1957 Chrysler Imperial Le Baron - The Imperial Charter

Had anyone tried it, they would've found the Weiand Drag Star manifold's excessive plenum volume and the Imperial's excessive weight a miserable combination. But the versatility of electronic fuel injection makes it possible. These eight Stromberg clones are the business end of a Retrotek induction system. Mike Reeves built the 392 below it with just a touch more cam profile.

Though the interior in Ben's car isn't absolutely accurate, the '58 Pontiac brocade and Italian leather that Hoglund's Top Shop stitched in the Imperial's pattern is convincing as it is luxurious. It's tough to see, but the window frames in the immediate foreground are ribbed. Legend has it that a craftsman at Queen City Plating insisted on hand-filing the ribs, a process that took three years since it's a process that wears out hands in a matter of hours. Rather than anodized as they were, they now wear chrome.

Ben had the caps scanned and sent the profile information to Billet Specialties. They merged the Imperial's inner-cap design with that of a similar-year Ford, creating these 20-inch-diameter articles. Between the fronts is a firewall-forward stub and suspension that Jim Meyer Racing made specifically for the car. Pinned to the rear by an Art Morrison four-link is a gusseted Ford 9-inch axle with a limited-slip differential and 35-spline axles.

Chrysler cast the metal features right into the rim and trimmed the boomerang-shaped horn button in leather, making Dennis Crooks' restoration that much harder. This car also marks the beginning of Chrysler's luminescent period, when it screened its gauge markings with radioactive material so they would glow. JC Auto Restorations restored these from the best of three sets. The push-button shifter still functions, albeit to command the Retrotek electronic shifter.