Crown Convertible (United States of America, 1960)

The year 1960 saw Imperial stick with the body-on-frame construction that Chrysler was beginning to move away from. It also saw the line’s already bold styling exaggerated, with deeply vee-d front bumpers, even taller tailfins, and massive pieces of chrome trim on the front, back, and all around.

A 413-cubic inch Wedge V-8 with 350 horsepower and 470 foot-pounds of torque now resided under hood, and it was attached to a smooth-shifting Torqueflite automatic transmission that deftly carried the car’s 4,700-plus pounds down the road. Passengers enjoyed well-padded leather seating, while the pilot got a High Tower driver’s seat, which parked him behind two deeply hooded instrument pods.

Imperial Crown Convertibles came loaded with power steering, power brakes, a power antenna, and a power folding top, along with several other options. Those features put the price tag up to $5,774, which kept drop-top versions of “America’s Most Carefully Built Car” out of the hands of all but 618 buyers, making them highly coveted today.