1938 Chrysler Imperial
Lebaron Custom Limousine
Serial Number: 7805935
Engine No.: C20-2123
Exterior Color: Green
Interior Color: Blue/Beige
Assembly Plant: Lebaron (a subsidiary of Briggs Manufacturing Company), Detroit, Michigan
Assembly Date: February 3, 1938
Dealership: De Soto New York Company, Inc. (as a subsidiary of Chrysler New York Company)
Original Purchase Date: February 7, 1938
Backstory
In early 1938, a federal government employee named Joe was looking for a new car in anticipation of a new job. In fact, he was looking for three new cars. Since starting his career as an assistant bank examiner in Boston in 1912, Joe had excelled professionally, finding success in banking, real estate, finance, stock trading, liquor imports, and the entertainment industry before turning his attention to public service. Having achieved sufficient financial security for his large and growing family (he and his wife would eventually have nine children), Joe could afford to devote his time and skills to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first at the Securities and Exchange Commission and then at the federal Maritime Commission, in each case as its first chairman. When FDR asked Joe in late 1937 to represent the United States overseas, he agreed. Thinking his current ride, a Rolls Royce, might not reflect well on American business interests in his new home in London, he reached out through a mutual friend to Walter P. Chrysler, who happened to head a car company bearing his own name. Mr. Chrysler, in turn, charged his son-in-law, Byron Foy, with accommodating Joe’s requests. One of the vehicles Joe and his wife eventually ordered was a custom-built seven-passenger limousine, which accompanied them to London when Joe began his job as the first Irish Catholic U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, England.
The Imperial was the top-of-the-line Chrysler model; Joe’s limousine was one of only 11 custom coach built versions, and perhaps the only one assembled by Lebaron (the other known examples were built by another coach company, Derham). It included several unique features, including side-mounted European “semaphore” turn signals and parking lights, dual side-mount spare tires, a roll down partition window, silver-plated rear compartment trim, and a personal communication system. Custom Imperials were assembled on a 144-inch wheelbase chassis and powered by Chrysler’s “Gold Seal” inline-8 cylinder engine that produced 130 horsepower; standard Imperial models were equipped with a mere 110 horsepower engine and a shorter 125-inch wheelbase.
Joe served as Ambassador from early 1938 until late 1940. Historical evaluations of his tenure run the gamut from “disappointing” to “disastrous.” Joe did not share that perspective. Life in England in the years prior to World War II was not dull; he endured German air attacks on London and enjoyed a spot on the world stage as the European conflict unfolded.
Having lived a controversial life of extraordinary accomplishment and excruciating heartache, Joe died in late 1969, at age 81, at his home in Massachusetts. I like to think taking delivery of his Imperial Lebaron limousine was a highlight in his life, perhaps even rivaling the day, almost 23 years later, when he triumphantly returned to Washington, D.C. to watch his second-born son—John F. Kennedy—sworn in as the 35th President of the United States.
