The Classic Era in America brought about many beautiful automobiles, but the Chrysler CL Imperial of 1932-1933 was hard to beat for overall greatness.

It featured a potent inline-eight-cylinder engine, a sweet-shifting transmission, and handsome bodywork, with a hoodline extended back to the windshield—emphasizing the car’s length and the size of the motor lurking beneath the sheet metal.

Each body was meticulously constructed to the highest standards.

The result was an automobile that was smoothly powerful, easy to drive for its era, and built with quality as the foremost consideration.

It was a superb car—and it looked terrific.

Despite the latter-day fitment of LeBaron plates to many closed cars, only the open CL Imperials boasted genuine LeBaron coachwork.

In 1933 this included a mere nine Convertible Roadsters, using the last bodies originally built for 1932; only six of the nine remain extant today.

Perfectly proportioned from any angle, with a lean, tapered appearance tha...