| Imperial History | Chapter Two |
By 1928, Imperial had become "America's Most Powerful Motorcar." The 309.3 c.i.d. Imperial six, rated at 112 horsepower with 6:1 high compression head, was installed into a new line of bigger, more important Imperials. Now Imperial buyers had their choice of 15 different bodies, five of which came from Chrysler's own body shops and the remainder handled by the industry's most respected custom coach builders. The firms Locke, Dietrich and LeBaron all tailored designs to suit Imperial's 136 inch wheelbase. These bodies ranged from grand, open, four-door cars, to the highly specialized "Touralette," a jaunty two door seemingly designed for quick, romantic getaways.
Chrysler's Imperial may have been preoccupied with what clothes to wear to what occasion, but the luxury car had not forgotten it's sporting side. According to Maurice Hendry writing in a 1974 issue of Cars & Parts, Chrysler Corporation's Belgian branch entered a 1928 Imperial L-80 in Belgium's 24 hour Touring Car Grand Prix. The Imperial took second place overall, and came first in the over three liter class. The car averaged 57.7 miles per hour. Following the Imperial across the finish line were a pair of Chrysler 72s in third and fourth places.
The expanded Imperial line of 1928 was representational of Chrysler Corporation's greater success. Walter Chrysler, with impressive cunning, acquired Dodge Brothers that year increasing his company's production capacity and adding a profitable name to the corporate list. Meanwhile Chrysler was readying DeSoto, which would soon take the mid-priced market by storm, and was already introducing the new Plymouth.
With the strength of a multi-marque Chrysler Corporation behind it, Imperial was free to grow, despite the onset of the Great Depression. What Chrysler introduced on July 1, 1930 wasn't just an all new Imperial, but one of the most beautiful cars ever built.
The 1931 Imperial was unique in the luxury car field. It looked light, almost ephemeral. The bodylines were relaxed. The radiator, so clearly inspired by Cord, was gently reclined. The fenders curved lazily; the front fender extending rearward nearly one third of the car's length. Even the way the streamlined headlamps silhouetted themselves against the radiator spoke of harmony and quiet confidence.
Soon, custom coach builders were doing their best work to suit the new Imperial.
Perhaps it was an awareness of self that gave the '31 Imperial an air of serenity. Beneath the enormous new hood was Imperial's first straight eight engine, a 384.8 c.i.d., 135 horsepower wonder of remarkable smoothness and power. Like the six before it, the Imperial Eight was not the luxury car field's largest motor, yet it produced impressive horsepower. In fact it was the same size as the inline eights from Packard and Pierce-Arrow, but exceeded their outputs by 15 and 3 horses respectively when equipped with Imperial's highest compression head. Lincoln's V8, also sized at 384.8 cubic inches, was rated at just 120 horsepower.
Imperial drivers were able to make full use of the big eight's power through Imperial's Multi Range four-speed transmission, an unusual feature in an American automobile. First introduced by Imperial in 1929, Multi Range allowed quick shifts and used an unusual gear arrangement. Second gear resided in the space once occupied by first, and was used for normal starting. Third gear was meant for acceleration and hill climbing while fourth was reserved for high speed cruising. First was considered an emergency gear.
Combined with the body's comparatively small frontal area and a low drag coefficient, Imperial's drivetrain produced high performance. An Imperial sedan and roadster set six official A A A Contest Board stock car records and twelve in-class records during 1931 at Daytona Beach. The roadster took the flying mile at 90.4 miles per hour. The sedan was just 0.1 miles per hour slower.
In 1961, Car Life magazine tested a 1931 Imperial roadster with body by LeBaron. The car traveled from 0 to 60 miles per hour in twenty seconds and covered the standing quarter mile in 21.5 seconds. Gas mileage at 60 mile per hour cruising was reported to be eleven miles to the gallon. These figures are more impressive when one realizes that the Imperial roadster used a 146 inch wheelbase and weighed 4,530 pounds - about the weight of two 1995 Neons.
Equally important, but hardly as glamorous, was Imperial's adoption of all steel body construction in 1931. Publicists demonstrated the strength of the new building method by persuading a five ton elephant to stand atop a Chrysler sedan. Reportedly, the sedan's doors opened and closed with ease in spite of the precariously perched pachyderm.
Unfortunately, the Depression did affect Imperial. After building 3,228 cars for the extended 1931 model year, a mere 1,622 Imperials were put together for 1932. Chrysler's Imperials were still the industry's best looking cars, but demand for extravagant, high performance machines had evaporated. In fact, Peerless, one of America's most prestigious automobile companies, delivered its last car on June 30th, 1930. Hopes for a 1932 introduction of a Peerless V-16 motor were not realized, and the once respected Peerless car company left the auto business to make, oddly enough, Carlings beer. Soon other great names would disappear. Imperial, however, would survive.
Responding to the new economic reality, Chrysler introduced the 1933 Chrysler Imperial Eight CQ series, a downsized companion to the gargantuan Imperial Custom CL. Prices for the CQ line were nearly half those of the biggest Imperials and the physical dimensions were considerably smaller. Wheelbase for the CQ line was 126 inches, 20 inches less than the CL Imperial's. Yet, the downsized CQ had the suave good looks of the senior edition, and came in an array of five body styles which rivaled the CL's semi-custom coachwork for style. Unfortunately, the impoverished buyer who opted for a CQ over a CL had to make do with a far less impressive engine, a 298.6 c.i.d., five main bearing, straight eight. Rated 108 horsepower at 3,400 rpm, the CQ's engine was the least powerful engine in the fine car class.
The CQ was nonetheless a good value. With prices ranging from $1,275 to $1,495, buyers could look like aristocrats without spending like them. For their money, CQ buyers received dual wipers, taillights, dual external trumpet horns, six wire wheels, Floating Power (the vibration dampening engine mounting method introduced on Imperial in 1932), automatic vacuum clutch and freewheeling. Standard equipment also included Multi-Range, an automatic choke, automatic heat riser, and pedal activated starter switch.
Response to the CQ was positive. 3,838 of the 1933 model were built, a number that exceeded total outputs for 1931 and 1932. One-hundred and fifty-one CL Imperials were also built, some using LeBaron bodies left over from 1932.
When Imperial again entered the Brickyard to pace the 1933 Indianapolis 500, few spectators probably realized that the Classic era was coming to an end. Cars such as the LeBaron-bodied Imperial roadster leading the racers would soon be obsolete. Research in the field of aerodynamics by Chrysler had proven that its cars, however beautiful, were incorrectly styled.
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