The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Imperial claims it to be the “last of the big MOPAR luxury cars” and says it’s a “a real cool guys car.” Let’s see if it comes with a particularly hot price.
BMW’s once mainstream E30s have entered the same weird world as the Porsche 928. The panoply of used editions available today range all the way from four-figure fright pigs to nose-bleed-priced examples of later and rarer models. The 1991 318i Touring we looked at on Friday was somewhere in the middle, albeit the low end of that middle, considering its $13,500 price. That was with all the hard work to privately import it having already been done and the car being free of any serious gotchas. Still, with the market what it is, that wasn’t an equitable deal in many of your minds. In the end, that saw the Bimmer voted down in an 87 percent No Dice loss.
To say that today’s 1983 Chrysler Imperial lacks the fan base of BMW’s E30—regardless of model—goes without saying. That’s not to imply, however, that Chrysler’s onetime top model doesn’t still have its own cheering section. All old Mopar metal seems to find favor with at least some small crowd.
This 1983 represents the last RWD Imperial to date and the final edition with two doors. Based on the slightly smaller second-generation Chrysler Cordoba and riding on the J platform that could trace its roots back to the 1976 Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare, the big Imperial featured a subtle bustle-back design aping that of the contemporary Cadillac Seville and adopted similarly by the era’s Lincoln Continental. It’s arguable that, with its boxier trunk, the Imperial pulled the design off the best.
Everything else about the car is standard ’70s Americana, featuring a basic front engine/rear-wheel-drive chassis with a leaf-sprung live axle in the back and lots of chrome and plastic.
This one has just 47,000 miles on its digital odometer and looks to be in pretty good shape for its age. The ad touts the car’s paint (Midnight Blue) and Mark Cross leather interior as highlights. It also notes the Cartier crystal pentastar on the hood which indicates this to be a car not to be left in a bad neighborhood lest that go missing.
Behind the fancy-schmancy Chrysler logo sits a 318 CID V8 and a three-speed Torqueflite automatic. When new, the Imperial was distinguished from the lesser Cordoba by being fuel-injected rather than carbureted and offering 10 more horsepower for a total of 140, as a result. Strangely, the ad indicates that this car had a carb conversion at 1970 miles, deduced from a tag on the door. More recently, the ad claims, the engine underwent a full gasket refresh and the oil pan does look respectably clean considering the car’s age.
There’s a lot to like in the interior as well. The color-coordinated leather and ’70s styling is a bit overpowering upon first impression, but that’s likely something that familiarity would address. This isn’t a restored car, so there is some surface rust notable on the door jams, and it does apparently rock its original ozone-depleting A/C gas. Those factors, along with mundane performance and fuel economy, belie the car’s age and era.
According to the seller, though, this Imperial draws looks like nobody’s business. It’s also had a good bit of maintenance and repair to keep it in top form, so while it won’t be fast, at least it will be comfortable and functional. It also comes with a clean title and lots of paperwork, both factors we like. Could it all together be worth its $9,500 asking price?
That’s the question you’ll have to answer in both the comments and with your vote. What will it be? Is paying that $9,500 asking an imperial idea? Or does this big Mopar coupe simply cost a king’s ransom?
You decide!
Chicago, Illinois, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Don R. for the hookup!
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