There were other contenders for the top American luxury car in 1964, but the all-new Imperial Crown weighed in as a strong choice for buyers with enough money to spend on something that stood out from the masses. This 1964 Imperial Crown is posted here on craigslist in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and the seller is asking $5,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
Lincoln and Cadillac shoppers had other choices in 1964, such as whether to believe the U.S. Surgeon General’s report that said smoking was hazardous to their health for the very first time. I’m not sure how many luxury car buyers were waiting in line on opening day for the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles, but I bet they noticed when Willie Mays was given a $105,000 annual contract with the San Francisco Giants, the most ever paid to a baseball player up to that point. That’s only $1,089,000 today, by the way. Wow, times have changed.
Those well-heeled buyers also had to consider the Imperial line when shopping for the ultimate American luxury car, and the 1964 models were brand new and thoroughly updated in style, luxury, and engineering. There was no longer a base model, such as Cadillac buyers had with the Sixty-Two series, and they were somewhat styled like the iconic suicide-door Lincolns with slab-sided modernism that would look perfect parked in front of your Palm Springs winter house.
The Beatles, having started the British invasion in 1964, likely had little impact on luxury car buyers, unless those buyers owned record stores. This Imperial’s interior looks more like a hotel room after Guns N’ Roses stayed there than the polite Beatles, who debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show in early 1964. The exterior of this gorgeous Imperial has some rust appearing on the edges and in crevices, but the interior is where the next owner will spend a lot of their time and money.
The seats are cracked, but not as much as the sound barrier in 1964. That’s when the new A-11 jet was introduced, and it was capable of speeds almost three times faster than the speed of sound. The seller doesn’t really give any information about this car at all, so we don’t know whether the interior features are functioning or not. While it was founded in the 1980s rather than in 1964, Hagerty gives a $7,000 #4 fair-condition value for this car.
The rugged-looking engine compartment houses an engine more powerful than the one in the newly introduced Mustang at the 1964 World’s Fair. This is Chrysler’s 413-cu.in. OHV V8, a powerhouse with 340 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque when new. It’s backed by the venerable TorqueFlite automatic with a push-button selector, and the only info the seller gives is that it’s a running car. Were any of you around in 1964? Even if you weren’t, would you have chosen an Imperial?
Scotty, my boy, what a great article weaving in history and culture like that. If I were your teacher grading this, you wouldn’t get a 64, why, you’d get a 100. I’ve always loved these ’64-’66 Imperials. You can see the styling influence of Elwood Engel, who helped design the ’61 Lincoln at Ford before moving over to Chrysler. And the unique rear styling of these Imperials has always mesmerized me for some reason. I prefer the front end styling of the ’65-’66 Imperials but they were classy alternatives to Cadillac, still the King of the Luxury Hill. Oh, and since you asked, I was nine in 1964 and had outgrown my first grade wooden desk after a number of years, so the school was forced to promote me to the next grade.
You are way too kind, Ron, thanks! A 100? That was unheard of for me in K-12.
Scotty, I’m going to second what Ron said. Its nice to learn a little history with the car. To learn a little of what it was like, what was happening, prices, prices converted to todays prices. I know that whenever I come across a car or truck that one of my relatives owned, especially if its from before my time, I always stand back, and take it all in. This is the size of the car, this is what it was like to sit behind the wheel, thisbwas their view over the hood. I don’t know if anyone else does that, my brains wired a bit different than normal people. Great write up Scotty. Thank you for the time and research you put into it.
Thanks, Dave, that’s super nice of you. I never know if people will like all the jibber-jabber or even care, or if anyone really reads them or just skims for prices and specs. I guess, for those who do read everything, it’s worth it. Thanks for being one of those folks!
@Scotty
Are you kidding? That’s the epitome of Barn Finds. Lots of jibber jabber. And the fact that you wove in history of what was going on at the time this car was born made the read 200 times more interesting. No offense to the other writers. Ya’ll do a great job but this history lesson tops it all.
We will probably start to expect this from everyone on every car.
I’m glad you did the math for us of 1964 prices with inflation to 2025. My math rarely does the mathin’.
As Imperials go, the forward look of 1957 through 1960 are amoung my favorites. Then they started doing stupid sh*t like the stand up headlights and taillights and cutting off the fins. But, along come Sally I mean, Elwood fresh off of his Lincoln success and he comes up with an absolutely gorgeous design for Imperial. The ’64 through ’66 were also amoung my fave. With the squared off formal roofline these look better in 4 door hardtop design than coupe. The proportions are off on the coupe I think. The convertible looks good with the top down.
Anyway, great write up, Scotty and you know I don’t say that often. I think you just raised the bar.
You are way too kind, Angel, thanks much. I don’t think I could raise anything in this group of writers, other than my glass to toast their superior knowledge and writing ability. But thanks!
An astonishingly cheap price for this car. I’d be on this like a bum on a bologna sandwich if it were closer to Tampa.
Scotty, I am “down” with any car you post, as the kids say.
Agree w RD. Great write ✍️ up Scotty and like Rex says alot of fast w class car for the dollar here. 👍
Great write-up Scotty on a classy car. I too like the historical references, sometimes they are just fun to recall, but sometimes one can see how they may have influenced certain facets of a given car.
Willie Mays: if you want to be shocked, take the mega-salary of one of today’s baseball stars and break it down by pitch or by at-bat.
This beauty could easily be made into a comfy creampuff. The later model 440 TNT dual snorkel air cleaner is a nice bonus worth more than 10x the original unit. The aftermarket gauge trio face down on the floor is also certainly a selling point. Someone removed the trailer hitch but left the pigtail connector in the bumper, should a left the hitch on it. From the looks of the headliner and missing front carpet I can smell the mouse damage but I’d still make an offer if it was 900 miles closer…
Yes and yes. I was only eleven but a gear head already, only not many of these cruised the neighborhood I grew up in. Love those slab sides. Wish Chrysler would bring something inspired by this back. Good try with the new 300 but I guess even that is gone now.
Never knew anyone that owned one, but I always thought they had more class than a Lincoln or a Cadillac. And, for a young boy of just 10 years old, I could even own one albeit from AMT and in 1/25 scale. I had my choice of a
hardtop or a convertible and I chose both! The hardtop kit even had a decal that looked like a vinyl roof so that you could build
a model with real class. And itsy sound strange, but AMT chose to
use the staggered 4-barrel carbs
for the engines in their kits. As I said, I bought both kits and neither one had the single 4-barrel carb and intake in them.
Made a print for a friend of our family that had one. Hers was dark green with a black interior and had that small formal rear window in back too. Must’ve done it right because she cherished that print til the day she passed in 2015. Just wait til Angel gets a load of this!
This seems a very good buy.
The neighbors across the street owned one very much like this. Mr. Sullivan owned an insurance agency, while Mrs. Sullivan sat on several committees, Lovely people of the “Old Guard”.
Mr. Sullivan drove Lincolns exclusively until my Imperial driving grandmother gave him a lift to his office when his car balked. He drove Imperials the rest of his life.
A lot of metal here for the money!
What a beauty/beast! By the way, that’s $5000 CAD, not USD. Even better!
A great buy for my favorite year Imperial, but because it’s in Canada, I wouldn’t touch it. Been there and done that, its not worth it.
HC, tell us why.
Because I don’t want to fly to Canada and try driving it back to the states and deal with the customs paperwork. Also, don’t want to bother with hiring a transport company and an importer to ship it here. Its more involved than most think.
This one is virtually identical to my father’s ’66 Crown that my mother sold after he passed away in 1967. He barely got to enjoy it.
People, that’s $3676.03 in U.S. currency.
West coast, just like everything desirable, lately.
Wow, $3600. That’s what I paid for my ’65 New Yorker a few years ago.
I hate to say it but in the 80s we would use these for Demolition derby’s, You couldn’t bend them, strong car… They would last about 3 or 4 events. They eventually Band them because you couldn’t beat them !!
Yes, if you had the only Imperial in your heat, you hardly felt a thing but every driver you hit saw stars. However, when two Imperials hit each other, both drivers saw stars…