1959 Imperial Crown 4 door sedan restoration

[DonFromTexas]

I just got started on my third 59 Crown restoration, lots of work to do yet. Someone had glued a vinyl top on it, so all that dried glue has to be removed before painting. I have lots of the chrome off and in Mexico for chrome plating. The engine had a total overhaul many years ago and I was not sure how much oil remained on new parts, so I wanted to re prime the oil system before starting. I devised a tool to remove the oil pump drive gear, and now I can put an allen wrench on a battery powered drill and get oil everywhere before starting, priming the pump as well as filling the oil filter etc. Someone had lost the keys long ago as well, and taking out the ignition switch is a real pain, so I removed a door lock and trunk cylinders and had keys made for them, much easier tasks. I have stripped a lot of the chrome and it is in Mexico getting chrome plated. Here are some photos of all that:

[DonFromTexas]

She (Ruby) has come a long ways since she was found, this only a couple of months ago:

[DonFromTexas]

And "Restoration of Ruby" continues. More chrome to go to Mexico, in fact NOTHING is NOT being re- chromed. Body work is coming along just fine as well, should be able to start the engine soon as well.

[GaryBoy]

What a good looking machine. I enjoy the pics! I appreciate all the windows and of course, the four doors. For a huge car four doors make so much sense! It must be a pleasure to drive with almost no blind spots! So this is your third 1959 Imperial? Why only the 59s?-- Out of the three years 57-58-59, I myself favor the 1959 model over the 57 and 58 models although both are fine. My understanding is that the 57 models had particularly poor assembly quality and a number of engineering glitches that were solved rather quickly, but damaged the reputation for the brand (along with all the other Chrysler car brands that year) as they pushed them out of the factory at a steady and record breaking clip gaining a lot of market share & making a lot of $$, but irritating a lot of customers that remembered the quality issues for decades after the 57 model year. I also appreciate the functional usefulness of the 1959 413 wedge engine (costs less to manufacture and accelerated (at least up to 60 mph) about the same) that replaced the hemi from the previous year. Send pics of the interior work if you can sometime (maybe you already did in the past). I do did think the 57 and 58 models had a darn good looking and functional interior---maybe a little better looking than the 1959 models. I have heard that people who used the turn-signal switch on those models thought is was poorly designed. I have heard that the rear view mirrors on the dash were great as long as no adults over 5 feet tall were sitting in the back to somewhat block vision. What are your thoughts on the 59's interior, dash and instruments? I've heard that the 1960 interior was hard to beat with the interesting and functional lighting of the instruments). Any thoughts on the upholstery of the 59 models?