1969 Imperial Champ Special

For , and a story he's been working on! He wanted it based off of a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle, so I went for it!

In 1968, luxury car maker Imperial was in a bad spot. With the muscle car craze thundering ahead, and no end in sight, Imperial had to shape up fast and good. So, in 1969, they completely scrapped every car in their lineup, and introduced three new models; the Champ, the Scout, and the Mayflower. The Mayflower was a full size behemoth (think like the Chevrolet Malibu and the Ford Galaxie), the Scout was the mid size platform (like the Plymouth Road Runner) and the Champ was the pony car (like the Ford Mustang and the Chevy Camaro). They also introduced a whole slew of engines, including (but not limited to) a 338 cu. in. small block, a 445 big block, and a 466 NHRA drag spec engine. This was a huge success for Imperial, and the Scout was the most popular model, selling over 300,000 units in it's first year alone.

This particular Champ has been optioned with a manual transmission and the big dog, a 427 cu. in. big block NASCAR spec engine, with a few performance modifications like high flow exhaust, taller gears, and stiffer suspension, making this a whole lotta tire-shredding, pavement-ripping performance packed into a really tiny package! The engine was so big, that they had to change the grill from the stock one to one from a Scout, because the car kept running hot and wasn't getting enough air onto the radiator, hence why it looks a little funny. This Champ also has fallen on hard times, with chipping paint and a patched together interior. She's a work in progress, but don't think for one second that she's lost any poke!