IML: Imperial helped kill off the 3 P's

["Hugh, 58 Imperial" <imperial58@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This may be old hat to many of you but I have been reading a lot of material 
recently about the birth and development of the automobile industry in the 
USA and, I hope, it is always worthwhile to speak of the beginnings of the 
Imperial on this site.

In the 1910 and into the first half of the 1920s, the prestige market was 
dominated by the Three P's, namely the Packard, the Peerless and the Pierce 
Arrow.  By the end of the depression, two of these makes were dead and the 
third had gone down market considerably.  Market forces and changing tastes 
had much to do with it, as did the escalating costs of automobile 
development.  The introduction by the Maxwell Corporation, of the 1924 
Chrysler 6, with an excellent high compression six cylinder engine, cost 
over three million dollars in development alone.  This car is regarded by 
many historians as the first true modern car, designed as a whole for 
harmonious and spirited performance at a price that many people could 
afford.

One of its variants of the 1924 car was referred to as "imperial."  As the 
name connotes, it was a luxury version, and it sold well.  So well, in fact, 
that as the Walter Chrysler set about expanding the newly renamed Chrysler 
Corporation, he added a low end car and a differentiated high end brand, to 
be known as The Imperial, which had a slightly larger engine and a longer, 
heavier body than the regular Chrysler.  The low end car would evolve into 
Plymouth which in due course catapulted the corporation into the same league 
as General Motors and Ford.  The transformation of the failing Maxwell 
Corporation into a giant in the industry with the additional challenges 
imposed by the Great Depression is one of the wonders of the entire 
industry, and is a testament to Walter Chrysler's genius.

By the end of the Great Depression, there remained the Big Three and the 
Little Five - Hudson, Nash, Packard, Studebaker, and Willys.  The days of 
the "Three P's" were long gone.  Only large conglomerates could afford the 
cost of producing luxury cars.  While these sold in relatively small numbers 
they added a lot of prestige.  They were also profitable in the long run as 
their price was considerably higher than other cars lower down the corporate 
scale.  They could also be used as limited production test beds for cutting 
edge technology, such as cruise control in 1958, which would eventually 
filter down to lower priced cars as the years went by.

The possible revival of the Imperial is always a interesting thought to 
conjure with.  Under Daimler's control, it was always very doubtful and, 
when a show car version was made, it failed on so many levels it didn't 
stand a chance.  Now, however, that the company is back in private hands, 
one might speculate that a halo car at the top of the line just might be a 
proposition that would add substantial value to the prestige of the company 
as a whole.  The cost involved, which would include, I hope, a separate 
supply chain, would be astronomical but who here would not like to see a 
worthy iteration of our beloved Imperials rise like the phoenix once again?

Hugh Hemphill
1958 Imperial 



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