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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

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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

Always loved these years, but the lack of a headrest in a rear-end collision scares me!

Nice job on the restoration. Really love that color!
 
Always loved these years, but the lack of a headrest in a rear-end collision scares me!

Nice job on the restoration. Really love that color!
It has headrests, I do not expect I will be driving this too much other than local shows and ice cream...slow cruising; but it is not me I worry about...good observation. I did however install 3-point seatbelts in the rear for the girls and will also engineer a 3 point up front.
 
It's old, yet new, and cool, yet blue! Just a really fine example of a luxury car with a touch of attitude. FI Tech and Eddy heads and all that fine work you have done just makes a person want to get in and drive. Such a fine example of striking a balance between old and new, luxury and fun. Love it!!
 
It's old, yet new, and cool, yet blue! Just a really fine example of a luxury car with a touch of attitude. FI Tech and Eddy heads and all that fine work you have done just makes a person want to get in and drive. Such a fine example of striking a balance between old and new, luxury and fun. Love it!!
Don't you know it!
 
I can't wait to see the finished product. It already looks great!
Nearing completion, electric window mechanisms, door handles, lock and latches all installed. Working the glass and roof-rail weather-strip, then front seats, door panels and run it up.
 
Wish I had the skills to do work to this level. It will be a beautiful car when finished and I am looking forward to seeing it when it is. Thank you for the pics and comments:)
 
Wish I had the skills to do work to this level. It will be a beautiful car when finished and I am looking forward to seeing it when it is. Thank you for the pics and comments:)
Takes patience, I manage my expectations where it comes to what I can get done on any given day for an hour or two...by the time a year passes I am well on my way on disassembly and now reassembly. Door glass is going in, all locks and mechanisms are in...slow and smooth. Getting it done! I will have to post updated pictures soon.
 
Hello everyone who loves the Big Ladies! An update since last, I have installed the steering column after completely tearing it down, servicing worn coupling and replacing telescopic turn signal switch...a small amount of reengineering, but done!

Secondly, if you look closely you will see that all the door glass is in and currently still awaiting me to make cant adjustments, etc.. All the window motors and gears/bushes, etc have all been serviced with new grease and a magnet needing super glue on the housing. Everything works as I bench tested with a 12V battery. All the locking and door handle mechanisms are in and work great!

I have all new rubber weather seals for the doors...shut like a vault door! Solid.

I have installed all the inspected and re-worked engine compartment wiring and waiting to apply 12V in a test, have a special fire extinguisher that will not cause wiring issue if used...like a Halogen gas...ready to test soon.

My issues are lack of replacement weather-strip and window channel guides and flocked plastic channel guides...but I made do with other like year C body reproduction items and just re-engineered.

Hope everyone enjoys the visual posts and let me know what you think. Thanks.
 
WOW! The only other person I ever knew who did the same thing to their 67 Imperial was an MIT-trained Electrical Engineer and true "Rocket Scientist." My compliments to you for your patience, perseverance, skills and vision. PS I LOVE the color!
 
WOW! The only other person I ever knew who did the same thing to their 67 Imperial was an MIT-trained Electrical Engineer and true "Rocket Scientist." My compliments to you for your patience, perseverance, skills and vision. PS I LOVE the color!
Thanks for the kind words, yes it takes much patience to do it right...close, engineering and program manager for the DOD.

Wedgewood Blue is the color and is original.
 
Speechless.. She's amazing. Soup to Nuts a brand new car. I would like some detail on the intake and FiTech system you choose. Wanna do that to my 77 NYB.

Just a side note: She needs White Walls, Just say'en :poke:
 
What you are doing is a dream of mine for my 67 LeBaron. The wiring makes me nervous, especially with the sentinel. I’m working up the shoulder harness layout now- brand and location of the mounting points. Under your headliner did you find front seat mounting points or did you fabricate them?

Good luck and Keep up the great work!
 
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Have you tried Steele Rubber Products?
Yes, unfortunately for the LeBaron...a 2 inch height difference has to be made up...Steele does not have this, so I built up the difference with extruded butyl rubber and a sencond pair of roof rail weather strip to get the ends down 2 inches as well.
 
What you are doing is a dream of mine for my 67 LeBaron. The wiring makes me nervous, especially with the sentinel. I’m working up the shoulder harness layout now- brand and location of the mounting points. Under your headliner did you find front seat mounting points or did you fabricate them?

Good luck and Keep up the great work!
I went through it completely...no unwanted electrical fires please...the Sentinel is unique and old, I had issues with the proper working of it and wanted more stability and reliability. I removed the system, bypassing the lights and HI/LO beam is easy; the amplifier however had issues and repair was out of the question. So I bypassed the amplifier by identifying the power and lamp/headlights pins [wires], cut and spliced and tested...yep good to go and so I made a jumper with the original amplifier connector and soldered the right wires together.

I used the 1967 Chrysler/Imperial service manual, it has all the schematics and details on the Sentinel and amplifier...recommend you buy one on E-bay.

The rear seats for 3 point seatbelt was easy, the front does not have a mount on the roof rail to mount [wouldn't want that ugly hanging there anyways. I will have a custom "H" harness for the front made up and bolt to the floor...still working that out.
 
I went through it completely...no unwanted electrical fires please...the Sentinel is unique and old, I had issues with the proper working of it and wanted more stability and reliability. I removed the system, bypassing the lights and HI/LO beam is easy; the amplifier however had issues and repair was out of the question. So I bypassed the amplifier by identifying the power and lamp/headlights pins [wires], cut and spliced and tested...yep good to go and so I made a jumper with the original amplifier connector and soldered the right wires together.

I used the 1967 Chrysler/Imperial service manual, it has all the schematics and details on the Sentinel and amplifier...recommend you buy one on E-bay.

The rear seats for 3 point seatbelt was easy, the front does not have a mount on the roof rail to mount [wouldn't want that ugly hanging there anyways. I will have a custom "H" harness for the front made up and bolt to the floor...still working that out.
Thank you for the help
 

Item information

Category
Member Garages
Added by
Shawn T Corcoran
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Comments
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Rating
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Location
Georgetown, MA

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