In 1931, as with many other year Imperials, Chrysler 
commissioned
a number of coach builders to create unique limousines for the Imperial
marque. LeBaron was the most visited builder, and includes the
wonderful town car they created for Mrs.
Chrysler . This unique town car has a number of distinctive
LeBaron qualities including the small, stylized rear window and the covered
passenger compartment, but this limousine is unmistakably an Imperial.
An interesting difference between most of the Imperials LeBaron customized
for Chrysler and this particular limousine is the windshield. Most
carried the split windshield, like the Imperial
LeBaron limousine pictured at the right, but this one has a newer, one-piece
windshield which was later advertised as a much safer alternative to
the older, split versions.
Other coachbuilders for Chrysler this year included Derham, Locke, Murphy
and last, but not least, Waterhouse. We have two wonderful magazine
articles you can read about the Waterhouse Imperials, one entitled, "Chrysler
Imperial by Waterhouse - Vivacious Victoria" which was a feature
in Special Interest Automobile, April 1998 and the other article
is from Old Cars Weekly and is entitled, "Waterhouse
Built 6 Of These Imperials".
