1974-1975 Chrysler
Imperial Crown Coupe

Imperial's premium personal luxury coupe

The optional 1974-1975 Imperial Crown Coupe Package was introduced as a Spring 1974 option, and was added to Imperials by American Sunroof Corporation (ASC) after the car left the assembly line. A production LeBaron Coupe would be built per normal standards, except there would be no vinyl roof installed. The vinyl roof was, of course, a standard feature so units destined for the Crown Coupe modification stood out from the rest due to this fact.

Once the LeBaron Coupe was delivered to ASC, the rear power windows were disabled and permanently sealed to the car body. The interior rear roof trim panels were replaced with new molded panels to accommodate the shape of the opera window. Another panel was attached to the outside of the car to match the inside opera window design. The outside panel was concealed with a padded vinyl roof, colored to match the paint finish. The forward 3/4ths of the roof was covered, and the rear section was painted. A thick chrome molding ran from the base of the vinyl roof where it met the upper rear edge of the front door up and across the car to the other door. This gave the LeBaron a very formal look. The LeBaron emblem was placed on the painted portion of the roof sail panel, behind the vinyl roof molding, in approximately the stock LeBaron Coupe position.

The interior switch panel that included controls for the rear power windows and the rear reading lights was modified to eliminate the power window switches. That was the limit of the Crown Coupe Package. Designed to provide Imperial with something that could compete with the Continental Mark IV and Fleetwood Eldorado, a fully loaded 1975 Imperial Crown Coupe could run as high as $11,725.70, pretty expensive when you consider the Mark IV started at $11,082, and the Eldorado was $9,935! The Mark IV came with a very high level of standard equipment in 1975, and included automatic climate control, four wheel disc brakes, AM/FM stereo radio, tilt steering wheel, speed control, even a remote control deck lid release. So, the Mark would have been comparably equipped in its standard form. That also explains the price difference between the Mark and the Eldorado.

1974 CROWN COUPE COLOR AVAILABILITY
Golden Fawn (KY4) Body with Gold Vinyl Roof (V3Y)

1975 CROWN COUPE COLOR AVAILABILITY
Silver Cloud Metallic (LA2) Body with Silver Vinyl Opera Roof (V3A) (shown above)
Dark Chestnut Metallic (KT9) Body with Dark Chestnut Vinyl Opera Roof (V3T)
Golden Fawn (KY4) Body with Gold Vinyl Opera Roof (V3Y)
Inca Gold Metallic (LY6) Body with Gold Vinyl Opera Roof (V3Y)
Starlight Blue Metallic (KB8) Body with Dark Blue Vinyl Opera Roof (V3B)
Deep Sherwood Metallic (KG8) Body with Dark Green Vinyl Opera Roof (V3G)
Formal Black (TX9) Body with Black Vinyl Opera Roof (V3X)
Spinnaker White (EW1) Body with White Vinyl Roof Opera (V3W)
Vintage Red Metallic (LE9) Body with Dark Red Vinyl Opera Roof (V3E)

CROWN COUPE PRODUCTION
1974: 57 ($526.70) (Introduced late on March 25, 1974)
1975: 1,641 ($579.00)

The Crown Coupe was an impressive motorcar that really stood out at the time. The Imperial's beautiful lines were already striking, but the modifications to the roof with the vinyl covering the forward portion of the roof and a stationary opera window in the sail panels started a trend. By 1977, the Givenchy Edition Continental Mark V featured this design, which was carried over for 1978 and 1979 as well. On the Mark V, the opera windows weren't incorporated into the roof design as they were on the Crown Coupe, but we suspect the Crown Coupe could have been the source of inspiration for the Mark.