"Your boy, BJR" (jerseyshoreben)
03/29/2015 at 11:59 • Filed to: CIWTIS
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"Your boy, BJR" (jerseyshoreben)
03/29/2015 at 11:59 • Filed to: CIWTIS | 5
| 3 |
Welcome to Cars I Want That I Shouldn't, the new column where I will talk about cars that I want, why I want them, and why wanting one is a bad idea. Today's inaugural column, in honor of The Chairman of the Board, is one of the few cars to bear a celebrity's name: the Chrysler Imperial fs.
Based on the Dodge Mirada, the Chrysler imperial was Mopar's attempt to cash in on all that sweet, sweet Slantback Seville and Lincoln Versailles money. Unlike the other two, which were four door only, the Imperial was 2 door only. Made from 1980-1983, sales were.....dissapointing at best, a total fucking disaster at worst. Sales weren't helped by the (huge for 1980) almost $20,000 price tag, or Chrysler's shoddy fuel injection system, "developed in the same labs as NASA's Apollo Program", was so unreliable that Chrysler eventually gave up and issued a recall, replacing the throttle body injection with a carburetor.
Offered for 1981 and 1982 only was the Frank Sinatra Edition, or "Imperial fs" (yes, lowercase), as it was advertised. Offered only in light blue, with blue interior, which they claim to be color matched to Frank's eyes, the special edition included the exclusive color combo, a dash placard, gold "fs" badging, and a special compartment for the custom Mark Cross cassette case, capable of holding 52 cassettes, coming with 18 of Frank Sinatra's albums on cassette. Production figures are as unreliable as their fuel injection, with anywhere between 148 and 400 Imperial "fs"s made.
Why I want one: Being a big Sinatra fan from NJ, any personal luxury car bearing his namesake will appeal to me. I also really love the exclusive color combo and wheels, and am a sucker for rare special editions.
Why I shouldn't want one: Being an early 80s Mopar, the build quality is awful, unreliable production figures mean it's anyone's guess as to wether or not it's real or a clone, not to mention the rising prices on cars like this recently.
Go big or go home: Frank himself had a custom stretched Imperial fs commissioned by Lee Iacocca himself.
coqui70
> Your boy, BJR
03/29/2015 at 11:52 |
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If The Chairman says it's good who are you to question it? Get your head on straight capisce!?
cornerslide
> Your boy, BJR
03/29/2015 at 12:19 |
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I'm with you. The look of these cars is what drew me in as well.
ranwhenparked
> Your boy, BJR
03/29/2015 at 14:49 |
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Yeah, I kind of have a thing for these too. They've got an imposing look, and the build quality was closer to acceptable than the rest of Chrysler's output at the time (thanks to more intensive quality control procedures). Plus, extra heavy gauge sheet metal - now that's real luxury!
They just came out at a really bad time. Sales of luxury cars were kind of in the toilet because of the early '80s recession, and Chrysler had just come out of a scrape with bankruptcy and was still contending with the negative publicity/fears of viability that came along with that. Had they launched it at the same time as GM's downsized Eldorado/Toronado/Riviera in 1978 for the '79 model year, it probably would have done a lot better. Better, but no doubt still not great.
Lee Iacocca was said to have been embarrassed about it. Not that it wasn't the sort of car he would drive himself, but that he recognized that coming out with a $20,000 vanity product so soon after taking government money was going to look pretty tone deaf to Chrysler's critics. The development was too far along when he took over, and cancelling it would have wasted too much money, so he went ahead with it, but with only a token advertising campaign to keep a low profile and avoid spending too much more on it. That no doubt hurt sales further.