Imperial Home Page -> Imperials by Year -> 1957 Chrysler Imperial Home Page -> 1957 Imperial Convertible Boat
Dick Benjamin, a long time club member found this Boat on a recent trip to the Lake Tahoe area. Here is the story about how the Boat came into being.
In 1957, a wealthy family on Lake Tahoe (aren't they all?) bought a new Imperial Convertible for their son, who was graduating from High School, and of course needed a reliable car to drive to college.
As 18 years olds were the same 50 years ago as they are today, he promptly took it out and ran it into a tree.
The family had the car towed to a repair shop, where it was pronounced unrepairable. Sooo, since they were thinking about having a new boat built for them at that time, they decided that the remains of the Imperial could be used in part to build the boat. So what you see here is a 1957 Imperial Convertible BOAT! Power is still provided by the 392 Hemi (I saw it but could not get a picture - it's in the engine hatch in the "trunk"), and has as much of the interior and dash as could be saved.
It is rumored to be the fastest boat on the lake!
The interior is the original, the top still works (and has to be put down to enter the boat, as the doors don't open any more), the power windows still work, as do all the other standard accessories for a 1957 Imperial Convertible. This was a real knockout, and I hope to see it on the lake next time we get up there.
