1965 Imperial LeBaron Barreiros Limosine

[electra225]

Now this is a BIG car, riding a 154" wheelbase. That is almost 20" longer wheelbase than my Buick Electra. You'd have to have a warehouse to garage this car. Beautiful car....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfev1oUjYvg

[Ken Doyle]

Now there's a hefty Mopar if ever there was one.

[walyfd]

Simply the world's finest post-war limousine... I'd take that over any Cadillac series 75...

[Conelrad]

A word similarity with the Caddy Biarritz...

[TC Chris]

I drove a standard 4-door '64 model once. It was the neighbor lady's and she was visiting and I had to move it. I'm not a huge fan of luxo-barges and so I expected it to be the usual sloppy, floaty mess that most big cars were back then. But I remember distinctly how solid and tight it felt. Maybe it was the unit body? I have such fond memories of my Mom's '66 Plymouth Fury wagon, a great big car that felt like a small, agile car. It was always easy to drive it way too fast. Chrysler was doing something right in the big car suspension/handling department back then. And even though they seemed to have QC problems with trim items and such, the general body integrity seemed superior.

Chris Campbell

[walyfd]

Imperial was body on frame construction with front torsion bars and full Hotchkiss drive in the rear.

[William]

I have always loved Imperial's; they were just a classy car.

Bill

[Firedome]

I came within a hair of buying a dark turquoise 30k mile '65 Imp out of Gettysburg PA (at a retirement home) in the late '80s. What wonderful cars these are, even the standard models.

Although all other full-size Mopars went to Unibody on '60, Imps were BoF until '67, for NVH reasons. The frame models up to '66 were banned from demo derbies because you just couldn't stop them. A friend here has a completely original gold '67 Imp w 22k miles 1 owner that was on the cover of Hemmings Classic Car about 10 yrs ago, and honestly I can't see where they sacrificed much to go Unibody, it rides like a dream, except for a bit of that TorqueFlite whine all Mopars had. His Dad was the original owner of our house and a real Mopar guy too, had a gorgeous '78 NYer Brougham (basicaly an Imperial).

This '65 isn't a Ghia, which were even nicer. Ghia sold their tooling to Barreiros of Spain in '65 when Ghia stopped production (since 1957) and these are considered by the Imperial Club cognoscenti to be of lesser quality compared to the "real thing". A Ghia in '64 sold for almost twice the price of a Cad 75, about $18k, about $190k in current dollars, compared to about $9k for a Cad 75. Jackie O had a '60 Ghia, and Nelson Rockefeller had a '61, I think it was. Only about 140 total were made over the span of Ghia's production. Here'a a '64 Ghia:

[electra225]

Were these cars powered by the 413 V-8?

[walyfd]

I believe they were. ZERO expense was spared on these cars. The finest Bridge of Wier broadcloth, genuine Mouton fur carpeting in the rear, fine hardwood on doors and partition (only cadillac fleetwood sedans and Eldorado used wood, not the 75).

Seats were 6 inch foam rubber, not sprung or were deeply sprung. They only built about a dozen a year compared to about 1500 cadillac limos and formal sedans (matching front interior with no division window). Cost was almost 3x over the cadillac...

Nelson Rockefeller's 60 is still in the garage at Kykuit but slowly degrading...

These were true KMA limousines... you didn't rent one, you OWNED it. And you truly stood above the fray pulling up in one...

[electra225]

What was the cost of the big Imperial limosines compared to Rolls-Royce or Mercedes-Benz in those days?

[walyfd]

I think I read where they were about 20k. Maybe a RR Phantom VI was more but I doubt the Mercedes 600 came close...

[Firedome]

Yes they were 4 bbl 413s. Too bad they did include the long-ram induction dual 4 bbls on them, with that weight they could have used it, if tuned for low-end torque, which they did have more than the short-ram versions! lol.

Jackie's was built in '61 and had '60 styling. Rocky's was a '60, I found a pic in my files, it was the only Ghia Imp to have the "blind" rear window treatment, very private. Supposedly restored recently at great expense!

The Pininfarina Eldorado Broughams were similarly rare but supposedly not up to the same quality level as the Ghia.

I had a chance to buy a '58 Ghia Imps years ago but passed, I couldn't have afforded the restoration and it needed a lot!

[Firedome]

I know Bridge of Weir leather from Scotland was selected for the finest quality with no fence-mark or other imperfections, the finest available. SAAB used it for their 900 Turbos for a couple of years, amazingly, it even has a little tag at the top of the seat. My son's '82 has maroon BoW leather and still in excellent shape, unlike the plastic coated junk "leather" in most cars now.
I didn't know BoW made wool broadcloth, which is still made in Scotland so perhaps sourced there by them.

[electra225]

The 413 was also used by Chrysler as an industrial engine. I had a customer who had a D-600 Dodge truck with a 413 and a 5X4 transmission. He routinely hauled 600 bushels of corn on that truck. Got about 2 miles to the gallon, but it never ran out of power. Massey-Ferguson used the 413 on some of their larger combines. Governed at 3500 rpm, that thing must have used at least ten gallons of gas an hour in full song.....

The 413 was one of those special engines it seems every manufacturer made. Like the Chevy 327 or 366. Or the Ford 302 or 429, on and on.....

[walyfd]

Power really wasn't a concern on these. Honestly, how many ever even hit 50 mph? These were cars that you wanted to be seen in. A Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine and 4 squirrels could have powered one at 10 mph through NYC, Beverly Hills or wherever...

Obviously they had to have the kick to get out of a situation...

In comparison, the cadillac 75 was a lengthened series 62 sedan with a coupe quarter added and the custom roof... these imperials really shared nothing even with a LeBaron...

I compare these to a Duesenberg...

[Ken Doyle]

The regular '65 Imperial was over 5,000 pounds, and the limousine was about 7,000 pounds. It needed that 413 just to get out of it's own way.