1973 and me.
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Since photos were taken, rear bumper has been replaced with a straight one. 4 known issues:
Currently in storage but presumed to be a dependable, easy-to-live with car which is unlike any other in your area - people will never miss you when you are on the road in Imperial Margarine!
Please contact me at imperialist1960 at yahoo dot com to discuss.
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I am the owner of the 1973 Imperial shown here. It is in very good original condition, having come to me through an interesting, if somewhat ordinary route. The car was owned until 1999 by a couple that were original owners. | ||
| The man passed away some years earlier, and the car sat in the widow’s garage until she donated it to the Bay Area Salvation Army. A non-Imperial lover bought it just because it was so BIG and put some work into the car, but moved to a place that had a homeowner’s association that forbade street-parking/storage, and he then decided to sell it. I work with his mother-in-law and she had spotted the Imperial pictures that are in my cubicle at work. Thus the connection was made. |
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I
went to look at the car out of curiosity, with no intention of buying.
At $1000.00 it was just too tempting |
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| The
car had a bad radiator cap and started to overheat on its voyage to my place, so
it was pulled onto the shoulder of the |
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The
car is painted “Sunfire Yellow” with a white vinyl top and white/brown interior.
Due to its color, I call it Imperial Margarine.
I keep the plastic top off of an “I can’t believe it’s not
butter” container on the rear package shelf for laughs, but the car is
correctly addressed as “Imperial Margarine”.
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| I
proceeded to drive the car all over the place, and am very happy with it.
After having been still for so many years, I did have a problem with the
transmission seals. |
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Apparently
when seals sit and are not full immersed or fully out of the fluid, the region
where the seal transitions from “dry” to “wet” becomes particularly
brittle and can fail. A dry seal can
become wet and regain most of its softness, but the transition line does not
hold up well to use. |
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| In
driving the car, the seal on the output shaft of the transmission failed and
dumped fluid out the back of the transmission.
This is ordinarily the point at which an experienced person such as
myself calls for a tow truck and inserts a new $10 seal in the comfort and
safety of one’s own driveway. My
laziness got the better of me (I was not in any hurry, but thought that I could
get away with a stupid stunt). I
simply filled up the transmission with more fluid and tried to drive the 5 miles
home. |
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On
the onramp to the |
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transmission was also a goner, so I had that rebuilt and added on a deep MOPAR
HI PERFORMACE trans pan with drain-plug. It
looks great when its up on the rack, and increases the amount of fluid available
to the transmission. I have had few
problems since then. |
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The
car sees occasional use. I am also
an owner of several 1960 LeBarons that I am crafting together into one restored
car, and that is my primary focus at the moment.
The LeBaron is easy to drive, has lots of power, and is officially
recognized as the longest post-war car mass produced due to the little
bumperette bumper extensions that the federal government mandated.
The 1972 car was similar, but lacked these. |
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| The
car has headlight sentinel, which was very fashionable at that time.
Enabling this feature meant that if you turn the car off and exit with
your keys when the headlights have been on, the car will keep its headlights on
for you with an adjustable slider that allows more or less time to lights-off.
This causes considerable confusion for guest passengers or other people
where you park when you get out and walk away from a car with lights blazing,
but it’s a fun item that allows one to claim that it’s a “true” luxury
car. Take that, MBZ and BMW! |
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The
car also has an automatic headlamp dimmer that has adjustable sensitivity.
Many other owners of this feature, which was available for quite a few
years, indicate that it does not always work.
Mine works reasonably well, and will drop the high-beams when an oncoming
car’s headlights approach. It also
turns the headlights on automatically when it is sufficiently dark.
This is most apparent when one enters a tunnel or parking structure.
In theory, one could travel coast to coast with the cruise control, auto
headlight controls, and the Auto Temp controls automatically regulating the car,
meaning that filling the car with gas, tuning the radio, and steering it would be the only input needed from the driver. |
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| The
car has covered headlights, and the doors are actuated by an electric motor
located on an axle that is obvious if the hood is up.
My headlight motor refused to open the headlight doors when I got the
car. There is a knurled knob at the
base of the motor that allows the doors to be manually opened.
After about a week of doing this, the mechanism freed itself and has
continued to operate since. If the
car sits for awhile, this process must be repeated, but I am writing this to
warn that others may find that the thing’s just stiff and needs to be coaxed
to work. Try this for awhile before
replacing yours. This also applies
to the other covered headlight Imperials, as they all appear to have a similar
motor. |
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As
a special treat, I have included pictures of my car in |
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| Anyway, The Drop is the second steepest street in |
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If you like 1973, you might be interested in the data-book that was at dealerships for customer perusal. Click here to view the 1973 Data Book. |
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| I enjoy Imperial Margarine immensely and revel in easily finding and quickly executing parallel parking in this most congested and hilly driving environment that is Metropolitan San Francisco. |
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If
you want to reach me, I can be gotten at: Imperialist60@yahoo.com Kenyon
Wills December 2002 |
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