It’s the end of August 2001. I bought this car Nov. 11, 1994, so for almost seven years I’ve owned an Imperial without having driven it, except for a very short initial spin that persuaded me of the need for an extensive overhaul. Now I need to make the leap: fire up the engine, open the garage door and plunge into the unknown. I admit that while waiting so many years for this moment, I’ve had many qualms about actually getting behind the wheel and shifting into "D." What might happen? Will the brakes and steering do what they’re supposed to, the gears shift, the electric system not fail, the motor run well? I’ve got a bad case of nerves this evening of August 21, 2001. It’s almost 8 p.m., a good hour with little traffic, and the weather’s fine. Here goes then: ignition switch, starter, Drive. One of my sons immortalizes with video camera my passage through the door and into the world. My other boy and my daughter are in the car with me, but I listen to nothing but the rumble of the Hemi, see nothing but the gauges on the dash. That and watching for any other car that might come down the street. We’re on the road!
I stop after about 50 yards, shift into R and back up to see if there’s any hemorrhage. Fine, nothing leaking, no stains on the pavement. Another foray, this time about 200 yards to the end of our street, turn around, drive back. Super, I’ve driven a good quarter of a mile. The braking is fairly good, with the pedal traveling too far, and the car wanders some but does come to a stop. Engine performance is only so-so, with sluggish response, and second and third gear of the automatic transmission don’t engage properly. Now I take a short drive around the neighborhood, a little more than half a mile. What joy to be driving the Imperial at last! This evening I’ve put nearly a mile on her, three times her previous total in the last seven years!
The next day, a search for what’s wrong. The Torqueflite was a good quart and a half low on transmission fluid – no wonder the gears didn't change right. The engine is more worrisome. It isn't smooth, seems to be missing. It turned out to be missing on four whole cylinders. Four of the eight new spark plugs had died – I think that came from running the engine in the garage with the rear wheels up on blocks. I concluded that you shouldn’t test an engine for the equivalent of over 100 miles under unreal conditions. It’s as if you drove that far with the engine at idling speed.
So change all the spark plugs and add fluid to the transmission. That’s better. The engine runs like, well, like a V8. The gears change perfectly. Let’s take another drive, at least several miles…

With fine weather prevailing at the beginning of September, I decided to take the car to its first vintage-car meeting. Bertrand Hughes, who had done the body work for me, was the host, and the meeting was just six miles away. My Imperial seemed to run well, but when I had to slow on a hill to let another car cross the road, my car didn’t regain speed well. It was mushy and lacked the kick it should have had. Time to look into that later; for now it was a pleasure to see the success my Imperial enjoyed at the little meeting.

Two days after this debut the new convertible top is ready, so I set out on the 25-mile drive to Tarbes, home of my upholsterer, A. Pérès. On this long ride I am followed by José in his truck, pulling a large trailer, just in case. The trip goes well but again I notice the lack of power. With the Hemi engine I should leave everyone behind, but that’s not happening. Besides the speedometer doesn’t work – it hovers feebly around 10 to 12 mph. At Tarbes José tells me my top speed was 50 to 55 mph, at times when I had the gas pedal almost to the floor. That’s certainly abnormal and I’ll have to investigate.

A two-week pause intervenes. I need to get the car ready for a meeting at Casteljaloux, but the upholsterer is keeping the car to wait for a warm, sunny day, so the top fabric will smooth out and let itself be installed easily on the convertible frame. Okay, I’ll try to forget my Imperial for a few days. It’s a shock to see the garage empty…