CW series were supplied by LeBaron. The design features were considered advanced and perhaps ahead of their time. However, the shape was too radical for buyer's tastes and non-Airflow models outsold Airflows by about 3 to 1. Raymond Dietrich, co-founder and former stylist at LeBaron, was hired in 1932 to be Chrysler's in-house stylist. Dietrich restyled the Airflow line and Chryslers moved to more mainstream styles. As a result of the poor Airflow sales, Chrysler design actually became quite conservative for the next two decades. Auto manufacturers continued to build up their in-house styling departments and bodyworks, with the result that LeBaron became less important to most of its customers for design ideas and bodies. Toward the late 1930s, LeBaron/Briggs built more bodies for Chrysler and fewer bodies for Ford. Chrysler became their biggest customer, with additional bodies built for Packard, Hudson, and Graham-Paige. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the LeBaron name and division became less important for Briggs, although it remained a division of Briggs until the Chrysler buy-out in 1953. LeBaron's last projects for Chrysler were two concept cars: the Chrysler Newport Phaeton, a super-streamlined dual cowl phaeton with an aluminum body and the remarkable 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt, a sleek roadster with concealed headlights and a retractable metal hardtop styled by Alex Tremulis, who went on to later style part of the legendary Tucker of 1948. Only 6 of each were made. Imperial generation (1955–1975) The Chrysler Corporation spun off the Imperial as a separate luxury make and division in 1955. LeBaron was designated the top-of-the-line Imperial models from 1956 through 1975. These cars were Imperials and did not include the "Chrysler" nameplate. Vehicles branded "LeBaron" were the top model of the Imperial line, followed by the mid-line "Crown" and a short-lived nameless base model ("Custom" from 1960 until 1963); with "Southampton" being a sub-designation applied to all pillarless hardtops. The Imperial LeBarons were made to compete directly with competitor's luxury brands that included Continental, Cadillac, and Packard, as was the case during the 1930s. The last Imperial model was assembled in June 1975, the discontinuation due to dwindling sales. First generation (1977–1981) Although the LeBaron model name had been used before on Imperials, this was the first time the name was used as a Chrysler model. Introduced in spring 1977 as a late 1977 model in response to the Cadillac Seville and Lincoln Versailles, the