i dont know what to say about this.......

It just needs ' Tomorrow never knows' by the Beatles coming out of the window as it cruises by, to give it some true psycadelia.
 
My ole lady says this is a fad that older ladies, mostly, do around the country. She said they have groups and they have come to our town and yarned all kinds of "art" stuff.
 
It's actually two different Imperials.

1968 (YARN)
1968 YARN.png


and 1967 (BIG IMP)
1967 BIG IMP.png
 
If it gets wet that probably adds about 500 pounds. Of course, the ride is even better then.
 
Hey, that's my Yarn Car! For those who've posted positive comments, thank you! As for the resta yez... well, you'll have to work harder than that to top some of the gnarly things I've heard big rig truckers say on CB radio as the car passes 'em on the highway...

I accept that it's a customization that's not to everyone's taste. I made the Yarn Car 20 years ago, and I soon learned that there are some people who value an "original" car in the sense of it being wildly creative, and there are other people who value an "original" car in the sense of it having no deviation from the factory standard whatsoever -- and that there's hardly any overlap between those two demographics. Funny how the same word can have totally opposite meanings.

Fortunately, most people love the Yarn Car... far more than I would have guessed, in fact! It has appeared in USA Today, Readers Digest, Good Morning America, CNN, the New York Times, and the New York International Auto Show, and it has a two-page spread in the book "Art Cars" by photographer Harrod Blank (who took the overhead shots posted here). It has often rolled in the gigantic Houston Art Car Parade, with a quarter million cheering people lining the streets. It's surely the most-photographed '67 Imperial in history (with a distant second probably being the 1967 Rose Parade Queen's convertible).

When I came across it looking filthy and forlorn at a one-man used car lot in Fort Worth, I knew NOTHING about old cars. I just knew I wanted a big flat beast to be my art car "canvas". The salesman told me his father had picked it up at an estate sale in Paris, Texas. The light green paint looked awful, with dozens of dents and holes down to the primer or bare metal due to somebody evidently using it for pellet gun practice or something. I learned that it still had the original (or at least correct) bias ply tires. The odometer read 61,000, but it was broken. That thing under the hood that I later learned was the carburetor (a Holley) spewed like a fountain. The front bumper was cockeyed from having been towed by the bumper. But I loved it anyway and drove it home. Well, actually, I was afraid to drive it, so I wisely had it towed.

I quickly learned about the Imperial marque, and realized I had accidentally bought something special. I also learned that the next buyer to come along probably would have been a demolition derby driver. I found the Online Imperial Club (www.imperialclub.com) and eventually became the volunteer webmaster for the '67 section of the site for several years. Much of the scanned '67 literature to be found there was my doing. For those who feel I've sinned by desecrating an Imperial, please accept that community service work as my penance.

I've done nothing irreversible to my Imperial. Some people think it's a lowrider, but I explain that it's just a low-slung car in the first place! It still has its 440. When I was applying the yarn, I took care to keep all the badging intact. At considerable expense, I replaced the rare hood ornament after my otherwise excellent mechanic accidentally smashed it against the ceiling of his shop one day while lifting the car with the hood open. The interior is stock, though sadly ragged these days. Other than the coat of yarn, my only exterior customization has been to swap out the fuel filler cover for one from a '68 (which is why a commenter in this thread thought it was two different cars), since the eagle is bigger on the '68 version and thus more visibly jibes with the stylized Imperial eagle motif on the trunk.

Over the years I've talked up the virtues of the Imperial to thousands of people who had never seen one before. And between all of the car's media and parade appearances, I figure the number of smiles my humble creation has brought into the world must surely be in the tens of millions by now.

My 55-year-old Imperial has spent over a third of its life as an art car. And since I was born the same year the car was, that means I've spent over a third of my life driving an art car. It's impossible to be sad when driving a vehicle that inspires strangers of all stripes to smile and wave and take pictures and yell compliments as you go by. And yes, before you ask, it's most definitely a chick magnet.

The Covid pandemic has laid the Yarn Car low lately, but I'm hoping to bring it out of hibernation soon. Follow along on its Facebook page: facebook.com/YarnCar

Tim Klein
Vancouver, Washington, USA
 
I kind of like the psychedelic look from time to time. It reminds me of some of the things I saw growing up.
 
The story makes the internet images of the Imperial so much better. Thank you for sharing the history of the Imperial. Everything is reversible. No issue with this at all. Super cool !!
And now I know your not an old lady.
 
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