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This separate Imperial E-80 series was
produced virtually unchanged until late 1927 when a new Imperial
line was announced. The new Imperial was designated L-80. This car
featured a 136" wheelbase, longer than the 120", 127", and 133"
wheelbase of the E-80 series of 1926-27.
The engine in the "80" was similar in design
to the Chrysler 6 of that period. The bore and stroke in the E-80
engine was 3 1/2" by 5". In the L-80, the bore increased 1/8"
while the stroke remained at 5". This increase in bore gave the
L-80 engine almost 310 cubic inches. This 1928 engine had three
different cylinder heads available: the black head, silver dome,
and red head. The red head, available for $10 extra, was the high
compression head (6: 1) and gave the engine a horsepower rating of
112. The silver dome engine produced 100 horsepower. No reference
could be found for the horsepower or compression ratio for the
black head engine. The only reference found was a brief mention in
the 1924-34 Chrysler Master Parts Book. When the bore was
increased, this head was used to lower compression so that the car
could be sold in areas of this country and foreign lands where the
availability of higher octane gas was low.
In October, 1928, production
began on the new Imperial for 1929. This model is designated the
Imperial L *. The star or asterisk after the letter L means a
continuation of a car series in the same basic mechanical
configuration as the preceding year. There were some mechanical
changes between the 1928 L-80s and the 1929 L *, but Chrysler
deemed these insignificant or they would not have used this method
of model identity. Perhaps had they known how many changes would
soon be made in the car as production progressed, they would have
used another designation. This same method of model identity next
occurred in the Imperial line in 1933 when the CL * succeeded the
1932 CL Custom Imperial. Its next use was in 1935, 1936, and 1937
to designate those year models from the 1934 CW Airflow.
The 1929 Imperials were a
continuation and refinement of the 1928 models. The 1929 L * is
interesting to the author because of refinements, both in body
style changes and in the large number of other changes in the car
as production progressed through 1929 and 1930. It is the authors
opinion that there was no true 1930 Imperial L *. It was a car
that became a 1930 model for registration purposes because
Chrysler Corporation deemed production of a car after July 1 to be
the following year's model. In essence, the cars were identical
despite some running changes during its production life. There
were many changes before and after the July 1 date. These will be
identified later in the article. The Imperial L * was produced
until June 1930, when it was replaced by the new 1931 Imperial CG
with an eight cylinder engine.
The Imperial L * series ranks
as one of the cars with the most changes incorporated into it
after it was placed in production. The list of production changes
seems to go on and on. Perhaps this car was a testing ground for
the engineers. It would certainly be interesting to find out why
it was necessary to change the side mount arm three times on a car
with a total production of but 2,900 cars.
In researching this article, the author
located two conflicting sources of production numbers for the L *
series and both were printed by Chrysler. In the 1924-34 Chrysler
Master Parts Book, the serial number range is from EP-320W to car
EP-61OW. To decipher this "FEDCO Number System", one must remember
the following: The letters WP CHRYLSED correspond to the following
numbers 0123456789. W=O, P=l and so on. Therefore: EP-61 OW =
816100 = ending number and EP-320W = 81320 = starting number.
2,900 total built.
The other Chrysler source,
printed in the 1950s, shows the following serial numbers for the L
*: EP-608R = 816084 = ending number, EP-320W = 813200 = starting
number. 2,884 built.
Nevertheless this same source
lists a total production of 2,900 cars. This one source then helps
the researcher decide that it in itself is erroneous. With 2,900
cars built there can only be one conclusion the ending number was
EP-61 OW, It would of course be most interesting if one could find
a car still surviving with a serial number after EP-608R. Perhaps
somewhere in the Chrysler archives, if the information still
exists, someone will find the answer.
In a production run of only
21 months (October 1928 - June 1930) and with only 2,900 cars
built, they are not a very common sight at car shows and one is
indeed fortunate to see one at all.
Not far from my home there
used to be a father and son, George and Bob Locke, who each had an
Imperial L *. George had a sedan and his son Bob had an early
style roadster. The word "early" is used to designate this
roadster because, you guessed it, there were two completely
different roadster bodies used on the Imperial L *. The early
style body was really a continuation of the 1928 roadster body,
and was succeeded by the new style roadster body in the spring of
1929. This change to the new style roadster occurred at car
EP-455S.
I located George Locke's
sedan in Butte, Montana; it going to be used as a parts car for
the roadster owned by Bob Locke. However, it was found to be in
fairly decent shape to restore. So plans were changed and the
sedan would be restored. The only major problem needing to be
overcome was that the car's wood structure needed to be completely
redone. The sedan serial number is EP-321 S. This is a very early
car and in fact is the 17th Imperial L * produced.
The Locke roadster (for the
curious, the Locke Body Co. manufactured many open bodies for the
L * series - there is no relationship between the body builders
and the Locke family) is serial number EP-373S, the 536th built.
Yet, there are a number of changes that could be seen while the
chassis sat side by side sans bodies. The side mount arm carrier
was changed at car EP-345S (256th). This immediately explains the
difference in that item between these two chassis. This same part
was changed for a third time at car EP-428Y (1 ,085th). The third
change occurred because the side mount arm carrier is used in
conjunction with the rear motor support and when the support was
changed it necessitated a design change in the carrier. This must
have made the parts man think of more than the economic climate of
1929.
Another change made during
production was the style of bumpers. Again there was a 1928 style
that continued into the 1929 Imperial L * production and this
early style bumper is referred to as the grooved blade bumper, and
the later style is referred to as the smooth type bumper. No date
could be found in any Chrysler reference that told when the style
of bumpers changed. An L * Imperial coupe owned by Mike Randolph
serial number EP-455H (1353rd) had the late style smooth bumpers.
Because of the lack of many L * surviving cars it is difficult to
narrow the point of bumper change closer than that between the
EP-373S and EP-455H. This is a range of 817 cars. Perhaps someone
who reads this article will be able to narrow down the date of the
bumper change. If so, we will print the response in a future
issue.
To add to the parts man's
dilemma., the following items are some of the more observable
changes:
front shock absorber bracket
(after car EP-429Y)
air cleaner (after EP-556P)
instrument faces (at car
EP-455L)
water jacket covers (at car
EP-476S)
accelerator pedal (at car
EP-511E)
cowl lamp brackets (at car
EP-455L)
trunk rack and brackets (at
car EP-461 W), and
splash guards (at car
EP-450C). This latter change corresponds directly to the change in
roadster and phaeton bodies.
The 3-speed transmission
remained unchanged through car EP-511E.
A major change was in the use
of the 4-speed transmission after car EP-511E. This transmission
is similar to the 4-speed introduced on the 1930 Model 77 and 70
and carried through to the 1931 Model 70. In this transmission the
bell housing is actually an integral part of the transmission
case, instead of the more prevalent practice of a separate bell
housing. Many parts are directly interchangeable between the L *
4-speed and the 77 4-speed. However, the transmissions are not
interchangeable themselves because the L * 4-speed has a larger
bell housing diameter, and the brake master cylinder is attached
to the front of the rear motor mount. The 4-speed was referred to
as a multi-range. In reality, first gear was a compound low and
rarely used, making the 4-speed nothing more than a complex
3-speed.
To begin car movement, one
actually began in second gear, placing the floor gear shift lever
in the lower part of the H pattern. This is the same position of
the normal 1 st gear in a three speed standard shift. 3rd in the
4-speed corresponds to 2nd in the 3-speed transmission and was
located at the upper right of the H pattern. 4th gear was final
drive as 3rd gear in a 3-speed. Gear ratios were low-3.78,
2nd-2.19, 3rd-l.4, 4th-1. 1 : 1.
These 4-speed transmissions
have been mistreated in print as being fragile and too complex. If
one really knew both the 3-speed and the 4-speed and had them both
apart, the 4-speed was much stronger and more massive. If one
could chose between the two to place in his car, the 4-speed would
win hands down.
The 4-speed began production
in the L * in August 1929. This one month after the so-called 30
production actually began. If one were to extrapolate and try to
determine which serial number was the first produced with 1930
registration, one would have to believe that the change occurred
at car EP-455L, because of the instrument faces. This is 561 cars
before the introduction of the 4-speed, and a reasonable number to
have been built in the July-August period. Backing up a step or
two, one finds that the Randolph coupe is only four cars before
the instrument change, but has the later style of bumper. It would
certainly help matters if there were records at Chrysler that
could shed some light on this hypothesis.
An interesting note found in
an AC fuel pump catalog is a listing for a fuel pump for the
Imperial L *. On examination of several late L * engine blocks,
there is a boss with hole drilled in it on the side of the block
with a plate covering the boss and hole. In checking into this
development, one engine was torn down so that the camshaft could
be checked. the camshaft was found to have no lobe with which to
manipulate or lift a fuel pump arm. Perhaps if the L * engine was
to be used in the 1931 Imperials, the fuel pump would have been
available to replace the vacuum tank located on the fire wall.
Certainly the engineers were prepared for this eventuality. This
engine did continue in production after the 8-cylinder Imperial
was introduced and was used as a marine engine and as a truck
engine in the larger Dodge trucks.
Rear end ratios varied
throughout the L * model run. Not only was the ratio dependant
upon body style, but also also which transmission was used:
Open Closed Optional
3-speed 4.08 4.45 3.77
4-speed 3.77 4.08 4.45 or
4.90
Tire size was 7 .00x 18 and
the L * had 5 types of wheels available. The standard dismountable
wood artillery wheel, wooden demountable wheel, disc wheel, and
two types of wire wheels. The wire wheel made by Motor Wheel was
the most prevalent wire wheel. The other wire wheel was the
Buffalo wire wheel. The Motor Wheel, demountable, and disc wheels
were held onto the brake drum by cap head bolts, while the Buffalo
wheel used a special hub that bolted to the drum on one end and
was threaded on the other end. The wheel was placed on this
special hub and then a large screw-on hubcap was tightened up on
the threaded end literally sandwiching the wheel hub between the
hubcap and the brake drum. Care must be taken with the Buffalo
wheel so as not to change hubs and/or brake drums from one side to
another as the hubcaps and hubs are either left or right. If one
did indeed use them on the wrong side, there was the distinct
possibility that as one drove the wheel would soon pass the car.
The hubcaps used on the
dismountable wood and disc wheels were identical and changed to
another design at car EP-349S (296th). The Motor wire wheel hubcap
and the demountable wood wheel hubcaps, while completely
different, also changed at car EP-349S. The Buffalo wire wheel
cars had a pair of left and a pair of right screw-on caps and two
special side mount spare tire hubcaps. These did not change during
the year because the cap design was standardized for all makes
using the Buffalo wheel. What was unique to each make was the
insert in the center lock portion of the cap. For the Imperial L
*, the insert design was the same design used in advertising the
car, the emblem on the taillight cover and on the gas tank cover.
The Ray Zuend Imperial L * (EP-358S) Close Coupled Town Sedan has
a large emblem attached to the headlight bar with the same design.
There is no evidence that this was originally put on the car by
the factory because there is no mention of it in any parts book or
shown on any factory photos or ads of the period. It does point
out the fact that the cars were really unique in many ways.
Perhaps the most often seen
change was the radiator cap. The original L * cap was round with a
shallow domed top with a raised rib running from front to back.
This cap was obviously without frills and was the first wingless
Chrysler cap. Imagine the Imperial's new owner, taking delivery of
this expensive new auto that ranged in price from $2,895 to
$3,855, looking at the less expensive Chrysler 75 in the showroom
with a beautiful winged Viking cap. Quite naturally, the dealer,
seeing this forlorn look, unhesitatingly obliged the Imperial's
owner. This winged cap was identical in style, size, and profile
to the un-winged cap except it had two beautifully detailed wings
with feathered designs. The plain cap was considered standard
equipment (p/n 44804) and the winged cap non-standard (pin 79275).
Not many left dealer showrooms with the wingless cap.
In thinking about all the
changes made in the car, one can only feel that someone cared for
the parts man, because the code word used by the dealer to order
parts from the factory was "Actor". Perhaps the only other word
that could have been appropriate would have been "Magician". The
parts man was certainly both.
All in all these cars were
something special and one is indeed fortunate to own an Imperial L
*.
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