The story behind it is it was originally purchased in Fort Worth Texas by a wealthy oil baron, his family owned and maintained the car in good operating shape for 30 years. After this it was sold to a business in Arlington Texas called vintage vehicles. They owned it for several years before selling it in 2002 to an elderly man in Decatur Texas because he fancied not having to wear shoulder strap seatbelts. They sold it for $5,000.00 to him, he drove it for about a year with all the electrical components in top operating shape. One day in early 2003 he was backing the '66 LeBaron down a boat ramp (besides riding around in the Imperial he also used it to tow his boat!). The engine died and he was unable to stop the massive sedan's descent, as a result it rolled right into the water. It was fully submerged for 2 hours. You can imagine the challenges that I face with resurrecting this proud car just from an electrical standpoint. I firmly believe that this rare Imperial can be saved and restored to glory, everyday I make a little more progress. Updates to come soon!
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| I am sure I can get the old 440 to run again | The destinctive Lebaron interior |
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| The proud eagle in all its glory | You can't even see through the windshield |
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| Anybody got a good steering wheel center? | A little--no, make that a lot, of elbow grease is needed throughout |
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| The veneers appear intact and highly restorable | Nice, straight, cancer free body. Really despite its complete submersion in the lake it remainstotally rust free. I guess a life in Texas and being heavily undercoated from new helped. |
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| Filthy but restorable | Look at all the dust |
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| Original Certicard is still in place | A shot from the side of it, sitting in its cage dirty and angry |
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| As I found it, filthy after having been let sit under an awning in north Texas for a year |
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