope, I will be singing the praises of this great car again, about how well it drives and performs. I have been very lucky to have had the chance to drive so many different kinds of vehicles, from Model T Fords to ambulances and fire trucks. I cannot put a finger on it exactly but I have found it to be the most enjoyable car to drive of everything I have ever tried. My old Citroen 2CV is up there, certainly, with its unique body roll, but the 58 Imperial, Mrs. Blueberry, has a presence that is indubitably excellent, and, oh my gosh, if you have never accelerated up a long steep hill in a 392 hemi powered car and found yourself to be going faster at the top than you were at the bottom, then you have missed a very potent form of automotive experience for which there is no comparison. Or the excited waves and thumbs up from other drivers or the surprising ability to park in restricted areas at airports because the security guards like it just as much as you do.

Chrysler Corporation has made, is making, some great cars. Mine is one of its very best. It is still here and its prospects are good. I am lucky to have stumbled upon it. I ended up becoming chairman of the board and now manager of the museum that owns it as a result of my enthusiasm for the car. You could call it a life changing experience. A car like this is probably a once in a lifetime thing. I bet a whole bunch of you feel the same way about yours. Aren't we lucky?

Hugh




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