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1967 Imperial Lebaron

A work in progress

General Information

View attachment 480923 View attachment 480927 View attachment 480928 View attachment 480932 View attachment 451597 View attachment 451611 View attachment 451615 View attachment 451782 I started with a solid Arizona car, for 3500. it was mine and I felt I had to rescue a piece of automotive history and a time of elegance. I had the body stripped via soft plastic shot, like new old stock when it was done. Brought it back to a local automotive body shop repair for the paint...Wedgewood Blue.

I completely striped the interior, out came the seats, I reupholstered them using SMS Auto Fabric...leather seating. I had to supply the patterns. New foam, cotton batting and burlap.

Pulled every wire out of the car, removed the vinyl tape and checked condition, replaced where needed, soldered where needed, bought vehicle electrical wire and other electrical goodies to make it safe and remove any chance of a failed wire that could cause burning.

I pulled the dash out, windscreen front and rear, and door glass, everything came out.

I had to find another dash pad and get SEM color match to spray, bought walnut wood veneer to apply to dash surfaces, looks nice!

I am in the process of re-assembly and anticipate it being on the road in 2022, summer of.

I completed the check-out of DC voltage through 50+ year old wiring...no burning, no fires, all my electrical repairs are good. I had to remove the Sentinel amplifier and re-wire for lights. All directional are working, turn signals, flashers, brake lights, etc.; I did make a few upgrades to lighting, the dash has LED bulbs and the headlights are from Vintage Lighting and are LED [very bright], tail lamps are Sylvania super bright and everyone can see me.

I am now working on the Fi-Tech fuel injection connections and getting the engine bay wiring squared away...should be firing up in December.

Latest updates

Here goes...interior is all in, electrical gremlins worked out, engine fired up with new electronic distributor and FiTech fuel injection...now I have to time the engine and get her running smoother than it already is. Power steering gave me a headache when it did not want to let me turn the wheel...kind of intermitent. Brakes work although I have a small leak...damn these Budd calipers. As you can see she is clean and I rode around the cul de sac a few times...no issues, just need to set the torsion height and get things lelveld out. What do you think? And yes, it rides like an old car.
S
Shawn T Corcoran
October 2023 the Imperial has been registered, plated, stickered, and successfully driven and torture tested for safety...all passed. The EFI Fi Tech runs very good; had the calipers reworked with SS sleeves...NO LEAKS! I will be showing it more in the summer of 2024 in the North Shore of Massachusetts. Gets a lot of looks for the short time on the road this past fall. Having window issues with the front guide sleeve [all screwed up] and the back drivers side white metal glass holder and power window frame...so it will be windows down.

If anybody has a good driver rear window white metal base...turn me on to it. Thanks.
Interior coming along nicely...the little things slow me down...will be on the road this summer/fall

Attachments

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  • front seat pleats.jpg
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Imperialist67
Imperialist67
Stunning - just stunning...... while it IS usually those "little things" that slow you down, it is those same "little things" that separate a nice car from a great one, and this definitely qualifies as that........

Comments

Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
 
Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
About the pearlescent hides, it would have to be custom, very custom $$$$$$, I had to settle for the closest approximation to the original color as I could get, The SMS bill was 3800. for both front and back seating covers. The wait time was about 16 months...but I planned this into my build schedule.
 
Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
In the rear seat picture, the dark blue pearlescent is the pull down arm rest (I wanted to leave some of the good leather) and the NEW leather is all the rest of the seating. A close match in color.
 
Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
Good to know - I couldn't even tell the difference, so it's a good match. Did SMS do actual covers, or did you just get hide material? Your restoration is very inspiring. Good thing you can do your own wiring, as there is a WHOLE lot of it on these cars.
 
Amazing work in process. The wiring can be overwhelming with all the options and features unique to the Imperial. The PICS are great. Good for you!!
 
Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
SMS sourced the hides after I approved the color and stitched the covers, I did the rest
 
Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
They got the stitching "right" on the hides, good to know, which to me, would make it worth the time/dollars. Did this LeBaron originally have a vinyl top? Most do, but I HAVE seen one without it.
 
Great job by you restoring this classic beauty! IMO '67-'68 Imperials are some of the finest looking luxury cars ever made.
 
Looks to be coming together beautifully, the blue leather is amazing. A lot of LeBarons (including mine) are black, Wedgewood blue is great on these. My red leather needs to be re-done, and I'm dreading the cost of the pearlescent hides, did it take a long time to get them from SMS?. Great job on the stitching, etc., on the seats. THANKS for posting this update.
Yes, a white vinyl top in fact, I have that as well from SMS; I chose not to put it on after I had seen the paint job...
 
Great job by you restoring this classic beauty! IMO '67-'68 Imperials are some of the finest looking luxury cars ever made.
Indeed, the two year style is one of the best and a curse if you need parts...like soft rubber roof-rail since the LeBaron roofline is about 2 inches more than your standard Imperial
 
You have tremendous confidence and talent. You deserve an "attaboy".
Thanks Pete, just an average guy taking his time...going on 4 years now. I like your Imperial, very nice! My main issue right now is the roof rail weather striping...the LeBaron has a 2" roof height taller than standard Imperials...so I am looking for the NOS if it even exists. Or it becomes a fair weather car only!
 
Finished off the grill and fender/side marker lighting...lot of pieces, a lot of wire runs through holes. I ordered the headlamp adjusters and have the buckets...soon I will have headlamps! A nice looking grill, real steel and pot metal!
 
Great job by you restoring this classic beauty! IMO '67-'68 Imperials are some of the finest looking luxury cars ever made.
Just wondering...couldn't you just buy 2 standard sets of roof rail weatherstrip & cut/ splice? Nice car & great work!
 
Great job by you restoring this classic beauty! IMO '67-'68 Imperials are some of the finest looking luxury cars ever made.
Not really...issue is the thickness, the standard Imperials you can buy the roof-rail repro, with glass height is all the same for all the models, the difference is in where the roof is set in relation to where the glass is fully up...so the roof rail rubber has an additional 3/4 to 1 inch to make up the difference so the glass seals properly. I will likely have to buy another set since I am also short by about the same 2 inches going down the A pillar and B pillar, there I will have to splice.
 
Great job by you restoring this classic beauty! IMO '67-'68 Imperials are some of the finest looking luxury cars ever made.
I will have to buy extruded rubber strip and 3M adhesive it to what repro I have to make up the difference, thicken it up so the glass seats properly. I will do this once I have the glass re-installed so I can accurately make up the difference before final gluing.
 

Item information

Category
Member Garages
Added by
Shawn T Corcoran
Views
6,592
Comments
38
Updates
2
Last update
Rating
5.00 star(s) 10 ratings
Location
Georgetown, MA

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