![]() The power dome hood was of its time, and expected on this sort of luxury car.Ī strong fender crease was an expectation too. Front side parking lamps were of a similar amber and clear design as they were before, and were similar in size to Seventies Imperials. Strong fenders showed almost vertical edges at the front swept back slightly for a more modern look. Instead, there were running lamps underneath the headlamps, always visible and generous in proportion. Headlamps were concealed as they had been previously, though the new Imperial went without Lincoln-style vertical indicator lamps on the fenders. Said bumper also wrapped around the front of the fender as before, though implemented a horizontal black trim strip in place of the bump stops of the Seventies. The bumper came to a point in the middle, which was a familiar design queue to any living Imperial customer. Carried over were the bumper vents added on the final 1975 version of the Imperial, backed by grille inserts as before. The wrap-over grille veining from 1975 was replaced by a blockier chrome top above the grille, like a Lincoln. The front end featured a large, finely veined waterfall grille, similar in shape to the one found on the last Imperial. ![]() It didn’t look like anything else on the road in 1981, and was most definitely a bold choice for a new Imperial experiment. Iacocca made sure the entire Imperial had a new type of design.Īnd what a design it was. The Seville and Continental were both standard type sedan designs, with the bustleback added as an interesting rear end flourish. Though they all featured the same general angular rear styling, the Imperial was the only one that took the rest of the car in a new direction too. Chrysler was second with the new-for-’81 Imperial, and the third and final bustleback was in 1982 when Lincoln introduced the new Fox-body Continental. The modern adventure-lifestyle equivalent of this exterior storage is perhaps a Thule roof box.Ĭadillac was first to do a bustleback look, which debuted on the new Seville for 1980. The Forties look was itself a callback to the early 20th century, when a trunk was literally a piece of luggage attached to the car. It was a time when luxury cars like the Imperial or a Rolls-Royce had long sweeping fenders, and a trunk that looked like it was added on as an extension to the body. ![]() The styling trend was something the market hadn’t seen before, and meant to hearken back to the 1940s. The sedan was no longer the stylish luxury choice, which isn’t too far removed from The Current Year, really.īut what styling does one select for a flagship luxury coupe? Standard Chrysler M-body type looks wouldn’t cut it, so Iacocca went in a bold new direction: a bustleback. See, the luxury market was changing in those days, and the PLC (Personal Luxury Coupe) was all the rage. We mentioned last time the price and sales chasm between the Imperials and the Cadillac Eldorado, and in particular the Lincoln Continental Mark IV. The most expensive Chrysler one could buy was the New Yorker, and that couldn’t really compete with offerings from Cadillac and Lincoln. To get to that point for Imperial, let’s talk about Ford.īetween the 19 model years, there were no Imperials whatsoever. But 1975 was not the end of the Imperial’s story, as a particular Chrysler CEO had big Imperial aspirations. The Imperial name had come a long way from its beginnings as a super luxurious coach built car for the wealthy, and ended up as a slightly nicer New Yorker with more formal front and rear clips. Chrysler closed its luxury Imperial division, and the once proud two- and four-door Imperials were stripped of some standard features and rebranded into the Brougham trim of the New Yorker. In production since 1926 and an independent brand since 1955, the Imperial fizzled out to nothing after 1975. In our last Imperial entry, we found the brand’s run came to an end. ![]()
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