Continuing today’s theme of shopping while you’re on vacation, apologies are in order for not finding a Porsche Speedster buried in a mine tunnel. Although if you found one, that would be no fun, because then you’d have to drag it out of its hole, catalog everything, and then put it up for auction and rake in some ridiculous six-figure sum from the same guy who never heard of the tulip craze. So to save you from that miserable fate, here’s a 1964 Imperial LeBaron for sale in Jamestown, CA for $2500 (clearly, the empire has fallen).
This is the first year of Elwood Engel’s designs for Chrysler, and what a design it is. Check out the eagle shield, dual inboard exhausts, offset rear license plate, wing-profile-like rear light assemblies, and Lincoln Continental-style “IMPERIAL” script and faux spare. Those rear details give the viewer a lot to look at, and combined with the formal roof it’s quite an elegant car. Funny enough, from some angles the formal roof and angular shapes recall an older Soviet car – perhaps the GAZ-14 Chaika?
Apparently, this is one of the cars that’s just too large to fit in one photograph. Thank goodness most online advertising sites allow you to submit multiple pictures, nevermind that 5 steps back might have got the whole car in. It’s said to run and drive, but also to be ready for restoration, so make of that what you will. The seller also says the 413 is powerful and roadworthy, so perhaps this thing is worth a look as a RustyButTrusty driver. With the torsion bar front suspension, this might actually be a fun car to fling around on ramps when nobody else is looking, and then go gliding off at 80mph on the freeway, surprising everyone in your wake.
Rusty But Trusty 
January 21, 2014 at 3:45 pm |
Paint it black and find yourself an Asian Kung Fu expert to be your butt saving sidekick and you’re almost ready to assume the identity of “The Green Hornet”