Silvercrest Roof With FliteSweep Deck Lid: 1959 Imperial LeBaron
Ever see a car and the first thing you think is: I wonder what it would cost to replace a piece of glass in thing…if I could even find it. You might get that feeling if you owned this next car, or you might be concerned about getting some piece of trim or one of those dashboard switches or any one of the thousands of pieces of bling that makes this car so incredible in the first place. I guess my point is that if you are going to drive a car like this, then you’d better be prepared to enjoy the ride because they will never make anything like it again or any of its parts. Find this 1959 Imperial LeBaron offered for $15,000 in Dallas, TX via Hagerty Classifieds.
From the seller:
Chassis/VINMP 413 30766
Mileage108,000 Miles
Engine8-cyl. 413cid/350hp 4bbl Starts easily, runs quiet and smooth. Radiator pulled and recored Oct 2019 New battery cables Jan 2022
TransmissionAutomatic
Body Style4dr Southampton Hardtop
Exterior ColorDeep blue
Interior ColorAquamarine
Rare LeBaron 4-dr hardtop (622 built for ‘59) with stainless steel top, flightsweep deck lid, & autopilot. Always garaged, driven regularly. Older restoration, #4 condition.
Paint and exterior
Nice older repaint from white, good cond. Bottom of front & rear fenders have some Scale 1 rust (bubbles under paint). All chrome trim is in place, fair cond. 2 small chips in windshld & 4 small pits on body thanks to vandal w pellet gun. (See pics)
Upholstery and interior
Older fabric restoration looks nice but not to original., vintage seatbelts added in front. Speedometer & temp gauge work, other gauges & radio do not. Power windows work, locks and seats do not. Factory AC not charged but appears functional.
Mileage
8000 miles currently on odometer. True mileage unknown. Odometer appears to have turned over at 100K miles.
Wheels and tires
Original rims & hubcaps, nearly new Coker Classic whitewall tires
Brakes
Drum brakes are fair. New master cylinder and brake light switches installed 2018.
Transmission
Transmission works well, no issues.
Warranty
No
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I’m no expert on this generation of classic car, but considering how good it looks it seems like a more than fair price for a ride like this….. although a front disc brake conversion would be necessary. Drum brakes all around…. yikes!
Drum brakes work fine for stopping, not so much for repeated slowing. So this would be fine on most freeways and around town. I wouldn’t make it my daily driver in Denver or Aspen on the other hand. Unless you were Hunter S. Thomson. This would be perfect for Hunter in Aspen. Sheriff Thomson on acid in a Imperial LeBaron. Just imagine.
As a very young kid at the time I remember family and friends had these ‘spaceship-like’ cars that seem to disappear as I got older. They traded them in and moved on but as a little kid I always wondered who abducted my uncles spaceship and replaced it with a car of all things.
Hugh, I lived in the mountains when Thompson ran for mayor in Aspen …….different town a little less .ummm……snooty, but when things got weird, the weird went pro. I had a ’63 Imperial.loved it. Traded it for a ten speed bike. lol. This one is absolutely gorgeous.shame with the color change but hey …looks good.
Oh I love the 63s.
My grandmother‘s best friend drove a powder blue 63 imperial two-door hardtop and it was amazing. I really loved the chromed headlights on stalks.
My grandmother had a Corvair Monza coupe, because somebody had convinced her that it was sort of like a Porsche, and a Mercedes 220 SE because that was what the old Packard dealer was selling and fuel injection was the wave of the future. The Imperial parked next to those two was just absolutely enormous yet somehow perfectly proportioned.
I did some work for Rolling Stone in about 1980 and ran into Hunter a couple of times there. He too was enormous but perfectly proportioned. Like a giant speed walking down Fifth Ave. you could see him coming from a block away.
Almost forgot the rectangular steering wheel in the 63. So cool.
that would be a very cool EV swap!