Today's Nice Price or No Dice Imperial is loaded with features as well as audacious '60s style. Let's see what this Chrysler-eclipsing classic might reasonably be worth.
Do you ever wonder what all the safety and emissions equipment on a modern car or truck adds to its cost? It just so happens that we can do a direct comparison. A 2025 Jeep Wrangler Sport—the base model, which meets all Federal standards for safety and smog, starts out at $32,095. In contrast, a new Mahindra Roxor, the modern version
of a 4WD sport utility based on the original Willys Jeep, has an MSRP of just $22,244. That's an almost $10,000 difference. If age isn't an issue, you could save even more with an older model, such as the 2019 Mahindra Roxor we considered yesterday. That one came with a $17,900 asking price and the added benefit of a windshield (another thing that makes the Jeep more expensive) and the claim that it is street-legal. Unfortunately for its seller, the majority of you prefer the idea of clean air and not dying, which led to the general dismissal of the Roxor as a road vehicle and an 88% 'No Dice' loss at that price.
Read more: These Are The Dumbest Looking Cars Of All Time, According To You
Don't Call It A Chrysler
When I say Imperial, many of you might think "oh, the margarine, right?" Or, if you're an anglophile, you might be imagining weights and measures, or perhaps a boozy form of stout. It might take a little jog of the memory muscle, but we should also remember that Imperial was once both a model and a make out of the Chrysler stable.
First introduced by Walter P. Chrysler in 1926, the Imperial was intended to compete with upscale brands such as Lincoln, Pierce-Arrow, and Duesenberg. Chrysler carried the Imperial nameplate as its top-level model line all the way until 1955, when it spun it off as a separate marque to better compete with Ford's Lincoln division and GM's Cadillac.
Initially, the Imperial brand showed moderate success, but the lack of dedicated dealers and parent Chrysler's ongoing financial difficulties eventually doomed it as a separate marque. Save for an attempted revival in the early 1980s, it was done by the middle of the disco era.
Rip Van Winkle
This 1960 Imperial Crown Southampton hails from the marque's heyday and features some of the most audacious Virgil Exner styling of its era. Based on a sturdy body-on-frame design, the pillar-less coupe rides on an extravagant 129-inch wheelbase. That's longer than a contemporary Austin Mini's overall length.
This one appears to be in amazing condition and, according to its ad, has been brought back to life after almost four decades of sitting around waiting for something to happen. That must have been in a museum or collection somewhere, as the car shows no signs of having been squirreled away in a rodent retreat barn or dusty garage.
The work to rejuvenate the Imperial includes all-new brake cylinders, refreshed U-joints on the driveshaft, a fuel pump, and more. Aside from the grunginess of the period-correct extra-wide white walls, it all looks to be clean and in need of nothing major. The trim all appears to be intact, a major plus since that's not something you can pop over to your local Fiat Chrysler dealer's parts department and pick up.
Do The Twist
Another fun aspect of this car is its numerous gee-gaws and gadgets. Topping that list has to be the "High Tower" swivel driver's seat. Both driver and front passenger seats swivel to ease egress by way of springs and cables connected to the door hinges. The seats, however, are asymmetrical, with the driver's side being noticeably taller. Chrysler designers intended the taller seat to give the driver a more comfortable seating position, designating it the "High Tower" seat. I guess they thought all the car's other occupants could just go stuff it.
Powering the Imperial is Chrysler's 413 "Wedge" V8, which was advertised at the time to offer 350 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. It should be noted that both of those numbers are gross output. Backing that up is a three-speed Torqueflite automatic, cleverly operated by a push-button stack on the left of the speedo. The Imperial's suspension is standard for Chrysler at the time: torsion bar springs at the front and a leaf-sprung live axle in the back. The ad makes no mention of how all of this works on the car, but the new mechanical parts mentioned do imply that some effort has been made to make it drivable. It has a claimed 5,000 miles on the clock, so maybe it didn't take all that much.
Large And In Charge?
Perhaps the biggest conundrum surrounding this car is where to park something this big. The ad shows at least one picture where the car appears to be in a garage, so it would appear that it is possible to keep it inside your standard two-car hanger. More germane to our interests is this Imperial's $23,500 asking price. When considered on a per-pound or per-foot basis, that initially feels like a pretty good deal. However, we still need to determine if it's really worth that as a classic car investment. No one, after all, is buying a car like this as a daily to work or for an Uber Eats gig.
What do you think? Is this Crown a grand bargain at that $23,500 asking? Or is that out of the Imperial league?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Facebook Marketplace out of Fort Dodge, Iowa, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Glemon for the hookup!
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