Despite some of the issues covered in the previous article Electrical 10: 2 Bad the Imperial was drivable – so time to drive it!
One of the reasons for getting the Imperial was to participate in car related events like Cruise Nights. With the Imperial running the first planned event was the local Thursday Night Cruzzin’ at Hebert’s Candy Mansion. I’ve been trying to do this since May – but every Thursday either we were traveling, it was raining, or I had started another project on the Imperial and was waiting for parts and couldn’t drive it. It seems like it has rained every Thursday night this entire summer.
Today it finally happened.
It wasn’t raining, so they didn’t cancel the event. The alternator still isn’t straightened out, but a short drive won’t hurt anything. The temperature was 93 degrees, so pack a bottle of water. I’m going!
15-20 cars showed up, ranging from new sports cars to 1920’s-1930’s cars – mostly 1960’s and 1970’s cars. I’m in the right demographic – many of the people there were even older than me. There were several families with kids, which is always good to see.
I had the chance to talk to several people, including some who were very knowledgeable about Mopar’s. I spent at least a half hour talking to a father and son who own a restoration shop specializing in Forward Look Chryslers – a range of Chryslers from the mid 50’s to mid 60’s. In fact they have restored a number of Imperials like mine! They have a high end restoration shop, with some of their recent projects costing over $600,000. I’m probably not taking my car there…
But I did get some good insights from them, especially around paint and chrome. Tom suggested that painting the hood and trunk lid and giving the car a good buff and polish would make it presentable.
All in all a fun evening!
And, of course, the weather forecast for next Thursday is rain…
Previous: an ongoing fight with charging problems in Electrical 10: 2 Bad.