Patrik Strub's 1955 Imperial Newport

Here's a brief history of Patrik's wonderful Imperials:

I bought my first Mopar when I was about 14 years old. It was a 1949 Plymouth DeLuxe, which I sold 3 years later. At age 17, I accidentally found a Crown Imperial C-70 (Vin#C551010) in Switzerland, which was heavily damaged. The Hemi and the disc brakes turned out to be recent additions. The Crown was delivered with a "km/h-speedometer" to the US-embassy in Bern (Switzerland) in 1955, and
was in the diplomat's service for roughly 2 years.

At the moment, I'm in the middle of a frame off restoration of the C-70. I noticed that a lot of body parts are missing, for example: body-side sill panel, wheelhouse panel, floor pans, etc. That's why I decided to buy a 2-door or a 4-door 1955 Imperial for manufacturing the missing parts. But that was not easy at all because I needed an Imperial that came from the factory with all the available options! I finally found one in California in 1997. I bought an Imperial Newport (Vin#C557731) from Bill Madden in Anaheim, CA. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of missing parts in the interior of the C-70, for example the jump seats. Luckily, Doug Behr from CA sold me a pair. But I haven't always have as much luck as in this example; many other things are missing or have to been replaced.
The day, when the Crown's back in the street, my dream will come true. There's nothing more beautiful than to be able to drive an Imperial with
my girlfriend at my side and to listen to the Hemi......................what a feeling............CRUISE ON!

Patrik's website:
www.classic-limo.ch

Patrik Strub
Bahnhofstrasse 10
8592 Uttwil
Switzerland

Click on the small image to see a larger one.

	Patrik's Newport is painted "Platinum" and came with all available options including air conditioning, heater, "Solex" glass, Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels and "Music Master" radio.

	A wonderful side shot of the Newport. The exhaust ports in the bumper was a unique offering for 1955. Much of the body trim and the full rear wheel cut-outs were also unique for 1955.
	The interior of Patrik's car is white leather with blue inserts. The interior is completely original and Patrik would like to get the seats recovered since the leather has been damaged by the California sun.

	The two tone dash looks very elegant! Here's an Imperial pop quiz...can you find the air conditioning controls in this picture?
	Here is a picture of the driver's side door panel. The power window controls are visible in this picture. All Imperials for 1955 came standard with power windows and power seats.

	A nice picture of the trunk on Patrik's Newport. The air conditioning condenser is located in the rear of the trunk. Notice that even the SPARE tire sports the Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels...WOW!!!