Graham Rollo's 1957 Imperial


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This Imperial is a single headlight model.  The serial number is C57-6055 with a build date of January 5, 1957.  The car was sold by Stanley S. Kilburn, an authorized Chrysler Dealer in Bayside, New York.  I have the original dealer's owner certificate.  It was first owned by Cyril F. and Hildagard E. Prideaux of 147-11a Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, New York.  They then moved to South Dakota in about 1961, but the car went to a Ray Schumacher Alpena of Beadle, South Dakota, who also had an address of Rua Saoluis 97, Apt. 82 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The next registration I have is from 1970 for a M. W. Hartzell of 1210 Howell Street in Seattle, Washington.  Then in 1985 the car was registered to David J. Rheaume of 111 4th Street NW in Ephrata, Washington.  Ian Day bought the Imperial in 1990 and shipped it to New Zealand. I bought the Imperial from Ian Day.  The mileage was 50,000 when I purchased it. The car was in very good order and the engine runs like clockwork. I have tidied up the inserts in the seats, painted the engine, and repainted the car.  In 2005, I fitted radial whitewall tyres that I purchased when I went to the US that year. I have used this car in many classic car rallies here in New Zealand, even taking it on gravel roads.  I had Caddys before the Imperial, but the hemi was the appeal, and the Imperial with the torsion bar suspension handled far better than the Caddys.  I have found fixing anything behind the dash to be a mission! The engine number is CE576120, and the body number is 05642. I found the build sheet in the usual location under the rear seat springs.  This Imperial is painted Desert Beige, paint code L.  The interior is trim code 52, which is the beige metallic vinyl and tan basket-weave fabric.  The build sheet shows the scheduled date as SCH=1213, meaning December 13th, 1957.  I have licensed the car with a plate that reads "57 HEMI."  Regards, Graham Rollo, New Zealand.

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