challenger6pak
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Still have the car. I will pull some parts off of it on Fri. Saturday, it will go to the junkyard if it is not sold.
SOLD 83? Imperial $500
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challenger6pak
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Why were the heads changed? What was put on it?
I might still pop the asking price or negotiate on a clean one that's been converted. I know of a dealership in Fredricsburg, Texas that took a Black '82 or '83 in on trade in '95 with less then 50K on it that had been converted and those dam 'ole Germanz that own that dealership wouldn't even talk about selling it. Farz I know that one and several more carz going back into the fin era are still cooking and rotting in the Texas sun behind that dealership. BTW Stan, thatz where I 1st saw and fell in love with those aluminum wheelz that the Batwagon iz shod with. Need ah set I got sparez? Jer
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
I think it was the angle of the center bolts like the later TBI heads. Someone has the right answer for sure
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
Not true. Most of this does not interchange to any other Chrysler product of the day. These were a hand-built car - yes, they moved on an assembly line, but far more time and effort was put into building the Imperial versus any other '81 - '83 Chrysler product.
Far as the FI-to-carb swap, it got a two-barrel carb as part of the recall. Heads were NOT part of the swap, as these have an identical block and heads to all other '81 - '83 carb'd 318 cars and trucks. Also, the odo has a little symbol next to it, signifying that the recall was accomplished. Much was swapped out on the recall cars, including a fuel tank, fuel pump, intake, carb, linkages, computer, and more. It was a LOT more than a simple intake-and-carb swapout!
I've driven a 1982 FS edition, and it was quite a nice car! Very well-kept; and with nearly 100K miles, it still drove like a new car. Tight, no rattles, and all of the electrical items worked just fine on it.
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
At least these cars kept Chrysler in the luxury market in some dark lean years and were better than the streched k cars that where billed as New Yorkers a abomination to a long heritage name plate which thankfully was the last brige to a car design that changed modern car design with the LH series cars.
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
You have to try, and they did sell a few.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
You call that trying? LMAO.
More like Marketing was screaming for a luxury car and the Design Department saying, "OK. Here, gawdammit. Now go away. We're busy trying to figure out WTF to do with these damn K cars".
My imagination gets very vivid over these things. LOL.
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More like Marketing was screaming for a luxury car and the Design Department saying, "OK. Here, gawdammit. Now go away. We're busy trying to figure out WTF to do with these damn K cars".
My imagination gets very vivid over these things. LOL.
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Some of the parts were hand picked for the cars (fenders, doors, I believe), but they were assembled on the same line as the Cordobas and Miradas. Where they differed is after they were built, they were driven on a 7 mile road test through Windsor to the original Maxwell-Chalmers plant in Windsor (that had built trucks for decades) that was converted to become the "Imperial Quality Assurance Center" (I don't make this stuff up). Once it arrived there, it went through a pretty thorough inspection and they really did actually try to make sure they were as good as they could be. Yes, the FI setup was almost as iffy as the '58FI stuff, but otherwise the cars were pretty decent, did have tight and uniform gaps. I have a friend who reverse engineered the FI setup on the car, identified all of the weaknesses in it and reassembled the car with the FI intact and made it bullet-proof. Chrysler could have done the same thing, but they didn't spend enough time on it to get it sorted out properly. That's the short story of the history of Chrysler. Cars rushed too soon into production.
The hugest mistake Chrysler made with these cars was the pricing. In Canada the MSRP on them was $25k. Dealer invoice was $15k. And Chrysler discouraged the dealers from discounting the cars. Years ago I met a dealer from a little town in Alberta about 50 miles or so outside of Calgary. He claimed he was the #1 Imperial dealer in Canada and spent most of his time buying cars from other dealers who couldn't move them. His secret? He sold every one of them at $17500. Not the $25k Chrysler thought they should retail for.
Chrysler was looking for a 2dr car that would compete (somewhat) with the then current Seville (same bustle back etc). The front end came from the last Chrysler Turbine show car from 1978. The idea of them was good, the design was a matter of personal choice (some love 'em, some hate 'em) and the goal to turn that lowly F-body platform (although Chrysler insisted these were a "Y" body!!!!) into a plush boulevard cruiser was for the most part successful, IF you were from the Geritol generation.
Iacocca getting Frank Sinatra to lend his name to the whole thing probably helped move the metal as much as anything. It was a big deal when the Sinatra editions were launched and old blue eyes actually showed up in Windsor. Probably by then it was the first time in 35-40 years.
This car is NOT based on a B-body. It's based on an F-body Volare/Aspen with the transverse torsion bars. The Fs begat the M-body LeBaron/ Diplomat/Caravelle cars and the LeBaron begat the New Yorker/Fifth Avenues. For 1980 the top hat was revised which got us the J-body Cordoba/Mirada cars and the Y-body Imperial cars were a spin-off of the J-body.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
challenger6pak
Member
The car is gone. I had no say in it and did not get to take anything off of it. Her son took $400 for it and scraped it.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
And the market has spoken.
Nobody dare ***** about it now.
Nobody dare ***** about it now.
challenger6pak
Member
I, at least, wanted to give the car to the weekend. I found out it could stay at the place until the end of the month. I had no place to put it or I would have given the $400. If the car got parted, I could have really used the front disc brakes on my 69 vert. I'm pretty disappointed over the deal. When the dollars showed, it was gone.
challenger6pak
Member
BTW. I put a battery in it and everything worked...including the dash.
challenger6pak
Member
I was going to close this thread as sold. I use the thread tools to do it on FEBO. How is it done on FCBO? Why can't all the for?bodiesonly forums be the same?
Fixed.. Sorry about that
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