Patricia Pruitt's 1962 Imperial

Imperial Home Page -> Imperials by Year -> 1962 -> Patricia Pruitt

My white �62 Crown 4 door Southampton is named, �The Imp�. Maybe that�s not really very original, but her permanent license plate is, 1962 IMP�so it seemed to me that ��The Imp� suited her just fine. She is recently restored to a condition #3 and looks wonderful. I can�t help toying with the dream of another Imperial someday�maybe a black �62�? I haven�t mentioned that thought to hubby�..

I remember a long line of cars in our family beginning with a �30s� something, dark colored Dodge Victory with a bright blue horizontal 2-3 inch band around it. (I have never seen another one like it). It had suicide doors in the rear and I felt compelled to try them out when I was about 3 or 4 when my dad was driving the family home on a gravel road. I still have a small dent in my head from that escapade! Probably our 1940 Chevrolet sedan with regular doors was chosen for it�s more secure door system! I remember her well, her maroon paint smelled like candied apples. A 1949 sea foam Dodge Coronet 4 door sedan was the next family car and it was then I realized that my parents really needed to solicit my advice on any future purchases! Ugh! The next one was certainly my pick and I wasn�t even tactful�saying, �That is the one!�. It was a beautiful brilliant blue, white topped 4 door �55� Dodge�the nicest, flashiest car we had ever had. Then, in 1956 my dad bought a �56� Plymouth Sport Fury for my brother and me. We had finished high school and had driver�s licenses. I simply drove the wheels off that car and my brother finally gave up and bought a �60� DeSoto Fire-Sweep Coupe of his own.

To make a long story short, my wonderful Fury developed a serious transmission problem at about 150,000 miles and it was suggested that I take it to the neighborhood mechanic two miles down the road. Guess what�two call-backs later on that repair�that mechanic and I started going together and got married a year later. He really never liked my Fury, so still feeling a bit guilty over shafting my brother I gifted the car to his son. He did a ground-up restoration (it needed it!) and still has it today.

But, through all of this, I was a �closet� Imperial fan, but my dad informed me that we could not afford one. So, in 1993 I talked my husband into finding an Imperial�surely we could afford one that was 30 years old! We found The IMP in eastern Washington and made the deal for $1000 cash and a trunk load of frozen boxed beef. Now isn�t this romantic?

These are all 'before' photos taken in Feb and Mar of this year (2007). As you will see, The IMP had lots of rust, dents and scratches. She had been just sitting around for about 10 years...most of that was outside storage. I had her heat one day and then the next day would not start, so my mechanic husband just assumed we had a serious problem thus the Imp was sidelined for all those 10 years. Up until that time I had been driving her regularly as my town car for about 5 years. We bought her in 1993 from the eastern Washington area...responding to the ad I have attached. We paid $1000 plus a trunk load of packaged Galloway beef! We drove her home, about 400 miles.

This spring I begged my husband, David, to look into The Imp's problems. Turns out it was only a faulty fan clutch. That is not to say she was perfect however.

Since The IMP rolled out of the detailers shop August 8th, she has participated in 7 shows and parades. These were all Montana shows and the season is over now. She won a 1st in a small show for best original over 30 years old and a 2nd in a larger show for best Mopar.

	This picture shows the bumper removed to repair major dents and also install a Flight Sweep deck in place of the original trunk lid. That was something that was high on my priority list even though not exactly original.
This one shows the full quarter panel and rear door repair
	This is at the Manhattan Potato Festival where we won the Best Original over 30 years old (obviously they use the word �original� rather loosely).
This was at the Bozeman Main Street Car Show.
	This is the car show at the Reed Point Sheep Run (sounds pretty classy doesn't it?)
is from the Billings, Burn the Point Show
	IMP & Family: This is us...my husband David (left) then me with my hand on granddaughter Cora, and our eldest son Aaron with our other granddaughter Ruby. Other son, Derek lives in NY State so was not available for the family photo. As you can see, David and I are senior citizens and then some!
Townsend car show: trophy for second place in Mopar
	This was from the Belgrade Fall Festival and we had our little granddaughters helping out with the waving.
The sign that I use when ever showing The IMP.

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures taken at the begining of August 2007.