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Changing a '55 or '56
Imperial to a Letter Car would be quite a feat. Both '55 & '56 Letter
Cars rode on a 126" wheelbase. The '55 Imperial, both sedan and coupe were
built on a 130" chassis. Interesting fact regarding the Imperial sedan for
that year is that the front doors are unique to it. They and the roof are
longer and that is where the extra 4" comes from. On the coupe the length
is picked up between the rear window and trunk lid.
The '56 Imperial's were built
on a 133" wheelbase. The front doors on sedans for this year Imperial
reverted back to the shorter Chrysler sedan door. All extra length was
from the rear section of the car. Chrysler built no Imperial converts
between 1952 and 1956 except for the K. T. Keller car which was based on a New
Yorker. I've also seen one other '56 convert that has been shown in
Imperial form in the Sacramento area but I have no knowledge of the origins of
this car. My guess is that it started life as a New Yorker or
Windsor.
Extra wheelbase on the '54
and earlier Imperials came from longer front fenders and hoods. The body
was the same as Chrysler.
John Lazenby
Southern
California, just minutes from Disneyland
1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Town
& Country
1955 Imperial Newport
1955 Chrysler C300
1956 Chrysler
300B
1957 Chrysler 300C Coupe
1960 Chrysler 300F Coupe
1963
Volkswagen Beetle
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 10:50
PM
Subject: [FWDLK] I WAS JUST
WONDERING???????
Hi All,
Now
days everything has been tried so I was just wondering if anybody had any
horror stories about something like a limited edition Fury being stripped of
it's gold and made into a Belvedere or Savoy? How about a D500 Super
having it's engine replaced with a flat head six cylinder? A Chrysler 300
letter series being changed into a New Yorker or Newport? How about a 55 or 56
Imperial changed into a Chrysler 300? Did anybody ever hear of someone
changing a convertible into a hardtop?????
I also was wondering when you sell one of the above cars-------do you have to
tell the buyer the car is worth more money than you are selling it to him
for?????
There use to be one or two professional companies that did NOTHING BUT
CHANGE HARDTOPS INTO CONVERTIBLES. They were like little factory assembly
lines, not back yard garage chop shops. They did beautiful work and hand made
the few parts that were not available from the factory. They use to charge
about $10 to 15,000 to do one and in most cases it looked much better than the
factory installation.
HHHMMMMMM, -----What would you call a 55-56--57 Thunderbird with two tops, one
hardtop and one
convertible???????
Ron Allyn Swartley
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