For 1955, Chrysler spun off Imperial as a separate division to produce the company’s most luxurious cars. The new brand was billed as the “flagship of the Forward Look.”
When the Chrysler Corporation’s sensational Forward Look styling theme was introduced on November 17, 1954, the assembled press received an additional newsworthy item: Imperial, the Chrysler brand’s most luxurious model, was now being spun off as a separate division with its own unique platform and styling.
The purpose was clear enough: to separate Imperial from the more moderately priced Chrysler models, giving it a clear lane to compete head-on against the USA’s premium luxury cars: Cadillac, Lincoln, and Packard. Imperial was to be the “flagship of the Forward Look,” the Chrysler ad writers declared.
The ’55 Imperial line consisted of just three body styles: the four-door Imperial Sedan, the Newport two-door hardtop, and the Crown Imperial. The Sedan and Newport shared a 130-in wheelbase, four inches longer than the standard Chrysler. The eight-passenger Crown Imperial, available as a sedan or a divider-window limousine, was stretched out over a roomy 149.5-in chassis. There was a convertible, too, just one: a spectacular custom-built job for Chrysler president K.T. Keller. All were powered by a Chrysler 331 cubic-inch hemi V8 coupled to a Powerflite transmission.
Styling fully embraced Virgil Exner’s Forward Look, with elements taken from the Ghia-built Imperial Parade Phaetons. while the unusual gun-sight tail lamps were earlier seen on Exner’s 1951 K-310 idea car. Some sheet metal was borrowed from other Chrysler models; for example, the sedan’s rear doors were shared with Chrysler and DeSoto. Wheel openings were full and round, an unusual flourish for a luxury car from the Motor City in the fifties—the better to show off the optional ($215) wire wheels. Incompatible with tubeless tires, the wires were dropped at mid-year.
The basic interior structure and dash were shared with the Chrysler New Yorker as well, but with richer fabrics and colors, and power windows and power seat were standard. Both the Crown Imperial Sedan and Limousine were equipped with forward-facing jump seats that folded into the front seat backs, while the Limousine featured an electric partition window, also built into the front seat back. Imperial prices ranged from $4,483 to $7,095, compared to $2,660 to $4,209 for the standard Chrysler line.
Along with the popular Forward Look styling, creating a stand-alone identity for the Imperial brand must have helped sales. In 1955, volume nearly doubled over the previous year to 11,432 cars (including just 172 Crown Imperials). However, Cadillac remained far off in the distance at more than 140,000 units. Imperial would remain a separate division at the Chrysler Corporation through 1975, on paper at least, then return briefly in 1981-83.
Cadillac had the power of the brand, with a decades long head start of being known as America’s luxury car. Imperial didn’t. Even today, these cars are still called Chrysler Imperial, connecting them to a middle class make, and requiring going to a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer to order one. Mr and Mrs Rich just didn’t do that.
It drive nuts when people refer to my car as a Chrysler Imperial….its an Imperial Crown. Its similar to the idea of calling a Lincoln Continental a Ford Lincoln.
Or the many, many references I see online to the “Ford Edsel.”
Older people [in my age bracket 70+] tend to refer to these as Chrysler Imperials for 2 basic reasons; First because all previous Imperials were indeed Chrysler cars. Second, the large Cadillac limousines of the pre-WW2 era were referred to as Imperial sedans. Referring to these as Chrysler Imperials let people know they weren’t talking about a Cadillac!
I’ve owned many 1955 to 68 Imperials, my favorites being the ’55 and ’56 versions. I also have a soft spot for Ghia-built Imperial limousines. [I had the next-to-the-last-one-built]
In 1974, while living in Germany as part of the US Army, I saw a 1956 Imperial sedan in a used car lot, parked all the way in the back area. Bought it for 300 D-Marks [About $100], and drove it as my everyday car all over Europe before bringing it back to the USA. Found out years later it had been the Paris Auto Show Imperial, with final assembly in Paris by Facel Metallon, makers of the Facel-Vega. It had Marchal lighting and a KPH speedometer.
In 1976 I found a former White House 1955 Imperial C70 crown Imperial limousine, one of two built for Eisenhower on orders from his friend K.T. Keller, CEO of Chrysler.
In 1978 I had my Imperial limo at a local car show when an older man walked up to me and said he had the other White House car, the one with the sunroof over the back seating area. He bought it from the government in 1964, and we were the only people who drove the limo until his death about 20 years ago. I made the arrangements for the car to be donated to the Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg, where it sits in the very garage it was kept in when new.
When David and Julie Eisenhower were in DC for a fundraiser in the late 1980s, I transported them around town in a vintage Rolls-Royce, and heard David talk about how he loved riding in the back of his grandfather’s Chrysler limo. So Julie and I made secret plans to pick them up in Ike’s limo the next year. I have photos of them standing up thru the sunroof.
As I headed out with them in the back seat, Julie, on seeing David sitting right at the front edge of the seat cushion, suggested David sit back and relax, to which he replied it was the way he sat in the car when he was a little boy, and he rode all the way to the Eisenhower theater that way!
What interesting stories!
Thanks Jim, I would post a photo here of the Eisenhowers in Ike’s limo if I knew how!