I'd prefer the lighted instrument panel instead of lights in the door panel. Dome lights and under dash lights are enough. Beautiful car just the same.
Yeah, but look what happens; You get the 1956-57 Continental Mark II, and the 1957-58 Cadallac Broughm. Wonderful luxury cars yes, and all exponetially better than any Rolls Royce ever produced, or on the road anywhere in the world at that time, but what did it do for the company or somebody not super rich?
GM spelled it "Gages" to save that one letter. That's worth the price of admission right there! Thanks Adam... you consistently manage to present information found nowhere else.
My 1998 Ford Explorer did the same. When the fuel tank’s sensor realized I was running low, it would throw a light that read “Check Gage” on the dash. I thought to myself “What kind of illiterates do they have designing the dashboard???”
Every time you show this car it takes my breath away - absolutely stunning in the black/gold combination! Like I said before - if I were to be buried in a car, this would be the one! 🤣I thought the mirror idea was brilliant myself - keep it simple less things to go wrong!
For me, ever since the Imperial lost its unique body after the 1966 model year, it just looked cheaper. I can remember a Car & Driver road test of the '69 and they said that "it smells like a Plymouth Fury". Your comment reminded me of that. Sad that their interior designers weren't stolen from either GM or Ford.
@@loveisall5520 I think that may have been Tom McCahill in Mechanix Illustrated. In the late 50's to mid 60's he loved Imperials and personally owned several. You can read a few of his reviews on the Online Imperial Club website.
Iconic automobile when they manufactured luxury without all the computer chips to make everything fail and surveillance. Your vehicles are true classics, most appreciative of your videos
I have a 1972 Chrysler Imperial brochure from a friend who visited a dealer back then. An impressive design with the hidden headlamps and sleek clean lines, also in black with a black vinyl roof. Styling was on par with GM in my opinion. Clever and smart interior design details as well.
Absolutely love that ‘72 Imperial! Same starter as my dad’s ‘71 Newport. Can’t imagine that removing the light in favor of a mirror was that much of a cost savings. But, I guess if you deal in volume, every $ makes a difference. Thanks, Adam! Your videos never get old!
In October '73 I had the pleasure (displeasure) of riding in the back seat of a '72 Newport for a couple of hours as we went around 'trick or treating' on Halloween night. The whole time that I was back there I could hear the gas sloshing around in the fuel tank. I guess removing the baffles from the tank was another way the Chrysler engineers cut costs on their cars!
Hey Mr. Bob Johnson! That sloshing sound is way better than the sudden BANG! sound of a Kia gas tank expanding under the back seat! Kia recall coming soon...
They cut cost on the tank baffles to provide dual premium mufflers with resonators for that quiet cabin. That means can really hear the induction when you floor that big block Mopar. Music to the gear heads ears.
On the subject of lighting, one egregious cost cutting move was Chrysler replacing their spiffy 1968 side marker lights with cheezy reflectors that looked like they came off someone's mailbox for 1969. FMVSS regulations allowed lights OR reflectors for 1968 and 1969, so it technically did pass muster, but it's always been the first thing I notice when approaching a '69 Mopar. I guess the Imperial did get the cool "shark gill" cornering lamp up front, which had an amber bulb for side marker function, but the crummy reflectors remained on the rear quarter. This fortunately changed for 1970, when FMVSS 108 required both illumination and reflectors on each side/corner.
You’re so good at coming up with interesting content. Every video after so many feels like you’ve got to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for topics. But no, each one feels good and fresh even with some recycled footage here and there. I sure appreciate your channel but appreciate your excellent stewardship of all those cars even more. It takes a lot of real passion and yours shows.
I love it! We had a 1972 New Yorker, and the interior here (along with that delicious MoPar rumble which was a hallmark of the 440s) brought back some great memories.
A great trip down memory lane for me. My dad sold Chryslers in the 60's & 70's. We had a '73 Town & Country station wagon that was a monster! 440 4 barrel engine with the towing package to pull our camper. I loved that thing! Oh, it had an 8-Track player too! 😉
One of our fine TH-cam commentators, indeed one “MarinCipollina,” lets loose with a superfluous lesson in diction since TH-cam commentator “jeffsmith846”correctly expressed the quirkiness of automobile’s door control illumination. Whether through editing or otherwise, “smith” carries the meaning satisfactorily by calling the illumination method “bizarre.”
@@fairfaxcat1312 You're criticizing a comment for being superfluous, but in commenting on it you're being even more superfluous! Which makes my comment meta-superfluous.
I have a 69 Imperial and there is a lens with a bulb behind it on the door panel. With the relatively small number of Imperials sold, you've gotta wonder if it was worth it. Plus, they had to redesign the panel to remove the bezel.
My ‘70 LeBaron had light or lights in the door for this. Yet my ‘90 Mercury Sable was pitch black. No lights; no illumination of any kind on the door switches.
“Extra care in engineering.. it makes a difference.” One of the ad slogans for Chrysler Corp. during this era. Awesome topic. Thanks for a great video here!!
Bro, this imperial of yours is just fucking incredible aside from being massive and over the top and in every way, freaking beautiful man what a nice piece of machinery
The windshield looks to be the same exact one that a 1973 Plymouth Satellite we used to drive used. The little mirror was a great idea. It may have been less troublesome later on than having additional wiring for a light for the switches. You truly have an amazing collection of vehicles!
Seems strange they cheaped out on that, since they had 4 special cigarette lighters for the imperial with special turned aluminum and chrome knobs. But then they used the same shift lever as a Plymouth
@@WiencouragerStrange isn’t it? They had some Imperial only doodads but parts-binned where they could. Chrysler had many up and down eras as did AMC, but AMC was too small to survive those down years on its own.
Hey! Adam! Thank you for another Highland Park Hummingbird! Every time I hear that sound then the engine start it means another fun ride in a MOPAR! I would say though that your Imperial was sitting way longer than a week due to the long crank cycle. Thanks for all your thoroughly detailed explanations. Love the mirror solution. Its great the Chrysler solution was just a small hidden mirror with no smoke.
Cost reduction runs rampant across all manufacturing. I worked at Nortel in one of their "CR Teams" . when they were making millions and the joke was, start pulling parts out till it quits working then put the last part back in. We actually quit painting their cell site equipment to save money.
Sadly, Nortel was an iconic Canadian company that was respected around the world. I guess the post Y2K obsession with stock price at the expense of product did it in.
I worked for Nortel for 16 years, installing and testing new fiber optic terminals all over the USA. We always stayed in hotels, had rental cars, and always taking airline flights every one or two weeks. I always wondered how could Nortel afford our travel expenses and still make a profit?
Wow, they thought of everything back then. I’m glad I was born in the late 60s and grew up in the 70s. I remember riding in cars like these, and especially at night it was a treat, because of the ambient lighting. Cars of today just don’t have these special touches anymore. That interior is sublime. You feel safe in that huge land yacht. Love the old Imperials!
Sad to say that the remnants of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep seem to be swirling towards the drain under the reign of Carlos Tavares. A man who is the master of cheap.
Chrysler did not receive any money from the US government in 1979/80. The loans were from banks, and the US goverment's role was to be a guarantor that the loans would be repaid. The money for Chrysler's 1979/80 bailout came from banks.
That "floodlight lighting" looks like the real cheap move. Ten years earlier they had beautiful electroluminescent ("panelescent") instrument panels. This is like shining a flashlight on the dash. They could have individually lit the instruments with bulbs as was done with most other cars (including our 66 and 74 Coronets). I suppose the upside is it should be a lot easier to change the bulbs.
I believe this lighting of the master switch panel started in 1967 for Imperial. On page 17 of the owner's manual for that year, it mentions the "Driver arm rest light". It describes it as adding light to the master switch panel on the door as well as lighting the headlight switch area. The bulb tucked in under and back a bit from the interior door handle, as I recall. I think I prefer the subtle reflected light on the chromed switches over the direct lighting from a bulb.
Adam, you are the king of interesting, arcane malaise-era automotive knowledge. Your videos are almost ridiculously awesome for guys like me who love 70s and 80s American iron. And since I am not well off enough to purchase one of these beauties, your videos really allow me to experience the cars. I'm super envious of your auto collection but also happy that you are highlighting knowledge about these very special cars. Dude, rock on!
Please please please do a segment on the one year only oddly placed courtesy lights on the 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood. I LOVED these and they were a one year only feature on one model only. They were placed on the door panels just above the arm rests. Oddly enough the car also had regular door courtesy lights placed below the arm rest as well.
Thanks for a terrific review, Adam...extremely informative. Just imagine how this car would be if they had used construction materials up to the 1966 level of quality! That would be exceptional.
GM spelled “employee” with only one “e” on the end for decades. Technically acceptable; someone calculated that it must of saved a barrel of ink a year!
Beautiful car! Excellent video as always. Great presentational style. The seats are magnificent on those cars. The headlamp doors sound like wheelie bins falling over! Worth buying one just for that feature alone!! Keep up the good work 👍
I learned to drive in a '73 Newport...basically the same as this monster but even cheaper interior etc. Long, you say? Yup, we called it "The Boat" because Dad's car was 6" longer than his fishing boat. The best part of the design was the loooong straight fender top lines...made parking much easier because you actually had a clue where the ends of the thing were.
I believe this is the most beautiful Imperial ever made. The 72 and 73 were styling masterpieces. If Chrysler would have promoted this car, it would have sold better. It also came with Sure Stop, an antilock breaking system. Yet, they never promoted this feature either.
Imperial, a very good and very luxurious/prestige company by Chrysler, with my favorite models being the '59-'60, '61-'66, '67-'68, '69-'73, and '74-'75 (my most-most favorite being the '59-'60 and '61-'66). It is a real shame it only lasted 20 years (with the nameplate used again from 1981-1983 and then used as the Chrysler LeBaron from the 80s to the 90s). It was a luxury company that was even lesser used and liked than Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, Mercury, Lincoln, and even Chrysler itself (especially the fact it was not as seen as much in movies as those car companies. The only movies I remember the 1970-1975 being a very used car was in "Mean Streets" (1973) and "Last Of The Red Hot Lovers" (1972) along with some popular cop series like Adam-12/Mannix and CHiPS). Still a lot better than most of the modern-day interior and uncomfortable and electronic-obsessed garbage of the cars of today. It makes me wonder, why didn't Lincoln and Imperial sell as well as Cadillac? Cadillac's sales for those cars were always in the 100,000s to 200,000s, but for Lincoln and Imperial, it was around five to ten times lower!
@@matthewpaanotorres7309 for me the 1960 Imperial 2 Door Hardtop is the best American car ever made it is the epitome of American style, wealth, and engineering, uniquely American no other country could even dream of building a car like that. 🇺🇸 🦅
I was looking at a Plymouth Duster the other day and noticed the “hard top” styling but the rear windows do not roll down. Lots of room for the window to roll down but they do not. My theory is that Chrysler was planning to make them roll down but at some point scrapped the idea for cost cutting. I would love to convert one to roll down windows with period correct parts from other Mopars but the Dusters are so expensive now it’s hard to justify cutting one up.
My 1969 and 1993 Chrysler New Yorkers were both the most comfortable and smoothest riding cars I’ve ever owned. It’s just so sad that the Chrysler nameplate today consists of just one model and will probably fade away in the coming years.
.....meanwhile, at Mercedes Benz, the heater controls on my dad's 1971 220 had a fiber optic wire to distribute light over the control and the blower switch......think about that. This was1971- ......
New information that I will keep on hand for future Mopar-head driven conversations. Of course I can't remember my own phone number, but this will be with me always. Thank you for another great video!
Funny, they could have saved money by completely eliminating those front vent windows, (yours appear to be optional power operated)which I happen to like. Most cars did, in '72, save perhaps Mercedes-Benz and VW?
Want to talk about costing out? My wife's 2005 Buick Century has no dome light! Only car I've EVER seen without one at all. It only has those tiny map lights on the bottom of the rearview mirror and 2 above the rear seat grab handles. They're so small, they're useless. Don't even cast a shadow. My son and I ordered LED bulbs online to replace them which are easily ten times brighter. They're fantastic and still not excessively bright.
Thank you Adam. Chrysler continued the illuminated ignition area well into the 1990s as I saw it on 90's Chrysler cars. That cost cutting was not just Chrysler either. They were just more obvious with it. You could see that with the Imperial and New Yorker for decades( 1970's and 1990's) The late 1970's Mercury Marquis/Grand Marquis and Town Car and LTD used the same instrumentation panel parts. GM was really doing this a lot. I recall so many cars that shared parts for decades and it was obvious. The W body Regal and Cutlass Supreme shared the same instrumentation panel in the 1990's . Those cars had different more loaded interiors, and by 1995 it was the same. The Oldsmobile Achieva and Buick Skylark did as well in the 1990's. There are parts that were carried over from other models to others. The Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale Brougham seats were used in Pontiac Parisienne Brougham before 1985 and for one year in Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham LS( a rare option in 1986 until a real Brougham LS was created in 1987). The 1990's B Bodies shared so many parts it was scary. You really could see the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser shared parts with Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice. The only thing unique to the Oldsmobile was the steering wheel, the wheels and grille and the seats. The 1970's Oldsmobile Ninety Eight, Eighty Eight and Toronado and Custom Cruiser 1971-1976 shared lots of parts. The same thing happened over at Buick with the LeSabre, Electra/Park Avenue and Riviera. It was a common practice. The other interesting thing is at the end Town Car and Grand Marquis were still doing it. Another obvious example was Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar in the 1970's and 1980's and 1990's. The The Mark IV and Ford Thunderbird shared parts. That was obvious too. The Lincoln Versailles and Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch did too. The 1992-2011 Ford Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis really started sharing in 1997-1998 time frame. The Chrysler LH cars in the 1990's shared parts. They took the trunk lock cover off the Ninety Eight and Eighty Eight in 1993. They both had them in 1991-1992. By 1993, it was gone. My 1996 Ninety Eight does not have a trunk lock cover. GM took the trunk pull down feature out of some of its luxury cars too.
Interesting, but you got one thing wrong. Chrysler did not receive one single penny in that "bail out". In fact, the bail out cost the US Treasury exactly ZERO dollars. The US Government backed the loans from the banks, becoming Guarantor for the loans. A fancy way of saying the government co-signed the loan agreements. In the event, Chrysler was able to repay the loans before they were due without Government assistance. There were significant if almost invisible changes between 72 and 73 Imperials. The front bumper was moved out about an inch as well as having the large overriders. The rear bumper was also made slightly more proud of the surrounding body with another pair of the overriders. It is also interesting that the Fuselage Era Chrysler and Imperial models shared the body structure. Greenhouse and doors were identical. The difference in length was in the front clip ahead of the firewall. 73 was meant to be the final year of Imperial. A drawing of the waterfall grill proposed for New Yorker became the start of a new Imperial. There was no time to design and engineer the longer clip and subframe, so the 74/75 Imperial were the first to share a wheelbase with Chrysler branded cars since the 1961 model year.
Adam, you’re the auto industry bean counter so you know much better than I, but is it possible that the reason they used the mirror rather than backlighting for the door console was to keep those lights and the dash lights at the same intensity when you used the rheostat? I’ve driven cars at night where the door console lights are at a constant brightness, even if the dash lights were turned to a much lower level. Just a thought. As always, a marvelous video, and a marvelous car!
(At time 5:26), I find the driver’s door window switches interesting, in that the left (vent, front, and rear) switches are slightly staggered rearward compared to the location of the corresponding right switches. This had to be done on purpose, but can’t guess why. (Perhaps the switches might feel aligned due to the angle of the driver’s arm and hand reaching toward the switches?). It seems like on other vehicles the switches are perfectly aligned, side by side. Any thoughts/guesses? As always, thank you for another awesome, insightful, and interesting video!
I have a 1972 Imperial. I never knew about that mirror. The car was my father's. I inherited it. He bought it new in 72. When the 73 came out with the bumper protectors, bumperettes was the name we were told, he ordered a pair and had them installed on his 72.
Adam, do you know how long they put those blue-green ignition lights on the column? The only other one I've seen was on a '71 Fury III... While the flood lighting instead of backlighting is one of the few things I didn't like on these cars, I have to admit that mirror was just genius!
I had a 66 and then later a 71. I noticed at the time that the 71 cut corners in other ways too. Interior materials went down with lots and lots of plastic.
Adam are those dash floodlight bulbs led direct replacements? The light looks sooo clean, and then when you turned on the map light it was an obvious difference in color.
One thing they messed up on was not giving the Imperial a different dash! If money wasn't there for a unique dash they should've at least tweaked it enough to give it a different look - like what Ford did with the dash of the MK III that shared the dash with the T-Bird! As it was, you didn't know if you were behind the wheel of an Imperial or a Newport!!
I so love the Mopars from this time! My parents always had Pontiac Bonnevilles and then the Grand Ville. I was fortunate though to get a Fury III gold sedan with black vinyl roof for my high school driver's ed. This man's Imperial is so cool and such a great alternative to the ubiquitous Cadillacs. I'd have had a hard time in '72 (I was a senior in high school) trying to decide between this fine car and the Lincoln sedan.
I found it hilarious as a farmer how ford used some of the same parts on their agricultural tractors as on their cars. Like there was a digital clock module in the 88 ford 7610 and in the 88 fiesta. when the gear knob split due to age on the tractor, i screwed a fiesta knob on it, perfect fit.
The Imperial was a beautiful car ruined by the overly stiff "Torsion-Air" suspension. I owned a 1969 Imperial once. It was fully loaded and had pillows on the sail panels too. The torsion bars weren't bad up front but, I was not too fond of the leaf springs in the rear. The car was great though on the highway when driven over 80 MPH, and at 110 MPH, I liked it better than Cadillac and Lincoln.
All done with smoke and mirrors. The smoke was the oil leaking from valve cover gaskets baked by those huge exhaust manifolds that are high up on head and now we see the mirror.
That mirror is genius. U get lighting without an additional bulb that needs to be changed. These 72’s have about the best line on a car ever. So long and the front grill is just epic
I implement similar cost saving routines when feeding the family, instead of those expensive dinners with lots of fancy ingredients, like veggies, i serve a 1 ingredient meal, like beans or hot ketchup and then put a reusable picture from a cooking magazine in front of each plate to look at. Works great!
These Imperials were beautifully understated American luxury vehicles. Seems like cost-cutting has always been with us to greater or lesser extents. Unfortunately few can afford items that are built to a standard and not a price point.
@@Art-is-crafta bulb a harness and socket cost maybe 35 cents, a shiny tiny disc and a screw probably 3 cents. Makes more sense if one sell in large quantities though, which these cars didn't.
@@Art-is-craft yes, agreed. It makes more sense if one sell 3 million units over 3-5 years, and save those amounts on a few more items. It does add up to millions saved if it's $1 per car then, but not on this car, as it's very low volume. Probably spent more money engineering that mirror than the savings removing the bulb.
What a beautiful car. I always liked the sound of the Mopar starter on my several Plymouth Fury's I had as young man. As I grow older I often wish I'd have kept my last 71' 2 door.
I hate the "costing out" of nice features. But I have to admit, that little mirror is clever.
I'd prefer the lighted instrument panel instead of lights in the door panel. Dome lights and under dash lights are enough. Beautiful car just the same.
Truth.
Yeah, but look what happens;
You get the 1956-57 Continental Mark II, and the 1957-58 Cadallac Broughm.
Wonderful luxury cars yes, and all exponetially better than any Rolls Royce ever produced, or on the road anywhere in the world at that time, but what did it do for the company or somebody not super rich?
Until it's covered with golden sludge. Everyone smoked back then. 10 cupholders replaced the 10 ashtrays.
@@robk9685 Good point, everyone smoked back then.
That "thud" from the headlight doors closing is very impressive!! You are right to describe it as authoritative!!
It sounds like something on an aircraft closing.
@@dannyo3317...there's a "fuselage-body" joke in there somewhere..
Sounds like slamming a Toyota Matrix door
GM spelled it "Gages" to save that one letter. That's worth the price of admission right there! Thanks Adam... you consistently manage to present information found nowhere else.
That's an old wives tale
@@rickc303It's not. Adam has another video on here devoted to that and how it came to be.
Indeed.
My 1998 Ford Explorer did the same. When the fuel tank’s sensor realized I was running low, it would throw a light that read “Check Gage” on the dash. I thought to myself “What kind of illiterates do they have designing the dashboard???”
Now I know why Plymouth Wrote "Nite" instead of "Night" on my Valiant's rearview mirror, to mark its nightime light dimming position. Go figure.
Every time you show this car it takes my breath away - absolutely stunning in the black/gold combination! Like I said before - if I were to be buried in a car, this would be the one! 🤣I thought the mirror idea was brilliant myself - keep it simple less things to go wrong!
Someone in a previous video commented that this one looked like a mobster. Not that it was driven by one, that it WAS one. I agree, and it’s amazing.
@@oriontaylor The corrupt business CEO and the Wise Guys drove these Fat Beauties in the crime shows.
The dull black plastic on the instrument panel screams Plymouth Fury I police/fleet vehicle.
For me, ever since the Imperial lost its unique body after the 1966 model year, it just looked cheaper. I can remember a Car & Driver road test of the '69 and they said that "it smells like a Plymouth Fury". Your comment reminded me of that. Sad that their interior designers weren't stolen from either GM or Ford.
@@loveisall5520 "it smells like Plymouth Fury" 🤣--- you know that had to hurt!
@@loveisall5520 I think that may have been Tom McCahill in Mechanix Illustrated. In the late 50's to mid 60's he loved Imperials and personally owned several. You can read a few of his reviews on the Online Imperial Club website.
@@loveisall5520Ouch! Yet I must agree. It deserved a better dashboard material.
@@loveisall5520I’m a Mopar fun…but I have to agree with you. 🤦🏻♂️
Iconic automobile when they manufactured luxury without all the computer chips to make everything fail and surveillance. Your vehicles are true classics, most appreciative of your videos
To be fair, you can engineer for failure without using electronics or software.
The "check gauges" light is a good idea since most people don't monitor their gauges.
Have that in my 90’s GM vehicles and I can confirm the light does not come on when the gas gauge gets low.
@@HunterB738 Isn't there a little low fuel light by the gauge, maybe gas pump shaped?
@@emjayay Not in any of mine unfortunately.
Your Imperial is absolutely gorgeous and always one of my favorites in your impressive collection.
I have a 1972 Chrysler Imperial brochure from a friend who visited a dealer back then. An impressive design with the hidden headlamps and sleek clean lines, also in black with a black vinyl roof. Styling was on par with GM in my opinion.
Clever and smart interior design details as well.
Always loved the sound of a Chrysler car starting. You knew it was a Chrysler product just from the sound of the starter.
I have a friend who does a perfect imitation of it! (Specifically a '66 Dart!)
Hollywood loved it and used it in a huge number of TV shows, regardless of make.
@@trudygreer2491 does the friend's imitation get better with a few drinks?
They call it the "Highland Park Hummingbird".
@@chrisgoebel9187 No, it usually stalled out.. !
Absolutely love that ‘72 Imperial! Same starter as my dad’s ‘71 Newport. Can’t imagine that removing the light in favor of a mirror was that much of a cost savings. But, I guess if you deal in volume, every $ makes a difference. Thanks, Adam! Your videos never get old!
Really, eliminating a wire harness running to the window switches etc - seems it would save quite a bit of $$
One less bulb to replace
In October '73 I had the pleasure (displeasure) of riding in the back seat of a '72 Newport for a couple of hours as we went around 'trick or treating' on Halloween night. The whole time that I was back there I could hear the gas sloshing around in the fuel tank. I guess removing the baffles from the tank was another way the Chrysler engineers cut costs on their cars!
Hey Mr. Bob Johnson! That sloshing sound is way better than the sudden BANG! sound of a Kia gas tank expanding under the back seat! Kia recall coming soon...
@@chrisgoebel9187Yikes! lol I'd rather hear neither!
@@chrisgoebel9187Why do you lie? Even back in school. Liar.
They cut cost on the tank baffles to provide dual premium mufflers with resonators for that quiet cabin. That means can really hear the induction when you floor that big block Mopar. Music to the gear heads ears.
@@patndave4919 There were no dual mufflers on that '72 Newport, just the sound of the gas sloshing around in the fuel tank!
On the subject of lighting, one egregious cost cutting move was Chrysler replacing their spiffy 1968 side marker lights with cheezy reflectors that looked like they came off someone's mailbox for 1969. FMVSS regulations allowed lights OR reflectors for 1968 and 1969, so it technically did pass muster, but it's always been the first thing I notice when approaching a '69 Mopar. I guess the Imperial did get the cool "shark gill" cornering lamp up front, which had an amber bulb for side marker function, but the crummy reflectors remained on the rear quarter. This fortunately changed for 1970, when FMVSS 108 required both illumination and reflectors on each side/corner.
Interesting fact. The 1971 to 1973 Imperial could be equipped with a 4 wheel anti-skid braking system made by Bendix.
Today, what's left of Chrysler is Dead Man Walking. What Stellantis has done is criminal!
But in the long run it may benefit the consumers that won't end up purchasing one of their inferior vehicles.
Chrysler is like Kmart. It has been circling the drain for decades.
The sell junk......
They are going for a save, Hemi is back in production. just confirmed
@@plap. Not quite. Had a few hundred hemi engines left over, so they will be offered in a 392 Wrangler for 2025.
You’re so good at coming up with interesting content. Every video after so many feels like you’ve got to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for topics. But no, each one feels good and fresh even with some recycled footage here and there. I sure appreciate your channel but appreciate your excellent stewardship of all those cars even more. It takes a lot of real passion and yours shows.
With Adam's knowledge of (less popular) old cars he'll probably never run out of material.
@@misterhat5823 Absolutely! CAN'T WAIT for Adam to open his own museum!
I love it! We had a 1972 New Yorker, and the interior here (along with that delicious MoPar rumble which was a hallmark of the 440s) brought back some great memories.
Cool idea. Love these fuselage chryslers... And those hummingbird starters
A great trip down memory lane for me. My dad sold Chryslers in the 60's & 70's. We had a '73 Town & Country station wagon that was a monster! 440 4 barrel engine with the towing package to pull our camper. I loved that thing! Oh, it had an 8-Track player too! 😉
The family truckster.
Tha is the most bizarre tidbit that I have ever learned about an older car. How cool.
@@MarinCipollina You are correct. Thank You
One of our fine TH-cam commentators, indeed one “MarinCipollina,” lets loose with a superfluous lesson in diction since TH-cam commentator “jeffsmith846”correctly expressed the quirkiness of automobile’s door control illumination. Whether through editing or otherwise, “smith” carries the meaning satisfactorily by calling the illumination method “bizarre.”
@@fairfaxcat1312 He was rather snarky, but was correct. Lol
@@fairfaxcat1312 You're criticizing a comment for being superfluous, but in commenting on it you're being even more superfluous! Which makes my comment meta-superfluous.
It exemplifies the kind of ingenuity you just don't see in *any* modern cars.
Chrysler ignition sounds just like the Martian death ray weapon in the 1950's film War of the Worlds love it
It really does! Good ear!
EXCELLENT! It does sound just like it! THANKS!
I have to say the mirror is more ingenious than a lightbulb, has my respect. The whole car has my respect!
Backlit armrest switches would have gotten even more respect
@@MarinCipollina how many cars has your company sold?
@@jst7714 Your question is absurd. Why would you think I have a car company ?
I have a 69 Imperial and there is a lens with a bulb behind it on the door panel. With the relatively small number of Imperials sold, you've gotta wonder if it was worth it. Plus, they had to redesign the panel to remove the bezel.
My ‘70 LeBaron had light or lights in the door for this. Yet my ‘90 Mercury Sable was pitch black. No lights; no illumination of any kind on the door switches.
I remember seeing a black Imperial in California, it's license plate read "BLACULA".
The best one I saw was on a girl with a less than stellar reputation's car. "68N IOU"
Nice job! Sometimes it's difficult to sit and watch a program like this that's 30 minutes or oftentimes much longer. This was perfect!
Adam is the best!
“Extra care in engineering.. it makes a difference.” One of the ad slogans for Chrysler Corp. during this era. Awesome topic. Thanks for a great video here!!
Bro, this imperial of yours is just fucking incredible aside from being massive and over the top and in every way, freaking beautiful man what a nice piece of machinery
That transmission stalk knob still screams "Dodge" in a big way...
The windshield looks to be the same exact one that a 1973 Plymouth Satellite we used to drive used. The little mirror was a great idea. It may have been less troublesome later on than having additional wiring for a light for the switches. You truly have an amazing collection of vehicles!
Same exact one in my 76 dodge motor home.
Seems strange they cheaped out on that, since they had 4 special cigarette lighters for the imperial with special turned aluminum and chrome knobs. But then they used the same shift lever as a Plymouth
@@WiencouragerStrange isn’t it? They had some Imperial only doodads but parts-binned where they could. Chrysler had many up and down eras as did AMC, but AMC was too small to survive those down years on its own.
@@Wiencourager People spent more time handling the lighters.
Hey! Adam! Thank you for another Highland Park Hummingbird! Every time I hear that sound then the engine start it means another fun ride in a MOPAR! I would say though that your Imperial was sitting way longer than a week due to the long crank cycle. Thanks for all your thoroughly detailed explanations. Love the mirror solution. Its great the Chrysler solution was just a small hidden mirror with no smoke.
I always felt they skimped on the steering wheels for such a magnificent car!
The sound of the headlight doors closing is like two bank vault doors locking.
The starter sounds just like Squad 51 (except it always fired up quickly)...
I thought my Wi-Fi just went out.
I believe Adam's Imperial was sitting much longer than a week.
Cost reduction runs rampant across all manufacturing. I worked at Nortel in one of their "CR Teams" . when they were making millions and the joke was, start pulling parts out till it quits working then put the last part back in. We actually quit painting their cell site equipment to save money.
Sadly, Nortel was an iconic Canadian company that was respected around the world. I guess the post Y2K obsession with stock price at the expense of product did it in.
@@martinliehs2513 exactly. Then we Canadians lost BlackBerry. And that was the end of tech in Canada
I worked for Nortel for 16 years, installing and testing new fiber optic terminals all over the USA. We always stayed in hotels, had rental cars, and always taking airline flights every one or two weeks. I always wondered how could Nortel afford our travel expenses and still make a profit?
@@GTVAlfaMan they couldn't
Wow, they thought of everything back then. I’m glad I was born in the late 60s and grew up in the 70s. I remember riding in cars like these, and especially at night it was a treat, because of the ambient lighting. Cars of today just don’t have these special touches anymore. That interior is sublime. You feel safe in that huge land yacht. Love the old Imperials!
LoL, The imperial at 235" made my old Electra 225 feel almost like a mid size car;-)
Once again, beautiful piece, Adam.
Bean counters are critical to mass production.
Comparing this interior to 2024. Its A 5star living room.
Sad to say that the remnants of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep seem to be swirling towards the drain under the reign of Carlos Tavares. A man who is the master of cheap.
Adam you never disappoint. Always great content and beautiful cars.
Chrysler did not receive any money from the US government in 1979/80. The loans were from banks, and the US goverment's role was to be a guarantor that the loans would be repaid. The money for Chrysler's 1979/80 bailout came from banks.
That "floodlight lighting" looks like the real cheap move. Ten years earlier they had beautiful electroluminescent ("panelescent") instrument panels. This is like shining a flashlight on the dash. They could have individually lit the instruments with bulbs as was done with most other cars (including our 66 and 74 Coronets). I suppose the upside is it should be a lot easier to change the bulbs.
‘Warm and inviting’ is the term I would use to describe that Imperial’s interior. Seems to be sadly rare these days.
I believe this lighting of the master switch panel started in 1967 for Imperial. On page 17 of the owner's manual for that year, it mentions the "Driver arm rest light". It describes it as adding light to the master switch panel on the door as well as lighting the headlight switch area. The bulb tucked in under and back a bit from the interior door handle, as I recall. I think I prefer the subtle reflected light on the chromed switches over the direct lighting from a bulb.
This is actually very smart and efficient!
Adam, you are the king of interesting, arcane malaise-era automotive knowledge. Your videos are almost ridiculously awesome for guys like me who love 70s and 80s American iron. And since I am not well off enough to purchase one of these beauties, your videos really allow me to experience the cars. I'm super envious of your auto collection but also happy that you are highlighting knowledge about these very special cars. Dude, rock on!
Wow, thanks!
Please please please do a segment on the one year only oddly placed courtesy lights on the 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood. I LOVED these and they were a one year only feature on one model only. They were placed on the door panels just above the arm rests. Oddly enough the car also had regular door courtesy lights placed below the arm rest as well.
Cool video! Was I the only one thinking about the drain on the battery the whole time?
I miss big cars like these. For a few years, I drove a 1972 Delta 88 land yacht.
Very cool and informative episode. I never knew about the mirror reflecting onto the armrest!
Does this Chrysler seat about 20?
Does a tin roof rust?
Love how you can actually see the front corners of the car.
Thanks for a terrific review, Adam...extremely informative. Just imagine how this car would be if they had used construction materials up to the 1966 level of quality! That would be exceptional.
Please do a video on the headlights opening and closing.
Maybe some other unique hidden light options on other models.
GM spelled “employee” with only one “e” on the end for decades. Technically acceptable; someone calculated that it must of saved a barrel of ink a year!
Beautiful car! Excellent video as always. Great presentational style. The seats are magnificent on those cars. The headlamp doors sound like wheelie bins falling over! Worth buying one just for that feature alone!! Keep up the good work 👍
I learned to drive in a '73 Newport...basically the same as this monster but even cheaper interior etc. Long, you say? Yup, we called it "The Boat" because Dad's car was 6" longer than his fishing boat. The best part of the design was the loooong straight fender top lines...made parking much easier because you actually had a clue where the ends of the thing were.
The dashboard/ instrument is awful compared to the mid Sixties models
I believe this is the most beautiful Imperial ever made. The 72 and 73 were styling masterpieces. If Chrysler would have promoted this car, it would have sold better. It also came with Sure Stop, an antilock breaking system. Yet, they never promoted this feature either.
Imperial, a very good and very luxurious/prestige company by Chrysler, with my favorite models being the '59-'60, '61-'66, '67-'68, '69-'73, and '74-'75 (my most-most favorite being the '59-'60 and '61-'66). It is a real shame it only lasted 20 years (with the nameplate used again from 1981-1983 and then used as the Chrysler LeBaron from the 80s to the 90s). It was a luxury company that was even lesser used and liked than Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, Mercury, Lincoln, and even Chrysler itself (especially the fact it was not as seen as much in movies as those car companies. The only movies I remember the 1970-1975 being a very used car was in "Mean Streets" (1973) and "Last Of The Red Hot Lovers" (1972) along with some popular cop series like Adam-12/Mannix and CHiPS). Still a lot better than most of the modern-day interior and uncomfortable and electronic-obsessed garbage of the cars of today. It makes me wonder, why didn't Lincoln and Imperial sell as well as Cadillac? Cadillac's sales for those cars were always in the 100,000s to 200,000s, but for Lincoln and Imperial, it was around five to ten times lower!
They used the name again on an extended K car in early ‘90.
@@drippinglass Thanks for the correction, sir.
@@matthewpaanotorres7309 I didn’t mean to correct you actually… that gussied up K car was an insult to the Imperial name plate. 😂
@@drippinglass Oh, funny! 🤣
@@matthewpaanotorres7309 for me the 1960 Imperial 2 Door Hardtop is the best American car ever made it is the epitome of American style, wealth, and engineering, uniquely American no other country could even dream of building a car like that. 🇺🇸 🦅
I was looking at a Plymouth Duster the other day and noticed the “hard top” styling but the rear windows do not roll down. Lots of room for the window to roll down but they do not. My theory is that Chrysler was planning to make them roll down but at some point scrapped the idea for cost cutting. I would love to convert one to roll down windows with period correct parts from other Mopars but the Dusters are so expensive now it’s hard to justify cutting one up.
My 1969 and 1993 Chrysler New Yorkers were both the most comfortable and smoothest riding cars I’ve ever owned. It’s just so sad that the Chrysler nameplate today consists of just one model and will probably fade away in the coming years.
GM couldn't afford a "U" 🤣I guess that's also why their entire massive company is just two letters. The alphabet is expensive, yo!
Dude! That car is better than new 🤯.
.....meanwhile, at Mercedes Benz, the heater controls on my dad's 1971 220 had a fiber optic wire to distribute light over the control and the blower switch......think about that. This was1971- ......
Yes, and GM B-body and C-body cars had fiber optic lamp monitors (some were optional).
Are you related to Elvis?
@@thewiseguy3529 I AM Elvis, baby.
@@greenbus9 i have a present for you. See you soon 👍🏼
The '68 Corvette used fiber optic lamp monitors and so did the '69 Mark III.
Clever trick with the mirror.
Starter sounds like 1 Adam12.
New information that I will keep on hand for future Mopar-head driven conversations. Of course I can't remember my own phone number, but this will be with me always. Thank you for another great video!
Yes more please. Bean counters have ruined many a car.
Funny, they could have saved money by completely eliminating those front vent windows, (yours appear to be optional power operated)which I happen to like. Most cars did, in '72, save perhaps Mercedes-Benz and VW?
one more thing I loved the Chrysler starter sound you could get in a Valient or your Imperial and knew you were in a Chrysler
Want to talk about costing out? My wife's 2005 Buick Century has no dome light! Only car I've EVER seen without one at all. It only has those tiny map lights on the bottom of the rearview mirror and 2 above the rear seat grab handles. They're so small, they're useless. Don't even cast a shadow. My son and I ordered LED bulbs online to replace them which are easily ten times brighter. They're fantastic and still not excessively bright.
Idk if that gen had a dome light or not but I think it might had
Thank you Adam. Chrysler continued the illuminated ignition area well into the 1990s as I saw it on 90's Chrysler cars. That cost cutting was not just Chrysler either. They were just more obvious with it. You could see that with the Imperial and New Yorker for decades( 1970's and 1990's) The late 1970's Mercury Marquis/Grand Marquis and Town Car and LTD used the same instrumentation panel parts. GM was really doing this a lot. I recall so many cars that shared parts for decades and it was obvious. The W body Regal and Cutlass Supreme shared the same instrumentation panel in the 1990's . Those cars had different more loaded interiors, and by 1995 it was the same. The Oldsmobile Achieva and Buick Skylark did as well in the 1990's. There are parts that were carried over from other models to others. The Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale Brougham seats were used in Pontiac Parisienne Brougham before 1985 and for one year in Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham LS( a rare option in 1986 until a real Brougham LS was created in 1987). The 1990's B Bodies shared so many parts it was scary. You really could see the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser shared parts with Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice. The only thing unique to the Oldsmobile was the steering wheel, the wheels and grille and the seats. The 1970's Oldsmobile Ninety Eight, Eighty Eight and Toronado and Custom Cruiser 1971-1976 shared lots of parts. The same thing happened over at Buick with the LeSabre, Electra/Park Avenue and Riviera. It was a common practice. The other interesting thing is at the end Town Car and Grand Marquis were still doing it. Another obvious example was Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar in the 1970's and 1980's and 1990's. The The Mark IV and Ford Thunderbird shared parts. That was obvious too. The Lincoln Versailles and Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch did too. The 1992-2011 Ford Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis really started sharing in 1997-1998 time frame. The Chrysler LH cars in the 1990's shared parts. They took the trunk lock cover off the Ninety Eight and Eighty Eight in 1993. They both had them in 1991-1992. By 1993, it was gone. My 1996 Ninety Eight does not have a trunk lock cover. GM took the trunk pull down feature out of some of its luxury cars too.
Interesting, but you got one thing wrong. Chrysler did not receive one single penny in that "bail out". In fact, the bail out cost the US Treasury exactly ZERO dollars. The US Government backed the loans from the banks, becoming Guarantor for the loans. A fancy way of saying the government co-signed the loan agreements. In the event, Chrysler was able to repay the loans before they were due without Government assistance.
There were significant if almost invisible changes between 72 and 73 Imperials. The front bumper was moved out about an inch as well as having the large overriders. The rear bumper was also made slightly more proud of the surrounding body with another pair of the overriders. It is also interesting that the Fuselage Era Chrysler and Imperial models shared the body structure. Greenhouse and doors were identical. The difference in length was in the front clip ahead of the firewall. 73 was meant to be the final year of Imperial. A drawing of the waterfall grill proposed for New Yorker became the start of a new Imperial. There was no time to design and engineer the longer clip and subframe, so the 74/75 Imperial were the first to share a wheelbase with Chrysler branded cars since the 1961 model year.
Do you have a schedule for starting and running your collection?
I believe in '73, the Feds mandated illumination of the headlight switch.
Adam, you’re the auto industry bean counter so you know much better than I, but is it possible that the reason they used the mirror rather than backlighting for the door console was to keep those lights and the dash lights at the same intensity when you used the rheostat? I’ve driven cars at night where the door console lights are at a constant brightness, even if the dash lights were turned to a much lower level. Just a thought. As always, a marvelous video, and a marvelous car!
(At time 5:26), I find the driver’s door window switches interesting, in that the left (vent, front, and rear) switches are slightly staggered rearward compared to the location of the corresponding right switches. This had to be done on purpose, but can’t guess why. (Perhaps the switches might feel aligned due to the angle of the driver’s arm and hand reaching toward the switches?). It seems like on other vehicles the switches are perfectly aligned, side by side. Any thoughts/guesses?
As always, thank you for another awesome, insightful, and interesting video!
I have a 1972 Imperial.
I never knew about that mirror.
The car was my father's. I inherited it. He bought it new in 72. When the 73 came out with the bumper protectors, bumperettes was the name we were told, he ordered a pair and had them installed on his 72.
Adam, do you know how long they put those blue-green ignition lights on the column? The only other one I've seen was on a '71 Fury III...
While the flood lighting instead of backlighting is one of the few things I didn't like on these cars, I have to admit that mirror was just genius!
Sometime you have to list out all the big old Detroit luxury boats you own!
Great video!!!
I had a 66 and then later a 71. I noticed at the time that the 71 cut corners in other ways too. Interior materials went down with lots and lots of plastic.
had a 72 fury with hidaway headlights....was fun to scare people as they walked by when i turned off the headlights...mine really closed hard....
Where is the "OPEN YOUR EYES' lamp?
Adam are those dash floodlight bulbs led direct replacements? The light looks sooo clean, and then when you turned on the map light it was an obvious difference in color.
Elwood Engel's '61 Continental's canvas still contemporary, modern, and stylish a decade later in this beauty.
Beautiful car & fabulous seats but I always thought the Imperial dash design looked cheap compared to the rest of the interior.
One thing they messed up on was not giving the Imperial a different dash! If money wasn't there for a unique dash they should've at least tweaked it enough to give it a different look - like what Ford did with the dash of the MK III that shared the dash with the T-Bird! As it was, you didn't know if you were behind the wheel of an Imperial or a Newport!!
If Chrysler interior designers had to use the same dashboard template, they should have added brown/gold irregular stripes to make it look like ebony.
I so love the Mopars from this time! My parents always had Pontiac Bonnevilles and then the Grand Ville. I was fortunate though to get a Fury III gold sedan with black vinyl roof for my high school driver's ed. This man's Imperial is so cool and such a great alternative to the ubiquitous Cadillacs. I'd have had a hard time in '72 (I was a senior in high school) trying to decide between this fine car and the Lincoln sedan.
I found it hilarious as a farmer how ford used some of the same parts on their agricultural tractors as on their cars. Like there was a digital clock module in the 88 ford 7610 and in the 88 fiesta. when the gear knob split due to age on the tractor, i screwed a fiesta knob on it, perfect fit.
The Imperial was a beautiful car ruined by the overly stiff "Torsion-Air" suspension. I owned a 1969 Imperial once. It was fully loaded and had pillows on the sail panels too. The torsion bars weren't bad up front but, I was not too fond of the leaf springs in the rear. The car was great though on the highway when driven over 80 MPH, and at 110 MPH, I liked it better than Cadillac and Lincoln.
It eliminated the bulb, socket, wire, solder, trim pieces and probably more.
All done with smoke and mirrors. The smoke was the oil leaking from valve cover gaskets baked by those huge exhaust manifolds that are high up on head and now we see the mirror.
That mirror is genius. U get lighting without an additional bulb that needs to be changed. These 72’s have about the best line on a car ever. So long and the front grill is just epic
That antenna could deploy ICBM alarms in Russia! 😂
I don't have a problem with this type of simplification. Functional with much less fuss. Fewer things to break.
I implement similar cost saving routines when feeding the family, instead of those expensive dinners with lots of fancy ingredients, like veggies, i serve a 1 ingredient meal, like beans or hot ketchup and then put a reusable picture from a cooking magazine in front of each plate to look at. Works great!
I miss the 60’s and 70’s so much. The US for all its issues was so much cooler than today.
My 73 Gran Fury Brougham with the fender turn signals didn’t have the dash indicators either.
That seems like an AMC solution. It's weird that the cost of that light was the only concern. The door lights could've been eliminated, as well.
These Imperials were beautifully understated American luxury vehicles. Seems like cost-cutting has always been with us to greater or lesser extents. Unfortunately few can afford items that are built to a standard and not a price point.
I cannot see it really save any money though. More than likely somebody did not like it.
@@Art-is-crafta bulb a harness and socket cost maybe 35 cents, a shiny tiny disc and a screw probably 3 cents.
Makes more sense if one sell in large quantities though, which these cars didn't.
@@Santor-
So producing 2000 cars at a saving of $700 would not mean that much to a manufacturer. Trying to play people to come up with it costs more.
@@Art-is-craft yes, agreed. It makes more sense if one sell 3 million units over 3-5 years, and save those amounts on a few more items. It does add up to millions saved if it's $1 per car then, but not on this car, as it's very low volume. Probably spent more money engineering that mirror than the savings removing the bulb.
How did they make that cold white light on the instrument panel?
Could you do a night time driving video in this car? Would love to see that.
How nice to have the time to sit in the garage at night and play with the lights.
I'm green with envy too... its kind of a gold green like that leather interior
What a beautiful car. I always liked the sound of the Mopar starter on my several Plymouth Fury's I had as young man. As I grow older I often wish I'd have kept my last 71' 2 door.
I like the push button Auto Matic gear box selection