When it comes to sixties vintage luxury cars, there’s no doubt about it, the ’64-’66 edition of the Imperial is my favorite. And today, for your review, we have a rare 1965 Imperial Crown convertible to consider. The seller mentions that it needs about $20,000 in repairs/improvements to be “nice,” so let’s see what’s here and what the seller suggests that it needs. Pnuts gets two thumbs up for this tip, and you can find this resident of Floyds Knob, Indiana, here on Facebook Marketplace, where it’s available for $15,000, OBO.

As stated in the title, this is a rare one with only 633 Crown convertibles assembled in ’65 – who knows how many are still in service. Actually, Imperial’s entire lineup, two and four-door hardtops, four-door limousines, and convertibles, mustered only 18K units in ’65, putting it in fourteenth and last place in the great domestic auto production race. The listing for this car is hard to decipher; it’s like an E.E. Cummings poem – no punctuation. Anyway, the convertible top works, and the seller states, “serious collector’s only not rusted out does need some body work but its nice nice been garage kept…” The repainted finish still shows well; the only potential rust that I can spy is on the lower leading edge of the driver’s side fender. The outside of the folding fabric top also appears to be sound, but the inner underlayer and the plastic rear window have definitely seen better days.

Imperial-sized power in the form of a 340 gross HP, 413 CI V8 engine serves as this drop top’s motivational force. The seller tells us, “just had radiator recored 609 bucks all fluids flushed…UPDATE: NEW MOTOR AND TRANS MOUNTS ALL NEW MOTOR SEALS AND GASKETS NEW BRAKES ALL WAY AROUND MOTOR PAINTED NEW POWER STEERING PUMP ALL OEM PARTS.” A TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission handles the necessary gear-changing functions on this claimed 90 K-mile powertrain.

The interior, represented by several images, is not comprehensively illustrated, so getting an idea of how it looks in its entirety is challenging. That said, the black leather upholstery still looks fine; I’d suggest that it hasn’t experienced too much top-down time. Of concern are the observed rusty turn signal and tilt levers – moisture has been a problem, often the bane of old convertibles. That in itself isn’t the issue; what lies beneath the carpet may be, however – it’s worth a detailed inspection.

I find it hard to believe today, when we’re buried under so many homogenous-looking SUVs/CUVs, that there was a time when American auto manufacturers produced these outsized, V8-powered, rear-wheel drive sedans, hardtops, and convertibles – many in a two-door configuration. Oh, for those days again! As for this specific example, I’d say it has possibilities – cruising in a full-size convertible is a lot of fun, but I’d want to look this one over in close detail. I am left wondering what that $20 grand need is; how about you?