Cars that would have been cool, EXCEPT...

[Photon440]

Yeah, well Cadillac Sevilles were introduce well before that styling was integrated into the Chrysler.

Yep, and Imperial was around long before there ever was a Seville. I thought you were just talking about the bustle trunk which came out in 1980. The 1979 (shown) and earlier Sevilles looked quite ordinary and would never have been candidates for this 'would have been cool' thread.

But somebody must have liked the idea, Lincoln even started using it on their 1982 Lincoln Continental Sedan.

 

[qkcuda]

Funny, I owned an 89 Taurus SHO as well.

 

[DeltaV]

Kind of liked the Buick Reatta, but the MSRP was in the mid/high $20k range. Way, way too high.

 

[HawkRod]

Funny, I owned an 89 Taurus SHO as well.

Ours was a 1993 model. It was green and looked like this:

It was my wife's car, and she needed four doors for the kids. It was actually a great car except for the torque steer under full throttle.

 

[33 IMP]

That was going to be my answer. The Daytona/Laser, Omni, chargers. They had the completely 80s cool looks to them. But they put the drive axle in the wrong dang spot! . We weren’t ready for fwd yet. If they were rwd, the history books would be different

My friend fixed his Omni charger....

 

[qkcuda]

Mine was a silver 5 speed manual, something like this one. The engine was great but on the subject it would have been cool but for the Ford Escort clutch. I put 3 in it during the time I owned it (60,000 miles)

 

[eldubb440]

Cranium's 66 would be cool....... if it was mine

 

[Dave6T4]

2000's Magnum wagons IMO would have been a LOT cooler if they had used the one year only, SRT only, last year of production only front fascia on all of them.

View attachment 1486553

Good comment! I used to have a a 2005 Magnum R/T with the 5.7 Hemi. I loved everything about the car except the Dodge Caravan looking front end. Dodge built these cars with a Chrysler 300 front clip for export to England as the Chrysler Estate. They really looked cool. The front clip is entirely interchangeable.

 

[Dave6T4]

Always liked the 1981-1983 Chrysler Imperial, but what kept me from buying one:

1) no performance (drivetrain or suspension). Transverse torsion bar front suspension is weird IMO.

2) not a sporty interior and the instrument panel is horrid.

3) rear styling was a bit unusual, but I would have turned a blind eye towards it if it weren't for 1) & 2) above.

THE GOOD
View attachment 1486797

THE BAD
View attachment 1486798

THE UGLY
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Glad I kept my '79 Chrysler 300 which I bought new in 1980 after I couldn't find a Magnum GT.

All that being said, wouldn't it be great to find one of these Imperials and turn it into a holy terror? Maybe get a Frank Sinatra Edition and do it my way.

I once owned a 1981 Imperial. I thought the front end was very attractive, and even kind of liked the rear end treatment. Cadillac and Lincoln agreed with similar treatments on their Seville and Versailles. Rolls Royce had the same look decades earlier on Hooper-bodied cars. The car was really just a pimped-up Cordoba with a bunch of electronic gadgets added to it. The worst feature was the unreliable, underpowered fuel injected 318 powertrain. I eventually swapped the 318 for a carbed 360. This was likely the worst car I ever owned. If my wife or daughter ever had to drive it, there was usually some walking involved. Like a dog, this car could smell fear.

 

[YY1]

Good comment! I used to have a a 2005 Magnum R/T with the 5.7 Hemi. I loved everything about the car except the Dodge Caravan looking front end. Dodge built these cars with a Chrysler 300 front clip for export to England as the Chrysler Estate. They really looked cool. The front clip is entirely interchangeable.

I've seen a couple of those and I agree.

...but that SRT nose is super cool. It may have swayed me into buying one.

 

[YY1]

Agree, my folks had two 57 Birds back when. Thought the 57 was much nicer than the 55-56. The revived birds looked crappy and think they could have done better too. Done right was the revived Mustang the 1st couple years they were out. Then they got less attractive to me as they smushed the body style around. Another tragic deal, MO was the revived GTO...dang the designers had their chance and..

Agree the first gen circa 2005 mustang was "right".

I think the "new" gto was aiming for the bmw crowd, though and they were actually getting some of them.