Considering the definition of the word, any car calling itself Imperial bears a special burden of superiority. When the car is a new Chrysler Imperial, that burden is doubled by a long history of illustrious ancestors. The Imperial standard is almost impossible to achieve.

The 2006 Chrysler Imperial Concept comes tantalizingly close. The basics are there: a powerful engine, daring design, size, and exclusivity. Yet the car falls short of the superlatives its nameplate demands.

The engine isn't Chrysler's most powerful. The design is only just daring enough. The body is just big enough, and the intended audience just exclusive enough. These, however, are correctible faults.

Observers of the new Imperial invoke the Rolls Royce Phantom, another flying-brick luxury car. Yet hidden within the swollen fenders of the new Imperial are lithe lines from the 1953 D'Elegance, an inspiration for the new car. Had Chrysler Imperial stylists paid more attention to the finished edges and tucked-in surfaces of the 1953 original, the '06 Chrysler Imperial would be a more polished design decidedly superior to the merely brusque Phantom.

The '06 Imperial grill hangs loosely at its ends, and the void beneath it suggests need for a crank hub, perhaps one emblazoned by the Imperial Eagle, whose absence is keenly felt.

What's behind that grille seems slightly less than finished, too. The engine is Chrysler's eminently capable 340 horse power Hemi V8. The engine is well known from the 21st Century Chrysler 300 C. Chrysler claims estimated zero to sixty times of 5.5 seconds for the Imperial, and an estimated 160 mph top speed. Imperial heritage demands something more. Time was when Imperial advertised itself as "America's Most Powerful Motorcar." An Imperial revival, especially one as august as this, demands a tweaked SRT Hemi or Viper V10 - at minimum. Hey, any of those 1963 Chrysler turbines left?

Although the 2006 Chrysler Imperial rides a 123 inch wheelbase, just one inch short of the 1975 Imperial wheelbase, the spacious, sofa-lounge cabin à la 1975 is missing. The fuzzy, four-place bucket seats belong elswhere, perhaps in a Dodge Charger fastback revival. An Imperial should be able to carry six amiably, or just two lavishly. Add a little length and jump seats to the '06 and you'd get a Crown Imperial. "Home, James."

The '06 Imperial is dangerously soft on that most ineffable and important quality - class. Too bad Chrysler can't do a do-over for the Imperial introduction at the Detroit Auto Show. There's time, though, to do something about the pimp daddy interior lighting scheme and the "IKEA" furnishings.

Whatever its faults, the 2006 Chrysler Imperial Concept is Chrysler's most successful Imperial revival to date. Hopes are high that the car will be produced, and produced to the true Imperial standard.

-- Dave Duricy