UPDATE – You knew that this 1951 Chrysler Imperial Convertible would show up again after it disappeared so quickly after we featured it back in January! I just ran across the listing and it has made the trip from Decatur, Illinois to Sarasota, Florida. It has been cleaned up a bit and there are a few extra photos in this listing which are nice to see. The seller has it listed here on eBay with a buy-it-now price of $23,495, almost double what it was listed for a month ago. You can also make an offer. Check out the photos again and let us know your thoughts on this one at the new price.
FROM 1/6/2022 – Thirty years doesn’t have quite the same awe-inspiring meaning for me as I get older. That isn’t to say that storing a vehicle like this 1951 Chrysler Imperial convertible for thirty+ years isn’t a long time or a cool thing, because it is. The seller has this luxury convertible posted here on craigslist in Decatur, Illinois, about as dead center as you can get in that state, and they’re asking $12,500 or best offer. Thanks to Gunter K. for sending in this tip!
Big shocker, I misspoke in the opening paragraph. I didn’t mean to say that it’s a cool thing to store a car like this Imperial convertible, hidden away, unused, unexercised, unmaintained for three decades. I meant that it’s cool to find a car like this Imperial that has been stored for three decades. Even though it appears to be in great condition, body-wise, it’ll still need a lot of work as you all know. Also, it needs either black wall tires or fatter whitewall tires, no? Yes. It sure looks great to me though, condition-wise, and this is one of just 650 Imperial convertibles built that year. Hagerty is at $27,200 for a #3 good condition car and a whopping $61,000 for a #2 excellent condition car!
The twin spotlights are outstanding to see, literally, no pun intended. For some reason, I don’t expect to see them on a luxury car such as a Chrysler Imperial. The split windshield would go away for the 1953 and later Imperial models and 1949 through 1954 Chrysler Imperials would be the last of the series for a couple of decades to wear the Chrysler name, at least literally, as Chrysler broke the Imperial out into a separate make. After a few years off, they came back again as a separate make or division of Chrysler from 1981 to 1983, such as our own Todd Fitch’s sweet ’81 Imperial.
I’ll just get it over with now, there are no engine photos of this Imperial. I know, stop the presses. Sadly there seem to be more and more cars, or fewer and fewer, I should say, that have photos showing the engine or underside. I don’t quite understand this trend but I wish it would go away sooner rather than later. The bumpers on this Imperial would basically stop a Great Lakes ore boat dead in its tracks and they may weigh as much. Thankfully, there isn’t much chrome on this car other than the bumpers and some smaller trim, but the invoice from Acme Chrome Industries, LLC will not be a small one. The ’51 Imperial actually had less chrome than the lower-tier New Yorker did.
There are three interior photos and it looks good inside, and I’m assuming that the front seat isn’t original? There are no back seat photos or trunk photos but from the front seat forward, it looks pretty nice, just dirty and dusty. With no engine photos, it’s hard to tell if this one has the optional Hydraglide power steering which would have given early-1950s drivers a treat when it came to parallel parking. The engine should be a Chrysler FirePower 331 cubic-inch Hemi head V8 with 180 horsepower. There’s no word on whether it runs or turns over or anything, the description is as light as the number of photos. This car would be great to own despite the unknowns. All it takes is a quick call to the seller, this could be a very good buy.
This is actually a glorious looking…possibility. But the old line of “why don’t they give the old girl a bath and sell her for more” holds true again. Looks like it could shine rather nicely.
Sold?
Sounds like it: “This posting has been deleted by its author.”
I’ve got two words for that! Nice!
At $12,500., someone got a steal!! These are extremely rare, and bring top dollar once restored. Saw a tan one go for $100K at B-J auctions a few years ago.
Definitely a bargain. Farve, you’re right. A $200 detail would probably have brought an extra couple thousand. You never know peoples motivations, though. Maybe just want it gone quickly. When I sold my Grandville, I could have spent a weekend wrenching and cleaning and netted more, but it would have brought back too many memories of working with dad on the car.
As I said in the past some people do not know how to sell a car.
On the contrary, leaving that car in dusty barn-find, long storage condition, having had no one messing with it or “shining it up”, probably netted the seller more money and a quicker sale.
That’s correct. Most people would rather buy a barn find as is, rather that having some amateur wheel out the paint and use the wrong cleaners on the convertible top compromising the fragile threads and fabrics. I prefer to handle the cleaning up myself and most antique car enthusiasts would rather the seller just leave it as is.
No you take pictures before and after
No, you’re still missing the point. That’s like unwrapping someone’s present before they get it.
For a significant number of people, getting the car in as-found condition, and being the one to discover all its secrets, is part of the thrill and the value.
I disagree but to each, his own cyclemikey! :-)
I didn’t say detail it but wash it so you can see what the body looks like under all that dirt. Their could be hidden problems under it.
Also go look at the car before you buy it unless it is a super bargain.
Definitely, no one is going to hand over 11k without first looking at the car, crawling underneath it, etc, etc, if washed or not.
Three pedals?
At the time Chrysler had a transmission that you had to use the clutch to put it into gear. After driving it would shift when you took your your foot off the gas pedal Dodge called it Gryomatic.
I thought it was called Fluid Drive? For some reason I recall those words either on the dash or the decklid. I do not remember Gyro, but that is in its favor.
Dodge and Desoto used different names for their cars
I grew up driving a 49 Dodge, we called it a slush pumper.
Same age as my Mom! Classy looking car!
chev – caddy; ford – lincoln; nice!
Y didnt they keep that up over the yrs?
Perhaps a lesson in the rewards of a detailing effort. Sure, give us an “as found” pic but then some elbow grease can produce some measurable return…
Nothing changed other than him fixing his price which is why it was not listed very long. Now he cleaned it up . Worth the same amount dirty or detailed. He was informed that his price was wrong and advised to wash it. That’s all. Dust, dirt, etc., are not going to affect the price, no one is looking at that when buying a car.
The white walls are noticeably wider in the new listing
At $12,500 a do-it-yourself master might have been able to turn this into a #3 car without being upside down more than the value of his time. Now it is a #4- non-runner for a #3- price.
Hey guys ,do you think this beauty has an early 392 Hemi ? i would like to know.thanks
331 Hemi it should be. But why not make a swap to a 572 Hemi?
In 1965 I was a college student looking for a summer car.My friend found a 1951 Chrysler convertible for $110. He gave a $10 deposit and brought it to me. I test drove it,and new something was amiss, because I grew up with a 1951 Dodge with Gyromatic. The repair/replacement estimate was $110. No sale
Instead I bought a 1957 Chevy convertible for $70. You can imagine how not nice that was.
My first car in Mt. Clemens, Mi. was a 1951 Chrysler Imperial sedan. The transmission was semi-automatic and called Fluid Drive. Was a mint car until I hit the rear of a Greyhound bus. Give me credit for picking on something the same size. I bent a panel on the bus that damaged the throttle assembly and the bus had to be towed. I was able to drive with the left headlight pointing downward a few degrees. Later a 1957 Plymouth took me all the way through college then was an accountant in the automobile industry, Kelsey Hayes for years.
An $11,000 detail job and $800 of new tires. Initial price was a bargain. Now not so much.
Looking at the inside of the trunk, the current owner didn’t do much cleaning. Inspecting the small details of the car, this holds true as well.
Spotlights must have been a thing back then but I can’t figure out why. I had a 1949 Series 62 that also had spotlights for some reason.
Pete,
Up into the late 1950s The vast majority of street lights ended once you drove out of the city limits. Rural small town America back then was very dark once the sun went down, and finding things like a house number or street name sign was made easier if you had a spotlight. Small towns often had only one overhead street light, in the center of town. These are some of the reasons why police cars and taxicabs all have spotlights in old movies.
While many cars had a battery-powered flashlight in the glove box or trunk, because of the limited battery technology of the times, it meant those batteries were often dead and leaking acid. Those who could afford a door or fender-mounted spotlight could depend on it being available just when you needed it the most.
My dad told me in the 1945 to 1960s era, how the new car salesmen would suggest ordering both left and right spotlights, so when you had to change a tire at night, you simply turned on the correct spotlight and pointed it to the area where you needed to change the tire. Back then this was a good sales tool, as flat tires were far more frequent.
Thanks for the explanation. It makes perfect sense but I’m surprised that more cars from that era don’t have them.
Re: the “To clean, or not to clean” controversy: people buy what they see. I learned this the hard way when I ran an automotive business that included a used car lot. There are people who can see past dirt, etc., but they are a small minority.
If you owned a car like this, you visited people with big houses and long unlit driveways, and, no house numbers, at least not as obvious as the local fire departments now demand, where they are painted on the curb, if a dense enough subdivision to have curbs, or on uniform reflective signs for each address in uncurbed areas.
The semi-automatic was a four speed manual transmission with electric shift for 1-2, and 3-4. A clutch pedal was used to select Low, Drive or Reverse gears. No parking pawl, but the hand brake squeezed the drive shaft very firmly. The clutch was fluid, so no moderated release of the pedal was needed. You usually start out in third (D) and lift your foot from the accelerator slightly to shift to fourth gear. You could floor the gas and it would shift from 3-4 at about 70 if you heeded to get somewhere really fast. Or if you’re a teenager, floor it in first (L) and listen to it scream like a ’68 Charger 426 hemi. They were bullet proof trannys, but didn’t get a torque converter until 1953.
????No one mentioned the curse word “flipper”!! Maybe folks are realizing capitalism is O.K.
This beauty has been relisted at $22,495.