Hubert Andre's 1955 Imperial Newport

Imperial Home Page -> Imperials by Year -> 1955 -> Hubert

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I have owned classic American cars for about 20 years. I bought my Imperial Newport in 1997 in Paris at an auction, just in time to replace my Desoto Firedome Sportsman which was also a very good car.

The car was imported from the Seattle area to France in July of '91. (It was owned at that time by Apker Classics of Seattle If somebody knows the history of this car, I would be really like to learn about it, so please contact me, so that I can learn more about my Imperial.

When I purchased my Imperial it was in average condition with some electrical troubles and bad and incorrect paint. Thanks to Philippe Courant, another French Mopar nut, I obtained the right colors from PPG (gold over platinum) and the car was repainted in '99. The chrome was also redone and the complete undercarriage of the car has been cleaned and repaint.

The engine was in good running order, needing only new gaskets and a tune-up kit. I painted it the right colors using epoxy paint, which is much more resistant than the original.

The car was totally complete in July, 2000 and its first trip was to the "Rally of the Giants" in England. This is a very nice meeting near London for all models of classic American cars up to 1959. To my delight, my Imperial received the meet's "Overseas Award."

This year, I wanted to visit Norway and Sweden with my family, not only because these countries are beautiful, but because I know that there is a lot of classic Mopars out there...

and we were not disappointed.

We missed the "Power Big Meet" in Vasteras, but enjoyed the "Classic Car Week", in Rattvik, with more than 2,000 classic cars during one week in a very little town! Absolutely wonderful. We met Stig Molteberg, from the Nordic Mopar register, and Arne Nilsson, perhaps the best Mopar restorer in Europe.

Of course, there was plenty of Imperials, from all production years. I strongly recommend this meeting for all American cars enthusiasts!

Our trip this summer, we drove about 4,500 miles for the whole trip, crossing Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The Imperial needed only 1 liter of engine oil, and a quart of steering pump oil. That was all!

My Imperial now has 107,000 miles on the odometer and is NOT for sale.... I think I will keep it for years...

I wanted to add a warm thank you to all the Swedish and Norwegian Mopar nuts who hosted me and my family during our recent trip in Scandinavia, and a special thank you to Stig Moltebeg, president of the 55-56 Nordic Mopar register.