1960 Imperial Magazine Ads


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Click on the small pictures below in order to view the 1960 Imperial advertisements at full size.

For very large printable versions of these pages, you can also select the text links at the bottom of the page.

Many thanks to Kenyon Wills, Luke Nola, and Bill Watson for contributing the original ads and commentary below.


Chrysler Imperial Advertising for 1960

"Enter!  Imperial 1960"

The year is 1960.  The American World War II generation is maturing and many of this group are in their prime earning years.  It is a time of design decadence in automobiles, with new shapes and gadgets introduced yearly as conspicuous consumer fashion. The magazines of the time feature incredible breakthroughs in the technology that directly impacts consumers and daily life.  With the space race in full swing, freeways being completed in metropolitan areas, and a shift to suburban living, promotion of the new Imperial for 1960 reached a zenith of sorts in Imperial advertising.

1960 was a very special model year for Imperial, and the advertising department went out of its way to get the news out. 

1960 saw a giant leap in the company�s investment in Imperial as a separate marque/car line.  In late 1959, the new Imperial assembly plant on West Warren Avenue opened for the first time, being dedicated exclusively to the manufacture of the Imperial automobile.   This exclusive and expensive new assembly-line was intended to allow tighter quality control and an expanded capacity for the Chrysler corporation�s top-of-the-line automobile. The plant began assembling 1959 Imperials in September, 1958. Production of Imperials switched back to East Jefferson Avenue at the end of the 1961 model year. West Warren became available in the summer of 1958 when DeSoto production moved from Wyoming Avenue to East Jefferson. The West Warren plant built bodies for DeSoto starting in 1950 and assembled DeSoto hemi TV engines. West Warren was purchased from Graham-Paige in 1948 and sold in the late 1960's. Parts of the West Warren Avenue plant are still standing.   The Online Imperial Club 1960 page has a copy of the exciting press release with full detail on this eventful change of Imperial address. Also see the Warren Avenue link below for more details regarding the new plant. 

The advertisements for 1960 were like no others in surrounding years.  The standard fare for Imperial ads was understated conservatism with a consistent look in all ads, regardless of publication or size format.  Also, ads were designed to be capable of being run in any publication.

 

The Vogue Magazine Spread

Factory Fashion Models

Imperial pulled out all the stops to attract women (and their husbands) with this colorful and fashionable spread in Vogue magazine.  Besides being reminiscent of the Imperial Fashion Show from 1956, it also provides an excellent glimpse of the inside of Imperial division's new production location at the Warren Avenue plant.

Imperial Collection, Page 1 Imperial Collection, Page 2 Imperial Collection, Pages 3 & 4

 

 

The Holiday Magazine Campaign

Chauffeur at Hall of Justice Upscale Garden Party
VIP's Arriving by Plane The Wedding

1960 saw an ad campaign dedicated to HOLIDAY fine-dining and food magazine in the large format. These are the black and white double page ads with a metallic gold eagle crest (therefore they are color, but artistic B&W) that are double page with ample ad copy beneath or to the side. Each month's setup featured a new and different ad, with the cars displayed in exclusive or important settings. Almost all previous Imperial advertisements had been single page to this time.

� Chauffeur waits patiently near the Hall of JusticeMotorcycle Escort

� Upscale Garden Party - man holds a radio-telephone (!) that is apparently hardwired to the car.

� VIP's are exclusively met on the tarmac by their chauffeur and Imperial, next to their just arrived aircraft (with rear stabilizer cropped so as not to distract from the cars' own fins!)

� The Wedding - guests and an Imperial LeBaron await the woman you'd want to marry, if only for her taste in fine automobiles.

� Exclusive, LeBaron bodied Imperial waits in front of a meeting place flanked by its motorcycle escort admiring the car's lines (with apparent envy).

 

 

The Full-Color Imperial Ads

Dictaphone By the Sea Telephone

There was a separate Imperial ad campaign designed for Reader's Digest and National Geographic magazines that featured 5 consistent-format full color ads with the Imperial shown in different poses and 4 different colors amongst the bunch of ads. These featured a car on top and a close-up shot of the interior below. Fit and finish quality are the main point here, with subtle references to improved or perfected manufacturing that was as close to hand-built as a mass produced car could be, according to the text. This message was then reinforced at the dealership with news of Imperial's totally dedicated manufacturing facility and superior engineering features such as Electro-Luminescent Instrumentation, Torsion Bar suspension, Auto-Pilot, "squared" comfort steering wheel, and many other items.

White Crown Red, with Horse

These color ad formats were also to occasionally show up in the coffee-table size format of LIFE (although LIFE never carried "Imperial only" ads). LOOK Magazine was the primary recipient of this large format version. Both Look and Holiday were chosen as upscale magazines more likely to be capable of reaching the upscale clientele associated with the Imperial line.

 

Chrysler Corporation Ads Including Imperial

Which Car Fits You Best?

The 1960 Imperial also appeared in Chrysler full-line ads seen in LIFE, Saturday Evening Post, Boys' Life, and other more general publications, with the car featured alongside its other siblings of the Chrysler family, touting great gas efficiency, a claim all the more interesting to the modern reader of these great vintage Imperial ads.

 

When it's ImperialMusic-up time...
Larger, Printable Version
When it's ImperialMusic-up time... When it's ImperialMusic-up time...
Chrysler Line (Review) Boys' Life Quick, Strong, Quiet Quick, Strong, Quiet
More Car, More Economy Styling That Goes Easy on Gas
Quick, Strong Quiet #3 Proving Ground Certified Care
Where's that Imperial? Pure Automobile Certified Care
Where did the Rattles Go? Quick and Strong Jack Instructions
The Nose Won't Dip... The Nose Won't Dip...
When it's tune-up time... When it's ImperialMusic-up time... When it's ImperialMusic-up time...
Larger, Printable Version
 

 

Chrysler Corporation Station Wagon Ads

Even the Kids Seem Quieter 27 Wagons Built with Families in Mind

Larger, Printable Version

Larger, Printable Version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very Large Files, Suitable for Printing

Select the text links below for large, high resolution files suitable for printing.  File names appear in the same order as the pictures above.

NOTE: File sizes below range from 1.5 to 5.5 Megabytes.

 

"Enter!  Imperial 1960"

 

Factory Fashion Models

 

Imperial Collection 1

Imperial Collection 2

Imperial Collection 3-4

 

Chauffeur at Hall of Justice

Upscale Garden Party

VIP's Arriving by Plane

The Wedding

 

Motorcycle Escort

 

Dictaphone

By the Sea

Telephone

 

White Crown

Red, with Horse

 

Which Car Fits You Best?

 

Chrysler Line (Review)

Boys' Life

Quick, Strong, Quiet

Quick, Strong, Quiet (color)

More Car, More Economy

Styling That Goes Easy on Gas

Quick, Strong, Quiet #3

Proving Ground

Certified Care

Where's That Imperial?

Pure Automobile

Torsion Aire

Where did the Rattles Go? Quick and Strong Jack Instructions
Save Gas! The Nose Won't Dip...
When it's tune-up time... Music to Sell Imperials By 60 Imperial Limo "Craftmanship"

 

Even the Kids Seem Quieter

27 Wagons Built with Families in Mind

 

 

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