More Imperial Crown four-door hardtops were made than any other body style in 1968 which I never would have guessed. I would have thought the four-door sedan Crown would be the most prolific model. Wrong again. The seller has this 1968 Imperial (don’t call it a Chrysler!) Crown hardtop posted here on craigslist in Portland, Oregon and they’re asking $14,500. Here is the original listing (albeit hard to read), and thanks to MattR for sending in this tip!
The seller says that they have 130 photos ready to send to anyone interested in this car and that’s great, but I wish they would have included a driver’s side photo in the craigslist ad. That’s always disappointing and it makes some folks wonder why a certain area isn’t being shown. They go on to say that the driver’s side quarter panel has a scrape on it and the left rear portion of the bumper also got scraped in that incident. Sadly, none of that is shown in the craigslist photos.
Otherwise, with some “mostly average” paint and some admitted poor spots, this car looks good to me in the photos. Being from Portland is the best news for a vintage car lover as cars rarely rust there, at least as much as they do in the midwest or northeast, and the rubber parts don’t get fried to a crisp as they do in the desert southwest. It’s my favorite part of the country for finding old cars. The third-generation Imperials were made in 1967 and 1968.
The Imperial from this era was still not called a Chrysler Imperial, and you won’t find a Chrysler badge on this car. For 1968, they went with a unique bronze-like metal dash trim rather than woodgrain as was on the 1967 cars. I think I’d prefer woodgrain but that’s just me. The patterened fabric seats look good and they say that there’s only one area on the driver’s side that has a small seam split in it. The back seat looks almost like new.
The engine is Chrysler’s 440 cubic-inch V8, which with a four-barrel carburetor had 350 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque. This one has a rebuilt carb, new water pump, new brakes, and much more since getting it out of storage where it sat for 26 years prior to the current ownership. Hagerty is at $12,000 $9,200 for a #3 good condition car as a general reference. Any thoughts on this Crown hardtop?
Man, as a kid I hated these massive boring Grandpa cars. Not gonna lie though…I’m liking it, 60’s – 70’s kitchen appliance colors and all
What a battleship! Hard to see on the pics the carpet needs
shampooing the rear bumper a refitment and the engine bay
a good cleaning. Nice yacht.
I found Hagerty’s #3 car to be at $9200…did I miss something? Well, at any rate, as much as I like C-body Chryslers, 9200 would be about 4 grand more than I pay for this one. I like it, I do, but for around 5200 let’s say.
You are correct, sir! My apologies, that’s their number for this car, I was looking at the two-door hardtop, dang it. Thanks for the correctlon! (and, I hope your recent trip was a good one)
Thank you Scotty. Yes, we had a fabulous 3 weeks over there. A week in Italy, and 2 weeks in London. We had absolutely no issues with the flights or anything else. Rome was hot, but London was perfect. We took in a really great car show north of London in a town called Croxley. Lots of Euro cars and lots of Detroit steel as well! Cheerio!
Just like fishing,you got to wait for the big one to come along.
Price seems a “tad” ambitious to me. Nice shape but not a $14K car…….very run of the mill Imperial having the highest production number for 68, a 4 door sedan…
To me, the 68 is the last of the grand Imperials. Over the years I have owned at least one of every body style except the limo. The torsion bar ride and the 440 gives awesome power. I think the price on this one is a bit optimistic but ya just never know!
If I had the cash, I’d jump on this Impy, it’s gonna do nothing but increase in value.
So many red flags.
Washington State car or at least licensed their.
No title, “release of lien” from WA State.
“Bought car with a bunch of other shtuff “, ie pos flipper.
AND although a sweet land yacht it’s priced at double its value.
Please barn find lets stop supporting these flippers. Sure the cars can be neat, but there are plenty of legit sellers/owners that deserve the attention.
@Martinsane – We feature the best of what our readers send in so please feel free to submit your own finds here: https://barnfinds.com/tips/
A beautiful rendition of a 1960’s American land Dreadnought.
Although I’m not a fan of the pea green color, both outside & inside.
Imperials were always right up there !
It is surprising how boring the dashboard is on this ’68 Imperial. Just flat with no chrome. Check out a ’65 New Yorker (almost the same car, really) and see how appointed the dash and interior is.
I’m glad the author mentioned how GOOD cars from the Pacific NW are. I’ve had nearly 50 years experience as a collector/restorer with literally hundreds of cars. At least 80% of them were local cars from here–hence, no rust, no ‘burn-out’ of the interior, etc., no foggy, pitted chrome like cars I’ve had from SoCal. Generally, a Pacific NW car which has been treated well and garaged is the best value in the country for ease (and savings!!) for restoration or preservation. Since there’s no salt (unless it’s from the Coast), and if the car’s not a leaker, there should be no rust repairs required. Consider those savings in both time and money.
These were huge cars, but were also fast. In the mid 70’s, a friend had one of these fully loaded. We always wondered how fast it could go, but he couldn’t handle speed. I had a 67 Cuda that topped out at 125, so I offered to check it out. We went out to the old highway where there was virtually no traffic and no cops. I ran it up to 140, decided that that was faster than the car and highway were designed for, and backed it back down. I don’t know if he ever found out its top speed. Chrysler built some really good cars back then. I would love to have one of these, but I don’t think it would fit in my current garage, and almost anything that I bring to the east coast will likely turn to rust in a few years. I hope it finds a loving home.