The Ultimate In Luxury? 1973 Imperial LeBaron
Longer than a new Chevy Suburban (!) but miles ahead of it in sleek coolness, the next owner of this 1973 Imperial LeBaron will be turning heads every single time they drive it. The seller has this triple-black luxury pinnacle posted here on craigslist in San Marcos, Texas, just southwest of Austin. The seller is asking $25,000, here is the original listing, and thanks to Rocco B. for sending in this tip!
When you drive this Imperial, dogs will run away from it and people will crowd around it every time you park it. I thought my 1966 Lincoln Continental Coupe was a cool and elegant car but it’s a toss-up, I don’t know which one I like better. This Imperial is certainly more menacing and eye-catching. Not to mention more formal and probably more luxurious.
I’m not quite sure if this is a real ad or what’s going on. The description says “$21k obo phone number in the pictures.” There isn’t a photo with a phone number, although one is listed in the “reply” button at the top of the ad, next to where it says $25,000. It appears to be an unbelievably nice car but either price may be stretching the current values a bit. It’s hard to not ask a lot when sellers know that they’ll get hammered by Rick Harrison-like wannabees with lowball offers, though.
This Imperial is the last of the big Imperials, the final 1969 to 1973 Imperials, The Imperial of Imperials. Some could argue that a 1950s Imperial may be the one to have, but hey, why not have one from each decade? The optional Cologne Leather with a split-bench front seat is what most buyers would want – just a guess. I like a brocade fabric but I’m weird. As if the exterior didn’t look basically like brand new, the interior may look even nicer. The seller doesn’t exactly overwhelm us with photos for a $25k car, unfortunately, but what is shown looks great.
I assumed that a 215-hp 440-cu.in. OHV V8 wouldn’t look as plush as this, but there it is. Ok, sorry, you know that I always put an engine photo in the fifth position, but more often than not with craigslist ads, sellers don’t bother to pop the hood and show us the engine for some reason that to this day is unknown to millions of people around the world. We can only hope that it looks and works great, and from the description in the listing, it sounds like it does run well. What’s your best offer on this Imperial?
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Comments
Wow, this car is really cool. I love it, I want it. Hagerty only had a listing for a 1970 LeBaron, with the same 440 but rated at 350bhp. They say an “excellent” example of that model is about $13,000, so the subject car is probably priced 4 or 5K too high. But still, this thing is the bomb diggity.
5150lbs of beauty. Black obviously a perfect color for this big block boat. 3.23 ⚙️ gears came std.
* cool Lincoln Gilbertson. 😎
Now that’s a Car!! I would buy it for the uniqueness!! looks badass!!
Gorgeous car, I wish I could buy it! I can see myself waxing this car on a nice, late summer afternoon.
ALL afternoon, maybe should start before noon!😁
As a buddy of mine says regarding washing and waxing a black car: “It’s not a color – it’s a part-time job.”
Your buddy is 100% correct. I have had plenty of black cars something about a black car just makes it look special but to keep it clean ooofff once washed you have to go back and start over as it get dirty just sitting there.
Sweet. For $13k I might consider it. $25k buys a lot of other toys.
Sleek and black with hideaway headlights. Lebaron edition to boot.
What more do you want?
Hi Jon, I never warned to the Fuselage Chrysler Corp cars. Ultimate Imperial for me is 61 LEBARON with FINS soaring about one inch higher than fabled 59 Cadillac. In GENERAL, I would love to drive most any Imperial, Goin to Atlanta! SURE, MAN.
This is not a Reply to Jon Rukavina – I couldn’t figure out where to initiate a new comment. Anyhow back in ’79-’80 I bought ’69 and ’73 LeBaron 4 drs and a ’73 Town & Country woody wagon, and all 3 were 440s and all were nice clean drivers. Only paid a couple of hundred bucks for each (this was during the height of the 2nd oil shortage when gas was the equivalent of $5 gallon in Washington State where I lived). The best these three Chryslers would do was 10 miles per gallon and is why they were so cheap. And all three of these Chryslers also had rather boaty handling.
Rick B. You certainly got a bargain on those cars, even at that time. If you sold them, I imagine you made a good profit. As to the BOATY feeling, the Imperials(like most luxury cars of that time) were designed for soft floating ride and handling. Buyers wanted to be isolated from noise and rough roads. Guess that is one reason they are frequently called LAND YACHTS. A popular song called LOVE SHACK 🎵 I got me a Chrysler 🎶It’s as big as a whale 🎵 It seats about 20🎶.
Not long enought – I’m out…….
Cool Bumperettes or whatever you call them, I would put on dual exhaust a little meaner sound, a wee bit more horsepower , black walls and some dark period rims, would look even more sinister!
I believe these were required starting in ’73. I know the Chargers got them that year as well.
Yep, my ’73 Barracuda had them front and back.
Those are not bumperettes! These 1973-only bumpers are often referred to as “2 ½-mph bumpers,” but that’s a bit of a misnomer. Standards in 1973 required that the bumpers protect safety-related systems and components such as lighting during 5-mph direct front impact tests and 2 ½-mph rear tests.
To me, truly the epitome of luxury and style! Many years ago I enjoyed eating lots of highway with a ’67 Chrysler Newport, and though it was quite modest compared to this yacht, it too knew how to find gas pumps everywhere. One night on a lonely, straight, and mildly uphill road, I stomped the pedal….feeling it shift into third at 93 mph. No problem. Gas was 29 cents/gal.
Yeah I had my 66 Newport up to 110 mph and still had some pedal left.I got my 75 Imperial up to 90.Just cruising quickly.Like this black one.Great condition.
In 2000, driving south out of Daytona on i-95, a Porsche came around me at a good clip. Thought I’d run it down and put the peddle to the metal. After a twelve mile chase, I caught up to it (but not enough left to pass). I was at 110 mph when I got there, I assumed her speed of 105ish. We do drove that way to Jupiter (where I got off). Behind me were 7 more cars at the same speed. I didn’t know that my 1995 Toyota Paseo had that much guts. Of course, when I got there, my gas tank was empty. Being a Christian man, I’ll swear on a Bible that this was a true event.
I drove a 1971 Imperial LeBaron from Tennessee to Illinois back in 1986. It was a purchase from a family member that was too good to pass up. This car was white with a black leather interior and the 440 under the hood. It was a glorious car to drive on the interstate, I was 16 years old at the time and brought along as the wheelman to get the car home. It really impressed me with how well it drove. The car ultimately went to my grandparents, and a garage fire scorched the back half of the car. It was a very cool and pretty machine though prior to that.
My favorite luxury sedan. Thanks for a great write-up, Scotty, and thanks for the tip, Rocco B. That leather’s in great shape, but generally these top out under $20k. Triple-black is a great look, but I picture mine with a color of some sort on the body and the two-tone black & white interior. We’d love to hear from the new owner about their plans for this road-going luxo-schooner.
What a beautiful beast! I almost couldn’t tell it was a sedan at first, so sleek. Good luck to whomever buys it.
It’s not a Sedan. It’s a 4 door hardtop.
At 235.3 inches in length, this is the longest owner-driven car offered in the US.
I don’t own a warehouse/oversized garage to house it, and it wouldn’t get along with my 2018 Mazda 3 hatch (It’s almost 5 feet longer). I’m out.
The performance of this car will be very disappointing. The compression ratios were reduced on the 1973 cars and the were much slower. I went from a 1971 Thunderbird that would “fly” to a 1975 Imperial that would never even pull a small boat..
Although not my favorite Imperial, this Land Yacht stole the Thunder from the Bird in size and roomines.
To compensate for the lower engine compression, the 1973 and 1974 Imperials featured lower axle ratios for improved performance: 3.23 for 1973 (8.75 axle) and 3.21 for 1974 (9.25 axle). They were extra thirsty those two years.
Does Kato come with it?
Thank you, I could not remember what show this reminded me of!!
235 inches is a freak. That has 15 inches on my 59 Bonneville flattop which is pretty fricken long
I think Kato and the Green Hornet had retired by then. The Black Beauty was based on a 66? Imperial.
The Green Hornet car was based on a ’65, I’m pretty sure…still basically the same car. As for this one, I’ll take this any day over that ’99 Rolls mentioned earlier. And performance upgrades for that 440 are plentiful.
Black Beauty was indeed based off a 1966 Imperial for the sixties TV show, and also based off a 1965 Imperial for the 2011 feature film staring Seth Rogen.
This could be the best looking 4-door model I’ve ever seen!
I’ve long suspected that the big fuselage Mopars, reversing the usual ’60s/70s practice, were styled as four-doors first and the 2-doors were afterthoughts.
12 yards long, 2 lanes wide,
65 tons of American Pride!
She blinds everybody with her super high beams,
She’s a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!
Nice land barge!!!
We know about these Imperials, don’t we, Bill Mc?
Sleek and sexy cars, different from the norm, but beautiful.
The 73 & I believe the 74 Chrysler products had those big rubber bumps as their new 5 mph bumpers. While everyone else was hanging huge protruding bumpers on their cars, Mopar kept the integrated bumpers which looked smoother and much better and just those big rubber things on. To me, that’s smart.
Unfortunately integrated bumpers went away eventually.
Not just those bumpers went away. Whole full sized Luxury Sedans are long Gone With the Wind! Sad to see what is NOW considered a luxury vehicle! As God is my witness, I shall Never drive a glorified TRUCK!
For this much pure distinction, the price is right. There’s no way you could find and restore one of these for $100,000, let alone $25,000.
My Ma had a 75 Imp and she was almost 5′ tall, on a good day, and almost 100 lbs. She loved her land yacht and so did me and my buds. That back seat holds 4 teenage football players with room to spare. I would load the car with partiers, our favorite beverages, and head out to the wild blue. The cops never even bothered to waste a look at us. The car drove itself, good thing cuz I was usually in no condition too.
Beautiful car !
I keep picturing the guy taking the side view picture… backing up and backing up and looking over his shoulder as he keeps backing up until finally he has fit the whole car into the frame lol.
These era chryslers were the best looking big cars IMO and I was brought up on GM,s sorry dad but your brother was right lol
My first car was a 1966 Chrysler Windsor (Canadian). Second car was 1969 Chrysler 300. Both great. Almost bought a 1073 Chrysler LeBarron. But didn’t quite do it. Long story short is I’ve always loved the larger luxury cars of years gone by.
I’m not a Chrysler fan but I would love to drive this Imperial, have to tint the windows to add to the sinister look. Beautiful car a bit overpriced in my opinion but beautiful nonetheless.
Tint would look too modern. I already have a hard enough time getting past how overdone and cliche black-on-black has become in the present-day automotive context and imagining how it would’ve looked at the dealer in 1973 among the earth-toned Satellites and baby-blue Dusters.
MJ Fisher In 1974 or 1975 bought THE Red White Willie Mays 73 2 Dr Presentation Imperial in Napa Area of Calif. Got a fake ( toy) phone with extendible curly cord, would put the sunroof back and Cruze the Streets of San Francisco Used to joke that with the front and back so similar you didn’t know if it was coming or going… Had the rare high
Back buckets..think of it often
This one is a winner, it’s the last year of the “Fuselage” body, and the black paint does it justice.
It is rather expensive, but where would you find a nicer one?
It’s WAY out of my price range and as much as I would love to have a 69-73 Imperial, I would not want this one. It is too pristine to be able to be enjoyed as anything other than a show car and I would want one I could drive daily which means it would not be pristine for very long because I would drive it rain or shine and people tend to be careless about not hitting nice cars with their doors in parking lots. I want one for the smooth ride and the comfort due to having severe back problems.
San Marcos?? That’s just up the road from me! I just may have to make a trip up there, see if I can track it down. Although I’m in no position to buy, there is one thing I would like to do…in fact, something I was thinking about just earlier in the night: Compare the trunk space of the Imp with my Lincoln’s trunk space. Although in overall size the ’66 Lincoln is dwarfed by the ’73 Imperial, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same for usable space. My trunk is the largest I have seen on any sedan of any make of any year I’ve come across…but I’ve never crossed an Imperial younger than ’63. It would be interesting to see if this monster has more trunk space than my monster.
Hmm…an interesting thought. We had an ’87 Town Car, and I agree the trunk was vast indeed. Lots of bodies can fit.
Have 2007 Town Car. Although not quite as roomy as trunk of previous 78 Town Car (where I believe they found the Lindbergh baby, Amelia Earnhardt, Jimmy Hoffa, Helen Voorhees Brach, and several others 😮) there is SOOOO much space! 👍
These sinister Mopars were usually used as a “syndicate” staff car on old TV shows like “Mission Impossible. ” The Desilu/Paramount shows got the free use of fancy Chrysler products. I think Lorne Greene, in a short lived show called “Griff,” drove one?: If P.I. Joe Mannix saw one of these , in his rear view mirror, it would lead to a crazy car chase along the winding roads of L A.s Griffith Park. As a kid I use to see them being filmed.
At one point, Police Commissioner Stuart McMillan (ROCK HUDSON) drove the streets of San Francisco in an Imperial. Later in a Lincoln (Town Car) Continental then a Fleetwood. On The Streets of San Francisco, FMC vehicles seemed to patrol. The villains seemed to drive upscale Lincolns and Mercurys. Banachek had a classic Packard, sports car, and chauffeured Cadillac Limo. And Steve McGarret patrolled Hawaii 5 0 in Black Mercurys. All would leave Columbo in the dust! 😉
Did you see the vintage broken down Cadillac Fred bought or the Pontiac used for the trip to California? I believe that Pontiac or a similar one pulled The Long, Long Trailer.
The car that pulled the Long Long Trailer was a 1952 or ’53 Mercury convertible. Not sure of the submodel but probably a Monterey.
Thanks for clarification. You ARE definitely an Angel and a DIVA, befitting Traditional Cadillac Standard of the WORLD. I have a sky blue 🐈 carrier with CATILLAC in flowing script on the back. Sides are labeled Coupe de Kitty. Before anyone comments, PLEASE don’t be CATTY! 🐈 😻
I blew up the photo but still can’t really tell if it has the steering wheel horn band. My ’71 Imperial had that. Instead if pushing the center of the steering wheel pad, there was a rubber ring inside the perimeter of the steering wheel and you just squeezed the steering wheel to blow the horn.
Frankly, I didn’t care for it. Blew the horn too many times by accident
It was a 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible with a 125hp flathead V8 engine.
Listing update: the seller has taken down the listing so someone must have grabbed this gorgeous Imperial. Was it one of you?
Only in my dreams! Hopefully the new owner will give it the loving care it deserves! THE Incomparable Imperial!