The seller of this 1950 Chrysler Imperial is the third owner and claims that it has only covered 26,000 miles since new! The paint and interior are believed to be all original. There’s some deterioration here and there, but if the claims are all true, this is an amazing survivor. Work has already been done on the brakes and fuel system to make the car safe to drive and it does look ready to cruise again. It’s located in Shrewsbury, Vermont and is listed for sale here on craigslist for $11,000 or best offer.
The seat belts and floor mats don’t look right, but the rest of the interior very well could be original. These were pretty luxurious machines in there day. Things may look pretty simple in there by today’s standard, but there’s lots of legroom, arm rests, and even power windows! This thing was well outfitted and used high quality materials.
The best feature of this car could be its engine though. That’s a high compression Spitfire straight-eight and it reportedly put out 135 horsepower! The transmission is an automatic, but if you look at the interior you will notice a clutch pedal. Chrysler’s Fluid Drive transmission was sort of hybrid with a fluid coupling in place of the flywheel. You can read more about it here on Allpar.
This car may not be as exciting as a muscle or sports car, but the more I look at it, the more I like it! It was a high quality automobile and the fact that it’s so original makes it very appealing. Hopefully, it goes to good home where it will be preserved and enjoyed on occasion. Very cautiously of course!
Truly a design ethos from another era. Staring at the square, square corners of the flathead, the initial concept that crossed my mind was “towmotor”.
I can’t even imagine the weight of that block.
Love everything about this car!
A Beauty at a fair price or OBO. I’m trust it will be well kept at a good home
That was an interesting read about the Fluid Drive. It doesn’t shift down automatically. It allows you start and stop in any of the three gears without pressing in the clutch. You would still have to manually shift while using the clutch, though you would not have worry much about matching engine speeds. The recommendation was to leave it in second at stops, letting the viscous coupling spin. It said a draw back was the need for a working emergency brake since leaving it in gear would still allow the car to roll. I wonder how many of these cars went rolling down hills into who knows what when their e-brakes failed.
Fluid Drive is not that simple. There are several versions of it. The M4 & M6 transmissions were semi automatic with 4 forward gears. 1 & 2 were low and 3 & 4 were hi. Depress the clutch and select hi and you could drive all day in 3 & 4 gears. Downshifting was automatic, but upshifting was accomplished by lifting your foot off the accelerator. There were other versions of Fluid Drive that used a 3 speed manual transmission that was shifted by the driver. There was also Fluid Torq Drive to confuse matters more. Finally Plymouth introduced Hy-Drive that was an economy version of it all. Powerflite was fully automatic and simplified all of this in 54.
And today the government is worried that the rotary shift dial is ‘too unusual’ for consumers to navigate. We are becoming a sorry excuse of a culture…
WOW! Thanks for the explanation of the different types of Fluid Drive transmission versions. I am familiar with Fluid .drive as I had an uncle who bought a new Dodge every two years, always had the fluid drive. Great to drive……
I have 50 Dodge with the fluid drive trans. It absolutely will roll on a steep enough grade. I take chocks with me everywhere. Wouldn’t have it any other way, though.
From a distance, the front reminds me of a 49 Caddy.
Boring as the day is long, but terrific build quality. Keep it the way it has been kept, and it will never, ever wear out.
Impressive time capsule.
SWEET, fine ride….. Amazing how many cars like this with low mileage show up!
The reason these cars were much taller & more “box” like was that the president of Chrysler, K. T. Keller, insisted he be able to wear a top hat while riding in a Chrysler.
{True story!}
Sophisticated, high quality vanilla cool.
What’s sticking out of the dash next to the radio? Great time piece.