1960 Imperial LeBaron: Executive Suite

What is luxury in 2023? Even a casual glance by the layperson suggests SUVs like Range Rovers, Navigators, Escalades, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, and BMW X7s. Oh, sure, you can still get a 7-Series or S-Class sedan, but when it comes to the American manufacturers, for a traditional luxury SEDAN, you really don’t have much to choose from.

The Cadillac CT5 is nice, but it’s not really a flagship like the ’Slade—or the no-longer-available-in-the-US CT6. I loved the CT6, drove several at McLaughlin when they were new. No more Continental either; after 2020 it was SUVs and CUVs all the time over at Lincoln. A shame; the Continental was a great modern American luxury sedan.

At one time however, in both the distant and not-so-distant past, you could get a really sumptuous, slinky sedan with V-8 power and lots of chrome trim, chrome scripts, gold-toned crests—and all sorts of other trappings that I so dearly love. Today’s example: the Imperial Le Baron. P.S.: It’s not a Chrysler!

Yes, the Chrysler Imperial was the top offering for many years, but starting in 1955, Chrysler Corporation, seeing Lincoln and Cadillac and wanting more prestige, made the Imperial its own marque, rather than the top-of-the-line Chrysler model. And so it would stay until the mid-1970s. As for the 1960 model, it was totally restyled and about as flashy and fin-tastic as you could get that year, outside of a new Cadillac.

The top model was the Imperial LeBaron—unless you count the rare-as-hens’-teeth and uber-expensive Crown Imperial limousines, that is. Like the Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special, the Imperial LeBaron was Mopar’s top “owner driven” model.

As the ’60 Imperial brochure confided, “Meet excellence face to face. A car that gives automotive craftsmanship an entirely new direction for the 1960s … Aristocratic in every appointment. Impressive, totally assured. A fresh new kind of limousine loveliness you won’t find in any other car.”

Yes, they ladled it on a little bit thick, but that was how the American luxury car market was in the early ’60s—offering swank, ostentatious vehicles to whisk you to supper clubs for gin and tonics. And exclusivity was assured when you bought a new 1960 Imperial, as only 17,707 were built for the model year. In the LeBaron series, only 692 four-door sedans and 999 four-door hardtops were built. Our featured car is one of those 999 four-door hardtops. Factory price was $6318 (that’s about $65,533 today) and curb weight was 4835 pounds. The pillared LeBaron sedan had the same MSRP.

A V-8 was, of course, under the hood of every ’60 LeBaron—in this case a 413-cubic-inch version with 350 hp @ 4600 rpm, breathing through a four-barrel Carter carburetor. Push-button, three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission was standard. As you’d expect, these were big, with a 129-inch wheelbase and overall length of 226.3 inches.

Along with the more sumptuous interior upholstery and door panels, the other big difference on LeBarons vs. lesser Imperials was the limousine-style smaller rear window—other models had a wraparound rear backlight. Another item seen during this time on upper-crust Chryslers and Imperials, and in evidence on this example, are the Swing-Away seats. And isn’t that instrument panel fantastic?

Unfortunately, despite the car’s many fine qualities, Cadillac and Lincoln totally blew Imperial out of the water, sales wise, particularly Cadillac, which sold more than 140,000 cars. Even Lincoln, which had a terrible year—on the verge of being discontinued until FoMoCo management saw a proposal for a 1961 T-Bird and it was decreed that it would be stretched into a four-door and become the 1961 Lincoln—sold close to 25,000 cars.

This excellent Imperial was spotted by my friend Jayson Coombes at a show at Texas Motor Speedway in September 2021. I have seen a few ’60 Imperials at shows, but I have yet to see a ’60 LeBaron in person. It appears to be painted in Executive Gray, a factory-correct 1960 Imperial color. Jayson knew I’d love this one and was very patient waiting for the many people strolling the event to thin out enough for him to get a photo of the entire car. I absolutely love it!

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