I purchased this from an estate in New Jersey through a man in Atlanta in September 1997. I then had it hauled to Nebraska from New Jersey by Jeff Burland of Town to Town Transport who has hauled several cars for me in the past. As always he brought it on time for a reasonable cost.
The main problem this car has is that someone broke out all the glass on the drivers side. The problem is this glass was only used on the Ghia limo and there were only 10 1965 Limos made for worldwide distribution. Actually mine is built on a 1964 chassis with a 65 grille added. It has a pushbutton transmission from the 64 and it has 64 Imperial hubcaps. The base price for a 1965 Ghia Limo was $16,000. It was hand built in Turin Italy at the Ghia factory then shipped back here. It was bought new by the Puritan Dress Company of New York City. I have not been able to find any record of this company since I acquired the car.
All Imperial Ghia limos that I am aware of had jump (folding) seats in the rear to accommodate up to 6 people sitting in the back. Mine is different and has a bar in place of the jump seats. It is complete with shot glasses and decanter, a record player, radio with stereo speakers, an AC refrigerator to ice down the drinks, a fold out desk complete with high intensity light and a clock. The front seat is a stationary black leather bench seat which is kind of cramped for my 6 ft 1 in body. The door panels are also covered in heavy grade leather instead of the vinyl used on the stock Imperials.
The back seat is gray broadcloth with Imperial Crowns embroidered on the top parts of each seat. There is a power operated window which divides the front compartment from the rear compartment. There are 10 control switches in the back with 4 on one side and 6 on the other. They control the radio, the divider window, the windows, and the heating/cooling. There are 2 air conditioners on the car. One for the front compartment and one for the rear compartment. The odometer currently shows 24,000 miles which I believe to be true since the paper work which came with the car shows the mileage creeping up very slowly.
My first priority is to have the new windows made for the drivers side and to get them functional. I have found a local glass company who says they can fabricate the new windows. The car drives very well although the transmission needs work. It appears the care was white when new and I hope to take it back to white at some point as funds become available.