My imp imperial drawing

[Bryan M.]

Still prefer the Imp's roofline over the Doba/Mirada. Wonder how hard that'd be to morph?

 

[My imp]

Roof skin I believe is the same. The "bustle back" look, where the roofline blends into the 1/4 panel looks better than the Mirada/Cordoba blend, until you put a convertible top on it. There's a picture i've seen of an FS blue Imp with a white top. The body lines & top don't align themselves at all! The roof is on one plane, the top on another. From the looks of it, you'll never get the two to line up. There are wrinkles & puckers, & the top goes half way down the 1/4 trying to blend the two together, without much success. I can't remember where I saw the picture however. Sorry

 

[Mr.Lopar]

id measure the overall width of the body at the top of the quarters and at the bottom at the bumper on both cars, and see if you could somehow put the imps taillights on the doba/Mirada body

 

[My imp]

I'd guess that it could be done. I've made resin cast parts before, & the red taillight kit is excellent. I forget the name of the chemical they spray on plastic that looks exactly like chrome, but you could (if needed) modify the width of the lenses. I've got a plastic welder that does a fantastic job. I could do the fabbing, & then send it out for that chemical process. Someone had a thread on here about it before, but not remembering what the stuff is called makes it difficult to look up. Anyone remember what the stuff's called? It's available for the general public. You don't have to get involved with the EPA & all that bullsh*t. Just a chemical spray. Xibit used it on a carbon fiber hood on Pimp My Ride.

 

[kkritsilas]

For the red Mirada with the Imperial nose, the top looks like the "cabriolet" fake, convertible-looking factory tops that were an option (in some cases, standard on some models). It seems too well fitted and even to be a retracting top. Just an opinion

The roof cut lines that come off the top of an Imperial could be removed to make a convertible look better. The cheap way would be with filler, the hard way would be to reshape and reweld the metal, then repaint. The cut lines aren't all that deep, are they?

Kostas

 

[My imp]

Cabriolet is not a fake top. Cabriolet is either a horse drawn carriage with a folding leather top. Or, a convertible coupe. I agree that looks like a fake top. It looks too perfect. The roofline would be all but impossible to get rid of. The roof line from the angled line forward level. The 1/4 panel sucks in. That line runs from the top of the roof, almost to the rear & bottom of the 1/4 panel. The Mirada/Cordoba lines, though not as classic as the Imperials, are much better contoured for a convertible top. I much prefer the Imp lines, but the convertible results are dodgy at best!

 

[My imp]

I found the pictures of that FS Imperial convertible! Go to the online Imperial Owners Club, & look up 1981 FS Imperial convertible. The top has more wrinkles than my 85 yr old Mother! It looks like dookie compared to what that red car with the Imp nose. Now granted being a fake top allows there to be no wrinkles, but you have to attach the top to something. On top of the roofline, there's also the 1/4 glass line to deal with that the Mirada/Cordoba don't have. I'm glad they have a picture of the top both up & down. With the top down, it doesn't look quite as bad as it does with the top up! What a fright pig! If you really want to do this project, don't try to kick stuff uphill. Do yourself a favor & start with the other body & worry about deck lid mods. Instead of trying to extensively rework the contours of the 1/4 panels.

 

[alf44]

has anyone ever thought of what this would look like. a 5th with a f body clip, or a f body with a 5th clip? just wondering myself

 

[My imp]

I think a fifth clip would look cool as hell! Some Imperial wheels, fifth interior, or least the seats & power options. Or Diplomat fenders with Mirada louvers & the balance of the fifth clip!

 

[alf44]

found these mexican volares on the net left 1 a 1982

 

[alf44]

another 1

 

[alf44]

and more

 

[My imp]

How about the other way around? Volare with a fifth grille? IMO the Volare grille on the Dip looks okay, but it seems to cheapen the car, dressing it down so to speak, whereas adding the fifth front would be dressing up the car. It's amazing what you can do with factory parts. I saw in passing what appeared to be a '63 or so Ford PU with the complete front grille & headlights out of a '74-6 Buick Douche & 1/4 or whatever they were calling them in those days. It looked kick arse! Those quad rectangle headlights & eggcratish grille really worked well together. That Buggatti, & a guy I met at a show home built a car from a '47 Dodge PU. Same thing, narrowed the frame, hammered out his own panels, used Summit's Black Cherry Pearl for paint. What a color!! It just dances in the sun! Single stage that he added extra clear on top. Summit says you can & he did! That paint looked a mile deep! True to form, most comments were complimentary, some questioned the choice of drivetrain (stock '47 flathead inline), but of course some punk kid had to say loud enough for half the world to hear, "What a POS! It looks loke he garbage picked a car & painted it. What the F is it supposed to be anyways?" rather than turning too his friends & quietly commenting, he needed to bring attention to himself, & make it all about him. It had these HUGE O-50's on the back, I asked him as a joke if he needed that much rubber with that engine? He laughed his arse off & said,"what do you think?" I just laughed. Can you imagine giving these guys a design staff? Some of the stuff that would roll off of their desks! None of these cookie cutter jelly beans on wheels. I don't know if it's because I've been out of the game for over 10 yrs now, but I have trouble identifying one new model from another.

 

[Mr.Lopar]

I found the pictures of that FS Imperial convertible! Go to the online Imperial Owners Club, & look up 1981 FS Imperial convertible. The top has more wrinkles than my 85 yr old Mother! It looks like dookie compared to what that red car with the Imp nose. Now granted being a fake top allows there to be no wrinkles, but you have to attach the top to something. On top of the roofline, there's also the 1/4 glass line to deal with that the Mirada/Cordoba don't have. I'm glad they have a picture of the top both up & down. With the top down, it doesn't look quite as bad as it does with the top up! What a fright pig! If you really want to do this project, don't try to kick stuff uphill. Do yourself a favor & start with the other body & worry about deck lid mods. Instead of trying to extensively rework the contours of the 1/4 panels.

went on there and looked at the 81-83 imps, didn't find the 81 vert, but found a 82 and a 83, and yeah, they look horrible, like any other convertible.
but I gotta say the imps sure look damn sexy in black
http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1983/83ImpLast/index.htm

I think youll like this one to my imp
http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1981/Anderson/

 

[Jack Meoff]

went on there and looked at the 81-83 imps, didn't find the 81 vert, but found a 82 and a 83, and yeah, they look horrible, like any other convertible.
but I gotta say the imps sure look damn sexy in black
http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1983/83ImpLast/index.htm

I think youll like this one to my imp
http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1981/Anderson/

Oh yeah.....that black one looks deadly!!!

 

[alf44]

i think a volare would look good with a m clip. add a bit o class

 

[My imp]

Hell ya, & Imp wheels to put it over the top!

 

[My imp]

I wish I had a couple more angles of a Mirada/Cordoba to finish this rendering of the Impadobarada convertible. I need a good rt side 3/4 view. Trying to get the kick up right from the rear header to the bumper. I'm going to terminate the contours right as they'd enter the 1/4 extensions. I figure a J-27 ('88 LeBaron convertible's) rear seat would be about the right size to fit between the top mechanism. It'd have to be re-covered, obviously, but the size & contours seem about right. Then break out the fiberglass to build rear side covers. I don't think the stock ones could be modified enough to work.

 

[johnnyride]

I wish I had a couple more angles of a Mirada/Cordoba to finish this rendering of the Impadobarada convertible. I need a good rt side 3/4 view. Trying to get the kick up right from the rear header to the bumper. I'm going to terminate the contours right as they'd enter the 1/4 extensions. I figure a J-27 ('88 LeBaron convertible's) rear seat would be about the right size to fit between the top mechanism. It'd have to be re-covered, obviously, but the size & contours seem about right. Then break out the fiberglass to build rear side covers. I don't think the stock ones could be modified enough to work.

Want to see all angles of a real Vert, go to my Flickr page. Just go to Flickr and search thejohnnyride or put Cordoba Convertible into Google images and my car pops up.

There is also an Imp Convertible. Search that and you'll find it. Its a Sinatra Imp

 

[johnnyride]

It's hard to tell. If you look real hard, it almost looks like the back seat is narrower to fit the top mechanism. The 1/4 extensions appear to both be gone, so if the price is good, it might have been a good start on an Impdoba? Corderial? Miradial? Impada? I doubt if the headlight covers are wired in. That's one of my biggest fears, is to mate those wiring harnesses together. Although it shouldn't be as hard as trying to mate an Imperial harness to anything else.

Hey guys, the way you can tell a fake roof from a real vert (as discussed on the Mirada with the Imp nose) is the quarter window behind the door. If you see it, it's not real. All of the Global Coach cars are full tops and go right up to the front door.