Driver's Notebook: Mopar Menace: Chrysler Imperial

Patrick C. Paternie

02/01/2007

Blame it on the brown paint (Chrysler calls it Imperial Bronze) and blocky exterior shape (17 inches longer and 6 inches taller than a 300 sedan), but the Imperial concept can get lost in the shadow of the dazzling orange Challenger. It was only after I drove it and, even better, experienced the rear seat, that the Imperial captured my attention.

Flinging open the center-opening French doors reveals an expansive pillarless view of the opulent chocolate-and-cream-colored interior. It harks back to the sybaritic automotive palaces favored by the Gatsby crowd, an impression heightened by a dash filled with Art Deco gauges and controls trimmed in aluminum. The cabin basks in the luminescent glow of indirect lighting and bronze-tinted window glass. A 5.7-liter, 340 hp Hemi V-8 and 22-inch wheels reinforce a fantasy of floating down the road, preferably with a chauffeur at the wheel. (Click images to enlarge)