1933 Chrysler CL Custom Imperial Phaeton

This 1933 Chrysler CL Imperial Dual-Windshield Phaeton by LeBaron was originally owned by Lou Fageol, a speedboat racer. After about a year, Fageol had his shop install a 1930 Cadillac V-16 engine, number 700132, along with necessary adjustments to the chassis and suspension. The result was a 175 horsepower V-16 engine installed in the Imperial chassis and body, which was around 1,000 pounds lighter than the Cadillac.

Ownership of the V-16 Chrysler next passed to Hollywood film actor Turhan Bey, and subsequently to a student at Stanford University, who sold it in the early 1950s to Jack Passey. Passey, in turn, traded the car to Earl Hill and Dick Wells, who sold it to Laurence Dorcy. Over the next fifty years, Dorcy would own the Fageol Imperial two further times, always buying it back after he sold it. The current caretaker was actually the last to sell the car to Dorcy, in trade for a Duesenberg in 2001, and re-acquired it from Dorcy's estate a decade later.

Between 1985 and 1987, the Imperial was treated to a restoration. Recently, during Mr. Dorcy's final ownership, the car had the engine hood correctly replaced, and the body was refinished in its present scarlet, matching the hue it wore when Dorcy first acquired it in the 1950s.

More recently, the car has undergone further cosmetic restoration and the installation of a period-correct CH Imperial engine.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2017