Following the design rearwards, I've already mentioned how disappointed I am with Chrysler's designers at modeling the Imperial after
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| The Chrysler design team tried to stir some memories of the past byintegrating circular, chromed and floating outer ring rimmed LEDs inbehind the clear lenses. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada) |
Rolls-Royce's Phantom. Even if done by accident, which I can't see as being possible with only four ultra-luxury marque's to choose from, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Maybach, and to some extent, Maserati, the styling is too similar for this scribe.
From the rear, its boat tail-shaped deck lid is nothing like the '61. Not that it's missing the sculpted spare tire cover integrated into the trunk lid that came as part of the 1960 car, but rather there aren't any high-flying fins, which wouldn't pass modern safety regulations anyway, and its rectangular taillights are large and flush with the rear panels, rather than similar to the classic "gun sight" lamps that were smaller and hung underneath the same said fins. This said the Chrysler design team tried to stir some memories of the past by integrating circular, chromed and floating outer ring rimmed LEDs in behind the clear lenses, but like the headlamps the details are harder to notice than they were on the '60s car.
The new Imperial's back end doesn't look like a '62 either, which flipped those
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| I overheard comments from some journalists that felt the Imperial's rear end looks like it should be its front, an interesting comment. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada) |
hanging taillights up to the top of the rear fenders when its fins were lowered. The '63 car continued forward with the headlight pods but pretty well killed the fins altogether, integrating what are now conventional taillights, so I suppose, for this reason alone, the rear end of the concept appears most similar to this year. But then, that's like saying a it looks like a Volkswagen New Beetle because its taillights are flush with its body panels, which is about as inane as the Liberal Party of Canada saying the Conservatives plan to put Canadian Armed Forces on Canadian city streets "with guns", implying that the Tories will take over Canada by force and impose martial law if we elect them. Please, let's join together and vote Conservative, NDP, BQ, Green, or even the Marijuana Party to hoist these jokers out of office. The current crop of decision makers doesn't deserve our support, and for that matter disgrace what has long been a proud and (pre-Chrétien) reputable party.
Come to think of it, my previous reference to the Imperial looking a bit like the ZIL and Hongki government limos, ties in well to a leader who has run the Canadian government like an imperialist state, dictating charter reforms without first even having the decency to ask his subjects if they wanted the reforms at all, and then promising to revoke the rights of the people by doing away with the notwithstanding clause, turning all rights to keep present and make future laws over to the government appointed courts - sounds a bit dictatorial to me, doesn't' it? Having dealt with the Supreme Court and their sometimes disagreeable decisions, I think a caveat
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| The Imperial's 22-inch wheels make it look smaller than it really is, but believe me, it's enormous. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada) |
to limit their power and return it to tax paying Canadians (not tax avoiding Prime Ministers) is something worth fighting for, not tossing out like Mr. Martin has done. Can you tell that I'm a bit iffy coming up to January 23rd? I hope that I can make up my mind who to vote for before then.
And while, if I were running Chrysler Group, I would toss out the Imperial Concept with almost equal disapproval, I would want my designers to go back to the drawing board and create something along the same line, extending the wheelbase to 3,124 mm (123 inches), stretching overall length 432 mm (17 inches) beyond the 300C's front to rear dimensions, to 5,435 mm (214 inches) total, and maybe even positioning the roofline 152 mm (6 inches) taller than the popular Chrysler sedan.
