At one point, an Imperial LeBaron coupe that would go down in history was put on a convertible chassis at the Chrysler plant in Detroit. Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, Italy, got it to work on the body. That’s where the famous 1964 Imperial Crown Ghia Presidential Limousine was changed into the unique stretch limousine with six windows that it is now. American lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis owned it. It was one of only ten designed and built. It will be auctioned off today, and the price is likely to be between $125,000 and $150,000. What The Detroit News says is that this car was part of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral parade to Arlington Cemetery in November 1963. Jackie, his widow, probably used the sedan as her car for less than a year before driving Lyndon B. Johnson to his second inauguration in 1965. Johnson had been on Air Force One during the first inauguration when JFK was killed. After that, the Imperial Crown joined the White House fleet and stayed there until 1969. This beauty has only 15,109 kilometers, which makes it very rare. This black sedan has been well taken care of, and the inside is lined with gray leather. Mecum, a sales company, says the car’s original MSRP was $18,500. That’s more than three times the price of a 1964 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron when it was bought. Mecum says that the limousine was bought at the sale from the Chrysler Corporation by Hugh McVeigh, who owns Redford Chrysler in Michigan. The car had only 9,000 miles on it when McVeigh took his family on vacation to northern Michigan. He had yet to learn how important it was historically. McVeigh was especially interested in the limousine’s automatic divider window, which split the passenger cabin from the driver’s cabin. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, this wall blocked out the sounds of his kids playing in the car. In the next few years, Chrysler offered to buy the car back, but McVeigh turned them down. He kept the car in his basement until he sold it to the Eppert Oil Company in 1979. The Imperial Crown Ghia Presidential Limousine has an automatic drive with three speeds and a V8 engine with 340 horsepower. The Chrysler/Ghia looks mostly original, with the new gas tank, logos, and fuel lines being the only things that are different. It has great whitewall tires and red-show headlights. It would be great if the car had a talking box. Some secrets are hidden behind its black lacquer surface.
