1965 Imperial Crown Convertible

With low production numbers here’s a car that you don’t come across very often – a 1965 Imperial Crown Convertible.

This 5,315lb beauty has done just 80,777 miles in its life and also benefits from factory air conditioning – a $462 option at the time.

Designed to compete with Cadillac it had a tough time making a dent in their sales. Cadillac were already at the top of the market and the Crown Convertible was $600 more expensive than a deVille convertible. To top it off Cadillac had just introduced some fine looking cars for ’65 as they moved away from the fins era.

65 Imperial Crown Convertible - side/rear
rear view

At the front there were glass headlight covers which was an interesting styling feature that year.

front view of a 65 Imperial Crown showing the glass headlight covers
front view showing the headlight covers

Inside there is the luxury of leather seats. Standard equipment includes power windows, power seats and a flick of a switch brings the top up and down. Of course this luxury car also has power steering and brakes.

Leather interior of a 1965 Imperial Crown Convertible
Leather interior

Note the rare Claro Walnut inserts on the instrument panel and doors. Chrysler claimed that out of each 52 1/2 lbs of harvested Claro Walnut that they could find only 8 oz. that were fit for Imperial.

Under the hood is the original 413 cubic inch V8 (that’s 6.7 liters) producing 340 horsepower. Introduced in 1959 this was to the last year for the 413 V8. 1966 saw the introduction of the 440 V8.

413 V8

Also standard on the car is a TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

Of over 16,000 Imperial Crown cars sold during the 1965 model year, just 633 of them were convertibles ​with a base price of $6,194.

This ’65 Imperial Crown is currently for sale on eBay. (follow the link for even more photos)

5 thoughts on “1965 Imperial Crown Convertible”

  1. When I was 9 years old, my Dad brought me when he went to pick up his new 1964, Imperial Crown coupe. In the same color as above, with black vinyl roof and leather interior, that was the softest I’ve ever seen!!

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