Big Blue, the 67 Crown Coupe - Managing Director Edition

[1978 NYB]

Very nice Imp!

 

[BIGBARNEYCARS]

A purist would call my table base a "cheat" because I bought an adjustable pedestal base for a fishing boat captain's chair and then modified it. It swivels, goes up and down like the original equipment, but also slides side to side, which is handy for improving rear seat access. Also, I haven't added the cushions. Instead, my wife will make a kind of padded sleeve. That way, I can use the table top in the folded position as a smaller work surface.

You've accomplished quite ah bit in a short period of time on an exceptional Imperial. Having done so you've firmly implanted yourself on the "YOU SUCK) list in record time. You do the hobby proud. You can chauffeur me around any time I'm in Sacramento. Big thumbz up, Jer

 

[MarPar]

David Schwartz, 68, an architect from Fair Oaks, Calif., on his 1967 Imperial Crown Coupe Mobile Director, as told to A.J. Baime.

In 1966, Imperial, a brand owned by Chrysler, built a show car with an executive office inside. The front passenger seat swiveled to face backward, and a fold-out table created a mobile conference room. It had a telephone and a “datafax transmitter” (a fax machine) that could transmit a page in six minutes. It was the ultimate “Mad Men” automobile. (Don Draper actually drove a 1964 Imperial on the show.)

This concept car got so much attention, Imperial produced some for customers, minus the phone and fax, called the Imperial Crown Coupe Mobile Director. Imperial advertisements noted, ‘Now you may work your way to work.’ While it was one of the more expensive American cars of its era, it wasn’t very popular, and very few were ever built. Today, probably a handful or two still exist.


Recently, I was searching online and I was stunned to find a Mobile Director on eBay. I bought it two months ago from an owner in Oregon. The car came with the original build sheet, showing that it was originally purchased in Lancaster, Calif., in November 1966. I also have the original brochure, which shows a picture of a Wall Street Journal sitting on the back seat with some driving gloves. The brochure reads, in part: “The seats swivel to face forward. The table folds and pivots to become an arm rest. The reading lamp stows away. Thus the conference room vanishes.”

I could see myself as a young architect in the early 1970s, rolling out plans in my mobile office at a construction site. But most of the owners of these cars probably used the mobile office to smoke cigarettes in comfort (there are four lighters and four ashtrays).

The car is about 19 feet long. That’s a lot of acreage to keep clean. The trunk is so big, you could camp out in it; all you need is a mosquito net. Under the hood is a 440 cubic-inch motor, the largest V8 Chrysler had ever offered customers at the time.

I have been a gear head since I was a kid. I’ve owned English cars, Italian cars, muscle cars, station wagons. But I have never owned a car that gets as much attention as this one.

Im just glad the WSJ didnt call it a Chrysler Imperial

 

[imon_2nd]

Im just glad the WSJ didnt call it a Chrysler Imperial

Not only did I spell out the correct name for the journalist and the photographer, I had the article read back to me over the phone for final approval to make sure. I told them the "Imperialists" would be bent out of shape if they called it a Chrysler. Here's what it looks like in the print edition:

 

[imon_2nd]

You've accomplished quite ah bit in a short period of time on an exceptional Imperial. Having done so you've firmly implanted yourself on the "YOU SUCK) list in record time. You do the hobby proud. You can chauffeur me around any time I'm in Sacramento. Big thumbz up, Jer

Thanks for your kind words, Jer.

 

[commando1]

Now for the tough questions.
Who do you know at the WSJ. LOL!!

 

[MarPar]

Not only did I spell out the correct name for the journalist and the photographer, I had the article read back to me over the phone for final approval to make sure. I told them the "Imperialists" would be bent out of shape if they called it a Chrysler. Here's what it looks like in the print edition:

haha good man!

very cool. are having it framed?

 

[imon_2nd]

haha good man!

very cool. are having it framed?

If the print quality of the newspaper wasn't so awful, I'd have it laminated onto a plaque. So, no, I'll pass.

 

[tallhair]

If you can get an electronic copy of the WSJ page (not the pointed version) you can have it blown up and printed then put on poster board and mounted.

 

[imon_2nd]

If you can get an electronic copy of the WSJ page (not the pointed version) you can have it blown up and printed then put on poster board and mounted.

Excellent idea. I'll give it a shot.

 

[tallhair]

Excellent idea. I'll give it a shot.

I'm pretty good at that

 

[imon_2nd]

I'm pretty good at that

OK, I checked out the options at the WSJ and chatted with their tech support. The only way to get an exact image of the article as printed is to buy a framed copy from the WSJ: $2,100. Yikes. So, they emailed me the content "format free - logo free" which gives me permission to use it. I'll have to format the page to be a look-alike, compose the content, then print it myself or take the file to a service center to make a poster board.

 

[polara71]

I'm pretty good at that

Ha.....

 

[imon_2nd]

Now for the tough questions.
Who do you know at the WSJ. LOL!!

I don't know anyone at the WSJ. Soon after I bought the Imp, I sent a few photos to A.J. Baime on Facebook. He used to be the editor of TheDrive.com and writes the My Ride weekly WSJ column. He contacted me after he did some research about the car.
BTW, A.J. is looking for a woman with an interesting car. If you know a lady with such a car, have her contact him via Facebook.

 

[imon_2nd]

I'm a bit surprised there were no bids on this Mobile Director:
Chrysler: Imperial

 

[Dobalovr]

Paradise Newfoundland is not the end of the world but you can see it from there.....maybe that's why lol

 

[detmatt]

That one slipped through the cracks here, how can that be??

 

[Zymurgy]

Called my financial planner and had him save the copy of the article.

 

[commando1]

Mike has a financial planner...

 

[Ripinator]

I don't know anyone at the WSJ. Soon after I bought the Imp, I sent a few photos to A.J. Baime on Facebook. He used to be the editor of TheDrive.com and writes the My Ride weekly WSJ column. He contacted me after he did some research about the car.
BTW, A.J. is looking for a woman with an interesting car. If you know a lady with such a car, have her contact him via Facebook.

Marian. . . ? Marian. . . ?