Demolition Derby Review: The Chrysler Imperial

Nose to nose, a suicide Lincoln is probably tougher but the ass is too soft.

The 71/76 GM clamshell/rollback wagons are just mean, the true weak spot in those are that the front bumper doesn't protect the radiator core support at all.

I've heard that the suicide Lincolns are the only real match for the boxcars; I just haven't seen very many Lincolns being run against Imperials. It makes sense that they should be fairly evenly-matched, though: both cars were designed by the same person.

The clamshells are good against most cars, but even a 9-passenger's ass end won't stand up end-to-end with an Imperial, in my observation - in a 'stock' derby, anyway. Imperials always seem to work out the same way, whereas about one in five roundback GM rear ends will bend down and wind up plowing mud.

- What are you gonna do, when the world catches on?

All the sheet metal on the Lincolns front end is welded from the factory, and all that sheet metal, it's welded to the frame from the factory. Truly nasty. But yeah, those damn full frame Imps are just about as tough as a solid chunk of iron.

The secret to the clamshells, cut a small slit across the the top of the frame(small meaning the width of a cutoff wheel) a couple of inches behind the leafs and bump it against a tree, if it moves in the derby then it moves up instead of digging trenches.

I never got around to derbying a roundback - I owned a few wagons, but sedans were easier to build. Plus, the 71-76 full-sized GM sedans had the stronger driveshafts and axles. I know what you're saying about frame-notching, but the bone-stock derbies that I preferred to run in started outlawing any kind of pre-notching or pre-bending.

- What are you gonna do, when the world catches on?

Bah, I gave up building cars as soon as they stopped letting us weld riveted crossmembers.

I hear ya. The only two real choices are bone stock or full outlaw.

- What are you gonna do, when the world catches on?