1962 Imperial LeBaron: Executive Suite

Note: I know I promised a 76 Seville this week, but I realized I wrote up a Seville not too long ago so decided to do this amazing '60s luxocruiser instead. But be assured I will be writing up that Seville in the next week or two. -TK

I miss Mopar luxury cars. Sure, we still had 300Cs until just a few years ago but they couldn't compare to a New Yorker Brougham, Fifth Avenue or the best of them all, an Imperial.

And I was reminded of that recently when a friend of mine in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Jayson Coombes, spotted this stunning navy LeBaron at a local classic car dealer.

All 1962 Imperials were impressive conveyances, with a 227.1” overall length, 129” wheelbase and 340 hp 413 CID V8 under the hood.

But the LeBaron was the finest of them all. Available only as a Southampton four door hardtop, base price was $6,422.

That was a healthy bump from the least expensive Imperial, the $4,920 Custom Southampton two door hardtop.

Among the extras were an extra sumptuous interior, special badging (I seem to recall actual gold was used, and Imperial touted that it was actually classified as jewelry as a result), and a more private ‘limousine style’ rear window.

At any rate, only 1,449 LeBarons were built for the model year.

And while a worthy competitor to Cadillac, Caddy easily blew Imperial out of the water sales wise. Just their ‘62 Fleetwood Sixty Special sold 13,350 copies, at $6,366 a pop.

And I love their ray gun (or is it jet exhaust?) taillights.

These were new for ‘62, though similar ‘lollipop’ taillights had appeared on ‘55 Imperials.

They sat atop new flat quarter panels, replacing the giant fins that were prominent on ‘61 Imperials.

Imperial would last ‘til ‘75, then briefly reappear for ‘81-'83 & ‘90-'93. Since then, nothing other than a rather clumsy concept car in 2005. Probably better that one wasn’t built!