2.   1931 cars had a single tail light and license plate bracket on the left; 1932 and 1933 cars had twin tail lights with the license plate bracket on the left one.

3.*  1931 and early 1932 cars had a short hood with vertical hood louvers in a stamped relief panel; late 1932 and 1933 cars had long hoods that extended over the cowl, with a row of five (5) vertical cooling vent doors, and two holes up topside for the upper cowl vent doors.

4.   1931 and early 1932 cars had no external horn; late 1932 and 1933 cars had a pair of horns, one under (and slightly inboard of) each headlight, and the headlight support brackets had two holes in each for the horns.   (12 Sep 03)

5.   1931 and early 1932 cars had headlights with flat faces; late 1932 and 1933 cars had vee-shaped headlights mimicking the grille (even to the slight projection at the bottom).

6*.  1931 and early 1932 cars had cowl lights mimicking the headlights.  Late 1932 and 1933 cars did not have the parking lights at the sides of the hood/cowl; they had (uh-oh - what? - they may have had a parking light bulb inside each headlamp shell).

7*.  1931 cars had the doors hinged front (for the front ones) and rear (for the rear ones), center opening, in other words, while 1932 and 1933 cars had them hinged at the rear only.

8*.  1933 cars had more modern fenders, covering more the front of the front wheels (most of us who love the big Imperial 8s prefer the older, more classic style).

I wondered what else I'd forgotten (or gotten wrong) and was sure I'd hear all about it (eventually).  Well, read on:

[* - I owe an apology to a gentleman who been after a 1932 Imperial Close Coupled Sedan for some time - good luck!)
  and offered corrigenda, emendations, and amendations to the above list back on 13 Aug 2001!
  They are incorporated (10 May 02).]

Whoops!  look at the '32 CG CCS ad above (repeated here, l.), and now at the '32 CG full sedan here (r.) and you'll see I'm wrong again!  The full sedan has opposed doors, while the CCS has suicide doors front AND rear!

Here is an excellent place to insert an explanation for the 32-33 model blur (and a note about some early '34s); a gentleman from Indiana who owns a 1932 CG CC Sedan offered this as "a quick primer":

A.  CG (145" wheelbase) was shipped between 14 Jul 1930 and Dec 1931 and one or two as late as Jun 1932 but the CG cars numbered after 7803243 and during physical 1932 were mostly cars that were renumbered because they didn't sell.

B.  The CH Imperial 8 (135'") and CL Custom Imperial 8 (146") were both shipped starting 16 Dec 1931 through approx 30 Sep 1932.  These cars had Floating Power engine mounting and freewheeling; the closed car windshields were more "vee"ed than the CG models.  The CL had a hood extending to the windshield.  CH-CL used many parts in common including engine, transmission, rear axle, wheels, dash cluster, and head and tail lamps.

C.  The CL* (146") had the one piece bumper and was shipped approx 20 Jan 1933 and Aug 1933 although one car wasn't shipped until Oct 1933.  The CL* was same as 32 CL except for front end sheet metal, bumpers, lamps; most but not all CL* had leaping gazelles in the dash cluster.  Also, the front spring hangers were modified for the new bumper and the automatic radiator shutters were eliminated.

D.  Radiator shells on the CG, CH, and CL were similar but not interchangeable.  They used automatic shutters triggered by the Syphon thermostat.

E.  The CL* had a grille that looked like that on a '34 Plymouth.  Several of the CL* cars were renumbered CL's (the correspondent has one of the nineteen CL* convertible roadsters; his was originally a CL.  They restamped the block, put a new VIN tag on, the dash cluster was changed, and '33 sheet metal added - probably an executive car, it was originally shipped to Memphis, TN, and then was shipped a year later to Tampa, Florida).

  [SB,III (10 May 02):  I'd completely forgotten about the asterisked model numbers (pre-computer age)!  There were a small number of 1934 Imperials built that looked very much like 1933s but somehow bulkier, possibly with even lower fronts on the front fenders (or my aging memory is playing tricks on me!).]

Said kind gentleman also sent me this unattributed snapshot (note I left in a smidgen of the left and lower margins just to show that I did NOT crop them away!) of a most-redoubtable lady admiring a 1931 CG Imperial 8 claimed to be a "limousine"; I can't see enough detail to be sure of a partition window in the back of the front seat but I'd guess it's a regular 7-passenger sedan (5 plus two jump or "dickey" seats behind the front seat).  Were it indeed a limo and were she truly a lady, she wouldn't be at the chauffeur's position; HE would!

[Could that have been Marie Dressler?]

That car looks absolutely ENORMOUS!  Yet it's exactly the same size as my perfectly normal ordinary '49 Highlander 8 Club Coupé.

Now, note the small gazelle; this could start a war!  Some of the custom cars and later CG/CL-series seem to have mounted the large gazelle; who knows for sure?

Looking at Langworth and Norbye's book, I note on page 68 that there was a smaller Imperial for 1933, the CQ with a 137" wheelbase.  I was looking (unsuccessfully) for information to confirm my fuzzy recollection that the Imperials switched over to the rubber-bushed, three-point, "Floating Power" engine mounting system with the 1933 models (can anyone knowledgeable clear this up for me?).

Instantly after writing the above, I was told that CG, CH, CL, CQ (and possibly CW) engines will interchange; you may have to strip off the bell housing and the front engine mount to use the '31-32 CG block on the later chassis.  The '33 has a three-point Floating Power front mount and a different bell housing, but the basic block is still the same (I am just reporting, here, NOT verifying).  But see much more on this on Cont. Page 4.

CHRYSLER IMPERIAL L-80 and L*80

[1929 Chrysler Imperial Convertible Coupé photos by N. Plant - all rights reserved.]

This is the predecessor car to my favorite 1931 Imperial 8, the "Big Six" model L-80, or is it?  No, it is an L*80!  Nigel writes that the Instruction book he got from the Chrysler Historical Collection is marked "1929 - CHRYSLER IMPERIAL Model "L*" (Blt 10/28 - 6/30)".  A series of articles published in "Veteran and Vintage" on the Chrysler Imperial by M. D. Hendry (possibly an Australian or New Zealander) states, "The first series L80 continued the styling of the original E80 for 13 months, and then on January 1, 1929 the L*80, completely restyled, in common with other Chrysler models, and popularly known as the 'thin-shell radiator models'."  Nigel thinks that the bore was increased from 3½" to 3⁵/₈" at that time.  A 1929 issue of The MoToR shows a picture of the style of his body and calls it a Custom Cabriolet but other references call it as a Convertible Coupé; in my opinion (and recollection), a true convertible (wind-up windows and a padded top) has to have external landau irons to justify being called a Cabriolet.

Nigel wants a set of wire wheels to replace the wood spoke wheels (please NO! - SB,III) and needs instruments and a set of cowl lights and rear lights.

Please help!  I can't wait to see pictures of the car when he finishes it!

Chrysler Model Names

The early Chryslers had numbers, such as 60, 77, or 80 (this latter with a letter as noted above); starting in very late 1929, they switched to letter designations that carried through to the present, such as the CG, CH, and CL Imperials or my later C-23 Royal, C-28 Windsor, or C-46 New Yorker but then started using the names alone for advertising and emblems.  In the late 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s, these were the standard names:

There were the parade cars and the Newport,. with cut out doors, and the Thunderbolt, with a retractable steel top, and others.  Perhaps most notable was the original Town & Country, a "woodie" cross between a sedan and station wagon, with horizontal-opening clamshell doors under the rear window, succeeded by the even more popular '46-'49 coupés, closed and convertible, and then bowdlerized in 1950 with fake wood trim and Di-Noc decal panels.  Newport was then re-used for the first "hard top" ca. 1951 or 52.

The other forgotten special was the Highlander, which was never a separate model but rather a fancy trim package on an otherwise stock Windsor or New Yorker, with Black Watch plaid upholstery and burgundy leather trim; however, the name badges were switched from "New Yorker" to "Highlander" at the factory.  Note that it fits - badges were fitted to holes drilled through the hood in those days!):   (25 Feb 08)

NEW YORKER

HIGHLANDER

One variant that I can not find noted anywhere, and can not explain, was the 1939 Royal Windsor I saw first in Plattsburgh, New York, ca. 1952-53, when I had my 1939 C-23 Royal, my first car, and so was quite sensitized to the model year.  It could have been faked by adding "Windsor" after "Royal" on the right of the hood, but why would anyone bother to remove the "Royal" name badge from the left hood, reposition it, and add "Windsor"?  Much later, I saw a second such car.  Two fakes?

Yee-hah!  Vindication, at last!  A gentleman of my own age, from Pittsburgh, wrote on 14 Sep 03 that "I saw one frequently when I was a kid. - - - Of course I was too young to imagine that someday I might really want to know what it meant."  Misery loves company, eh?

Better and better!  A gentleman a few years older than I (is that possible?) wrote on 14 Sep 03: "Not fakes -- I recall several 39 ROYAL WINDSORS in Ridgewood, NJ, in 1940 -- the dealer there 'inventoried' them."!  Now, all we need is some offical Chrysler paperwork (catalog, ads, dealer literature) explaining this oddity.

JEEP

I always "knew" that the Jeep got its name from the designation, "G. P.", meaning "General Purpose", as in "Truck, ¼-ton, 4x4, GP".  Only one problem with my absolute "knowledge"; that was NOT the original designation.  It seems more than likely that "Jeep" was taken from the funny little character in early cartoon strips of that name, "The Jeep".

Out visiting my younger daughter in California for her marriage, I noticed (WHAM!) this Jeep opposite her car in the garage:

(04 May 2004 photos by and © 2004 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
{photographed against blazing sunlight}

O.K.  How many of you know of the Seep, the ca.-1943 amphibious Jeep 4x4?  Yup, there was a wrap-around hull version created during WWII that was a miniature predecessor of the 6x6 amphib truck, the famed "DUKW".  Only problem was that it sank like a stone if the engine failed; the solution for post-war owners was to install a battery-operated sump pump and, usually, a second battery for that sole purpose.  They're known (today, at least) as "GPA" (General Purpose, Amphibious) and may well have all been Ford-built.

(photo from René Pohl's Schwimmauto pages)

Better yet, how about the Peep?  I seem to be on really shaky ground here, but I clearly remember asking four gigantic Coast Guard Shore Patrol men in a tiny Jeep-like vehicle, ca. 1944 around 57th and Lex in Manhattan (on a SE corner facing east, no less!), what they were riding in (on) and being told it was a "Peep"!  Heidi wouldn't lie, would she?  Let's just charitably assume that these monsters were so big they dwarfed a perfectly normal Jeep, but it was really small and low to the ground and a Jeep was fairly tall (compared to me at 10).  ???  Could there have been a mini-Jeep?

Here's a Burma-Shave sign no one but me seems to remember: