Topic: Motoring Memories: Chrysler Imperial, 1981-1983

[Autos_Editor]

Chrysler resurrected the Imperial name to project an upscale image, says Bill Vance, but the Dodge Aspen-based luxury car was a failure.

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[Erik]

Oddly, I just saw one of these going down the road yesterday. By it's own power yet!

I always thought they were a nice looking car. Just too much Aspen/Volare still in them.

[Gardiner Westbound]

Every Imperial built at the sole-source Windsor, Ontario, plant, was given extra inspections and then taken on an 8.8-kilometre (5.5-mile) test drive over a variety of roads to confirm that everything was functioning perfectly.

Can't imagine what the extra inspections and test drive entailed. The quality was dismal. Parts sometimes fell off on the drive home from the dealership. They made a Lada look like a Rolls Royce. Dreck like this made the Detroit Three what they are today.

[nsmyhte]

If only Chrysler gave as much importance to engineering and performance as how the car looked, it may have been decent.

[kenm]

If only Chrysler gave as much importance to engineering and performance as how the car looked, it may have been decent.

Now there's a statement to make one pause for thought.

[timelynoise]

Parts sometimes fell off on the drive home from the dealership.

I think that's a bit of hyperbole.

I was a young guy with enough money to buy a new car in 1980 and there simply wasn't anything decent to chose from. There was nothing on the market that wasn't crap - it was all a question of degrees of crapiness. However parts weren't falling off new cars even Chryslers.

Virtually everything on the market in the early to mid 1980's in Canada was poorly made and unreliable by today's standards. The Japanese cars were better, but far from the standard expected today.

Ask yourself how many people are collecting cars from that era, or what cars you remember and wished you'd owned. The first gen Mustang 302 with the farm tractor 4 speed? How about the TR7 with the leaking top and disappearing paint? Or a Scirocco with 70 horse power?

The emission control regulations couldn't be met with the technology of the day without huge losses in power and efficiency. A 1984 VW GTI was considered a hot rod because it had ninety something horsepower. The tide didn't begin to turn until electronic controls became powerful and robust enough to restore horsepower.

The switch to water based paints and different interior materials started in the same time frame. All of the first attempts were simply awful.

Iaccoca knew the Imperial was the wrong design, but he inherited it from his predecessors. Design cycles were quite a bit longer then without access to computer modelling. His influence on Chrysler didn't come until later.

[CatsEye68]

Parts sometimes fell off on the drive home from the dealership.

I think that's a bit of hyperbole.

Indeed. However you have probably spent enough time here to realize that such articles just give the domestic-car haters who infest this place just another opportunity to bash the industry. I'm surprised that none have stepped up to compare the styling of this unfavorably against a 1981 Datsun, or to extoll the corrosion resistance of a 1981 Honda.

[Erik]

Parts sometimes fell off on the drive home from the dealership.

I think that's a bit of hyperbole.

I was a young guy with enough money to buy a new car in 1980 and there simply wasn't anything decent to chose from. There was nothing on the market that wasn't crap - it was all a question of degrees of crapiness. However parts weren't falling off new cars even Chryslers.

Virtually everything on the market in the early to mid 1980's in Canada was poorly made and unreliable by today's standards. The Japanese cars were better, but far from the standard expected today.

Ask yourself how many people are collecting cars from that era, or what cars you remember and wished you'd owned. The first gen Mustang 302 with the farm tractor 4 speed? How about the TR7 with the leaking top and disappearing paint? Or a Scirocco with 70 horse power?

The emission control regulations couldn't be met with the technology of the day without huge losses in power and efficiency. A 1984 VW GTI was considered a hot rod because it had ninety something horsepower. The tide didn't begin to turn until electronic controls became powerful and robust enough to restore horsepower.

The switch to water based paints and different interior materials started in the same time frame. All of the first attempts were simply awful.

Iaccoca knew the Imperial was the wrong design, but he inherited it from his predecessors. Design cycles were quite a bit longer then without access to computer modelling. His influence on Chrysler didn't come until later.

Yeah, that's being a bit silly. (Not you, Timelynoise)

These cars were the same under the skin as the Diplomat, the car that made up most of the Police cars in the 80's. While not really fast, and we won't talk much about the fuel economy, that line of cars was known for being incredibly robust. The 318 is arguably the best of the Detroit small blocks. The 727 and 904 transmissions were about as good as they came. The rear ends were basically bulletproof. The main issue this car had was with the fuel injection system, and Chrysler had the carb retrofit "kit" made up to solve that.
Given one today, I'd fit a pre-somg Thermoquad and an MSD ignition and have a smooth, economical (for it's time), reliable luxury car. And aside from any Imperial specific parts, they are dirt cheap to fix and incredibly easy to work on. I've certainly got enough history on that gen of Mopar to call BS on what was said above.