The Journey
Introducing theĀ Imperial Deathstar, a black 1963 Chrysler Imperial. This is one of the largest production sedans ever built, and arguably the best luxury car of its day.
Join me what will probably be a never-ending saga of grease, aching muscles, and an empty wallet as I work to restore this over 50 year old survivor to a reliable cruiser.
Major Articles
Major articles presented in chronological order.
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Recent Posts
- Electrical 21: New HVAC Dimmer April 21, 2025
- Trim Trauma 2 April 14, 2025
- Trim Trauma April 9, 2025
- Rear Door Card Redux April 3, 2025
- Front Door Cards March 27, 2025
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Category Archives: Restoration
Cornered
With the main seat insert largely under control it was time to deal with the next challenge – corners! “But”, I hear you say, “haven’t you already handled corners in multiple places?” Yes – flat corners. These are three dimensional … Continue reading
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Interior Starting Point
The Imperial had been re-upholstered at some point. While the upholstery fit fairly well it was made with non-Imperial quality materials. To be frank, it was ugly! Not to mention worn, dirty, and tearing in several places. There are springs … Continue reading
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Sewing Suckage
I have never done anything with a sewing machine. I have to learn everything from scratch. Using a technique known as a cannonball dive into the deep end of the pool.To summarize the early results, I suck at sewing. Exactly … Continue reading
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First Parts!
While sewing is needed for the seats and door panels there are a couple of trim pieces that don’t require sewing – I can start with those. The back seat has a trim panel that goes between the seat and … Continue reading
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Covering Quandary
With the shop and materials for upholstery work coming together I ran out of room for stalling on what material to use. Time to make some decisions and place an order. The first big question was leather or vinyl? Leather … Continue reading
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Inside Prep for Interior Work
Since upholstery work is completely new the workshop needs to be reconfigured a bit to support it. The main features are a work table and an industrial sewing machine. I don’t have a sewing machine yet, but I have tracked … Continue reading
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Act III
The original plan was to restore the Imperial in three stages: mechanical, paint and body, and interior. The original plan was also to accomplish each stage in a year, with three years for the total restoration. I’m now nine years … Continue reading
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Mirror, Mirror, on the Fender
The outside mirrors were some of the worst chrome trim on the car. The pot metal was heavily corroded and pitted. After painting the car and getting the rest of the chrome re-plated these were easily the worst part of … Continue reading
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Re-Trimming the Car
With the paint finally finished the next step was to reinstall all of the trim on the car – all 873 pieces of it. There are three types of trim pieces on this car – steel (mainly the bumpers), cast … Continue reading
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Electrical 16: Headlighting
Previous electrical: Electrical 15: Factory Wiring Diagrams. With the beautifully chromed headlight buckets ready to install it is time to complete the job of upgrading headlight wiring. You may recall from a previous post that I left the original factory … Continue reading
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