Photo: Mecum
If one takes a superficial look at the many car lots going under the hammer in the upcoming auctions scheduled to take place in the U.S., one might be left under the impression that the usual suspects are alone on the field. Chevys, Ford, and Dodges surely take the lion's share, but they're not nearly all there is to the story.
Go deeper in said lots and much more exciting, much rarer, and possibly much more valuable machines come to light. Like, say, this here Imperial Crown preserved from a time the world was an entirely different place.
For today's auto enthusiast the Imperial may not mean all that much, and that's a shame. It is one of the few cars the world has ever known to be produced both before and after the Second World War.
The nameplate was born in the Chrysler stables as a high-end offering all the way back in 1926. It was so successful that until the onset of hostilities it had no less than four distinct versions (not exactly generations, but close), it kept rolling even during the war years, and after peace arrived it soldiered on until 1993. A brief revival was tried in 2006, but that didn't go past concept stage.
In its early years the car was sold as a model of Chrysler, but after 1954 the nameplate was spun off into a standalone brand. It is from this part of the model's life this here example comes from, an incredible piece of American car history lost in a sea of muscle cars and custom rides.
The machine is officially an Imperial Crown in coupe body style. It shows as new, and that's owed to restoration work performed on it by unknown hands, and at an unknown point in the past.
Painted blue with a white top over the new but period-correct seafoam interior, the Imperial shines with all the glamor of the 1950s automobile-making: the flowing body panels look perfect, the chrome on the bumpers and trim comes across as a the perfect touch of class, and the whitewall tires pulled over the wire wheels of undisclosed size ensure that much-needed touch of vintage look.
Back in the days when this Imperial was made Chrysler hid under the hood just two kinds of engines, a 331ci and a 354ci. This car is equipped with the larger one, and it's tied to an automatic transmission. The exact performance numbers are not known, but then again nobody buys a car such as this to race down the strip.
Speaking of buying, the 1956 Imperial Crown is listed for sale by auction house Mecum during the Fall Special event taking place in Indianapolis at the beginning of October. No mention is made as to how much it is expected to fetch.
For today's auto enthusiast the Imperial may not mean all that much, and that's a shame. It is one of the few cars the world has ever known to be produced both before and after the Second World War.
The nameplate was born in the Chrysler stables as a high-end offering all the way back in 1926. It was so successful that until the onset of hostilities it had no less than four distinct versions (not exactly generations, but close), it kept rolling even during the war years, and after peace arrived it soldiered on until 1993. A brief revival was tried in 2006, but that didn't go past concept stage.
In its early years the car was sold as a model of Chrysler, but after 1954 the nameplate was spun off into a standalone brand. It is from this part of the model's life this here example comes from, an incredible piece of American car history lost in a sea of muscle cars and custom rides.
The machine is officially an Imperial Crown in coupe body style. It shows as new, and that's owed to restoration work performed on it by unknown hands, and at an unknown point in the past.
Painted blue with a white top over the new but period-correct seafoam interior, the Imperial shines with all the glamor of the 1950s automobile-making: the flowing body panels look perfect, the chrome on the bumpers and trim comes across as a the perfect touch of class, and the whitewall tires pulled over the wire wheels of undisclosed size ensure that much-needed touch of vintage look.
Back in the days when this Imperial was made Chrysler hid under the hood just two kinds of engines, a 331ci and a 354ci. This car is equipped with the larger one, and it's tied to an automatic transmission. The exact performance numbers are not known, but then again nobody buys a car such as this to race down the strip.
Speaking of buying, the 1956 Imperial Crown is listed for sale by auction house Mecum during the Fall Special event taking place in Indianapolis at the beginning of October. No mention is made as to how much it is expected to fetch.
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