1932 Chrysler CH Imperial Speedster | RM Sotheby's | The Monterey Auction

To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' The Monterey Auction event, 13 - 15 August 2026.
$2,500,000 - $3,000,000 USD

• Best of Show at the 1991 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
• A one-off Chrysler in-house design and engineering study for Walter P. Chrysler
• Built using almost entirely custom hardware and numerous prototype features
• Only four owners since new; part of the Mann Collection for 37 years
• Not only a proven concours winner but an outstanding driver’s automobile
• The ultimate Chrysler of the Classic Era
• A CCCA Full Classic

CHRYSLER’S CHRYSLER: CONCEPT ART

This extraordinary car was built for Walter P. Chrysler, the man whose name it wears.

Its origins appear to have been in a 1929 Chrysler design rendering, published that year in an article on Chrysler, the man and the company, in Fortune magazine, which faithfully captures the general lines of what would soon be created, including a short and steeply raked split windshield, no running boards, and, most significantly, pontoon-style front fenders with built-in storage lockers. The text accompanying the design commented that the “experiment [was] impractical because they are too radical to suit the present public taste…[It is] however, by no means without value.”

Indeed. Working with that likely inspiration, Herbert Weissinger of Chrysler’s Art Department drew up an astonishing automobile, carried out by the factory’s Custom Body Shop almost entirely in aluminum. The body was fitted with a long CL-style hood, extending from the radiator shell back over the cowl to the A-pillars, which, along with its tucked-under tail, gave an appearance of considerable length and power. Those striking fenders from the design sketch appeared unchanged, tool compartments and all. Within the far reaches of the rear deck was concealed the full-sized spare wheel and tire, mounted on a trolley that slides across rails to lower the spare to the ground—a brilliant design that many a Full Classic owner wishes would have caught on.

Virtually every piece of hardware was a bespoke piece, including the stylish step plates, used in lieu of running boards; unique bumpers, with a front plate styled by the Art Department; and the “disappearing” convertible top, which had a radio antenna sewn into its lining. Such was the level of detail, and the attention given thereof, that even the headlights were not standard; the round bowl-type units are reminiscent of those used on the 1929 Chryslers. They stood above an extra set of Trico Clarion air horns.

A photograph of the car taken at the factory depicts it with the great racing driver Barney Oldfield behind the wheel and Chrysler Vice-President of Engineering Fred Zeder beside him. This photograph, and other professional early shots in the file, both show it in a pale color, and lacking a grille guard. Soon after, the car is believed to have been refinished in the extraordinarily deep, dark maroon hue that it presently wears. Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., writing via his assistant to later owner Al Nippert, noted that the gray hue seen in early photographs had actually been an undercoat of sorts. It had been laid down under the maroon to achieve just the right shade and depth, one that Chrysler had admired on a Ming Dynasty vase.

Underneath, the stock Chrysler inline eight-cylinder engine was fitted with an experimental aluminum high-compression cylinder head, sufficient for some 160 horsepower, and a Stromberg downdraft carburetor with a solenoid-operated valve that in the case of flooding opened a valve that drained any extra gasoline. Ignition came courtesy of an accelerator pedal-actuated starter, similar to that later used famously on Cords and Buicks, with an automatic stall restarting mechanism that re-energized the starter when a drop in the manifold vacuum pressure or a dead electrical signal from the voltage regulator was detected. The transmission was mated to a fully automatic vacuum-operated clutch and a Free Wheeling unit, with a special pendulum-actuated valve that automatically disengaged the clutch in the event of a sudden stop and restarted the engine.

The end result was not just an extraordinarily beautiful automobile, but one whose handling and performance was markedly ahead of any other 1932–1933 Imperial—which in stock form, it should be said, has always been rightfully regarded as one of the best “driver’s cars” of the Classic Era.

In sum, Chrysler’s Chrysler was a concept car before there were concept cars—not merely a plaything for the boss, but a display of all the technical wizardry and innovation in design that its manufacturer could produce.

Nothing was spared of its creators’ genius.

A QUIET LIFE

Walter P. Chrysler used the speedster gently for about three years. At that point, as is generally thought, the aggressively modern-designed Chrysler Airflow was continuing its sales decline, and it did not look right for a Chrysler to be driving something traditionally designed. Yet the car remained with the Chrysler family long after its original owner’s death in 1940. In 1957, the speedster was taken out of hiding and refurbished, gaining new paint and the present, beautifully crafted radiator stone guard. It was then driven to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., would soon begin building an art museum.

Three years later, Chrysler Jr., traveled to Europe to consider new art purchases for an intended stay of two years, leaving the car in its usual storage facility at the Provincetown Auto Body Shop. The trip appears to have lasted longer than expected, and when the storage bills went unpaid, the garage owner literally pushed the car outside and into the dunes behind his building.

Chrysler, Jr., soon offered the car for sale, with a letter on file noting it was stored in Provincetown and, significantly, that it had indeed been built for his father. Eventually, in December 1965, Chrysler Jr., agreed to trade the car to the brilliant abstract impressionist Angelo Ippolito, a central figure in downtown New York’s burgeoning post-war artistic scene, for—what else?—paintings of total value around $5,000, as documented by a letter on file between the artist and the buyer’s executive secretary. Mr. Ippolito kept the speedster parked on New York streets, and after a very short period realized that it was drawing much too much attention. At about the same time, longtime enthusiast Al Nippert discovered the car, and his entreaties to the owner fell on willing ears. Once acquired, the Chrysler remained part of the Nippert Collection, unrestored, alongside a great Packard and an impressive gathering of Franklins, for some 25 years.

“I GULPED, AND SAID YES”

We were showing my 1941 Cadillac convertible at a CCCA event in Maryland. As I was standing there, this car came rolling by; most people hadn’t seen it before, and everyone who saw it had kind of this gobsmacked look on their face. I went over and talked to the driver, who told me that it was his father Al Nippert’s car. After we got home, I contacted Al’s son, who told me that his father was on vacation and would return in about a month, but had no intention of selling the car. When Al returned from vacation, I called him, and he verified that he indeed had no intention of selling the car.

About two months later, I was having a car restored at Rich Fass’s Stone Barn, and saw a couple of photos of this car lying on the counter. I called the Nipperts back and asked if they would now consider selling the car. He said, “I don’t think so but come look at it.” We went, and Emily said at first glance, “Buy it.” Al quoted a high price. I gulped, and said yes. It was our first real major acquisition.

We picked it up two or three weeks later in November of 1989, after the Army-Navy game, and after exchange of money and pleasantries, I drove it home at 10 PM in 28-degree weather! I remember Maureen Nippert taking pity on me, and insisting that I take a hat and her earmuffs to wear on the trip, as the convertible top was in tatters. – S.M.

While service stickers on the door jamb indicated that its 8,000 miles were accurate, the car was well-worn by time, age, and Provincetown beach sand. Nonetheless, it remained astonishingly complete, intact, and solid, what might today be considered a Preservation Class car if not for its 1950s paint, to the point where Sam and Emily Mann drove it as-is for their first year. They then undertook a complete restoration in their own shop, the first to be marked by their careful and meticulous research that has underlined each of their restorations since.

The car was accompanied by the Manns to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for what was only their second time attending the event. Today, one brings a hopeful automobile to Pebble Beach accompanied by a folio of documentation. Sam and Emily Mann’s “book,” as it were, was an elderly but sharp Ralph Roberts, co-founder and designer of LeBaron who was deeply involved in custom Chryslers of the period. While Roberts, too, confirmed the car had not been a LeBaron creation but rather a factory build, it was nonetheless impressive and forward-thinking to display a car with essentially first-hand knowledge! More importantly, it must have worked. At the end of the day, the car had won First in Class and, soon, Best of Show—the first of the four times that award would be achieved by the Manns at Pebble Beach.

Since that victory the Chrysler has remained in the Manns’ collection. It has continued to occasionally see the show circuit, including returns to Pebble Beach for Exhibition Only at the 2000 and 2025 celebrations of past Best of Show winners, and achieving a Classic Car Club of America Senior First Prize. Chrysler, itself, has occasionally borrowed the car, including for participation at a concours in France. It was featured in Car Collector magazine and subsequently in their editor Dennis Adler’s well-known books, including Speed & Luxury: The Great Cars and Chrysler.

Yet it has also very much remained the exceptional road car that its owners have always known it to be. Acquired for the collection with 8,000 miles on the odometer, at the time of cataloguing it marched ever closer to 13,600. Nonetheless, it remains, given the age of the restoration and use since, in remarkable condition, a true testament to the exceptional care that it has been given by its extremely proud caretakers, on both road and concours field.

A creative’s car then, a creative’s car now, it stands bespoke in nature and unique in reality.

It was great to drive when it was original; since we have restored it, it is exceptional.

I have loved every moment in this car. – S.M.To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo26/.