Rare 1958 IMPERIAL CONVERTIBLE

[JBC814]

Totally awesome! If only they would bring back some of those retro designs.

[foucle]

I think those '58 Imps had ultra-violet instrument lighting. Great cars and different from Cadillac and Lincoln but never sold well, esp against an unbeatable Cadillac. The Imps, like all the late 50s Chrysler cars, were lovely.

[DetroitLove4U]

The 1958 Buick Limited is the vehicle in American Automotive History that had from the factory specifications the most chrome apparent to it's make. Now when I see one of those restored - that's something to see.

[BobWXXI]

They're probably basing their "1 of 15 remaining" on one of three criteria; known registrations of similar cars nationwide, known members of the Chrysler-Imperial registry, or likely survival rate based on a combination of original production and overall survival rate for that year's Mopar models. It's probably an educated guess.

But since it belongs to Big Daddy Don Garlits, it's got some extra value on provenance alone...

[DougCameraMan]

@BobWXXI I agree. A rare car indeed.

[auaiao9]

I can just see Milburn Drysdale in a suit and hat driving it down Beverly Hills Boulevard.

[takoma5]

What a beauty..thx for sharing

[ToyKingWonder]

I always get a kick out of statements such as "1 of 15 remaining". Where does that come from? What some owners group thinks? Fact is, no one knows how many cars of any type remain. My Imperial hasn't been registered in 20 years. No one in the world besides me knows if its been junked or not. If someone was able to look up registrations, and I doubt you can anymore, registrations don't say whether something is a 2 door, 4 door or convertible. I wish the BS in this hobby would stop!

[DougCameraMan]

@ToyKingWonder You make a good point about unregistered collector cars like yours and many others that the clubs and motor vehicles administration know nothing about. I think any estimate as to how many "remaining" would likely be based on how many are actually registered, and as you say, some states may not indicate 2 dr, 4 dr, or convertible model so it could be hard to know that real number. In the case of this convertible, suffice to say, it is very rare indeed. I'd never seen one.

[OlegKostoglatov]

@ToyKingWonder I agree, I think many of the statistics are based on owner registries which are purely voluntary affairs. An example is the Online Imperial Club registry, I was on their mailing list for years and never put my car in the registry, and I know for a fact that more then half the people on that list never added theirs, and nobody can add the car without permission. State and provincial DMVs do not share their information with the public anymore so that's a dead end.

[OlegKostoglatov]

Not only that but DMVs only keep info in the database on cars that were registered within so many years, after a certain length of time the car gets dropped from the database if the registration isn't renewed. I know this because my 1954 Custom Imperial was registered, but not licensed or insured, in late 2000, five years later it was no longer in the computer, the car still obviously exists but not in the database.