Last time there was a great deal of interest in our gallery of Packards and their owners from the 1950s. We’ll vary the format on this second one, not only featuring cars and their owners but also including a few Packards on their own.
Also, last time a few of the people in the shots seemed rather stuffy; which makes sense for a brand like Packard. This time, however, these are mostly relaxed owners. Just to show that Packard people knew how to have fun too.
Great cars despite the ’55/56 glitches. I avoided them by having my 2nd ’56 with 3 on the tree and standard suspension, no Ultratraumatic or Torsion-Level. My 1st was just like the Patrician in pic 7. I’ve found current Packard owners to be very smart about the cars yet enthusiastic and fun, for the most part. Her’s the Clipper I had that avoided the complex systems:
The ’46 and ’47 Clippers & Super Clippers were the classiest of any post-war cars, the Custom Super with 9 bearing 356 straight 8 was the last car accepted as a true Classic by the CCCA, along with the ’46/47 Cad 60 S.
Question about that ’56 Clipper: I know Packard was trying hard to separate the Clipper from the senior Packard line in the mid-’50s, fearing its lower price was dragging down Packard’s prestige. To that end, ’56 Clippers no longer had any “Packard” badging and were officially registered as “Clipper” on state registrations, drivers’ licenses, and such. This went over poorly with Clipper buyers whose attraction to the car was partly based on them being the least expensive entry into Packard ownership. Packard related part way through the ’56 model year, adding “Packard” badges to Clippers. But did they also revert to the cars being registered as Packards rather than Clippers?
They did start adding “Packard” badges partway into ’56 at the request of the dealers, and they were really the same car to an extent. I can tell you that the Clipper was still a big heavy car in the vein of a big Buick. As to how they were registered it was probably determined by the state and likely varied, it;s likely that some ’55s were registered as Packards as well. I’ll do some research and report back.
OK as far as registration, here’s the info I got from a Packard expert that I know:
” It was reported that state DMVs were resisting registering as Clippers because of a lack of documentation or official notice that apparently mfgs must file with the bureaucracy in advance of that kind of change. As to whether any cars actually were registered as Clippers I don’t remember any of the books confirming this.”
This rings true, I’m pretty sure my Clipper was registered as a Packard.
The separation began sort of informally when the ’41 Clipper, which was radically different than the still continued 110, 120, 160 and 180s, was named Packard Clipper to differentiate it from those older models as a sort of precaution against rejection by the very conservative Packard clientele. However though a short time before the war took it toll on sales it did sell well as it was a very handsome and elegant car. Later “Clipper” sort of took on a life of its own under James Nance when it was thought to have been a directive but actually there was a lot of confusion as to the real origin of the idea. In any event in 1955/6 it quickly became clear that the customers wanted it known that they had a real Packard, and the dealers listened. For all the good it did in the end.
Closest I ever came was with a 1992 Geo Metro which was registered as a Chevrolet.
I’ve even read that Nance insisted dealerships put up “Clipper” signs for the ’56 models to help establish it as a separate make.
I’m likewise unsure if Imperials were registered as their own marque all the way through ’75 when even Chrysler was advertising them as “Chrysler Imperials” or “Imperial by Chrysler”, as well as the 1981-83 edition
I always thought Packards after 1942 or so were too fuddy duddy looking .
Pic. #1 shows a good looking car .
Pic. #2 shows a happy young man who’s thinking about when he inherits the sedan he’s standing in front of =8-) .
The bear picture shows Packard owners weren’t any smarter than the average tourist that gets mauled / killed / eaten every year by bears .
-Nate
I think the Packard owners may be a bit smarter. They’re in the car. It’s the trailer owners who are outside, though I suppose they could also be Packard drivers.
Nate: You mentioned the bear, I just read a news story a few minutes ago about an American tourist in Africa was killed by an elephant they were watching. Sad.
That one in the first “pic” is stunning! Pic really emphasizes the cars “sprawling length”.
The “bear” pic is “worrying”. Bear is a handsome dude though!
Agreed that the Packard in the first shot is absolutely fantastic. What year and model of Packard is it? I wonder if it’s one of the last ones with the tried and true straight eights.
I remember the first time I saw one of those engines in person. The owner said it was 327 cubic inches displacement. Because of the flat head, it looked like a massive rectangular block of solid steel with spark plugs sticking out of the top, surrounded by about a gazillon bolt heads.
1956 Four Hundred.
1954 Packards were the last with straight 8s. The ’55 and ’56 used their new V8 with larger ones in the ’56 models. This one probably has a 374 with pushbutton Ultramatic (two speed with lockup torque converter)
Alas, how the tide changes these days. After over a decade driving big three vehicles almost exclusively, suing two out of three in the past five years multiple times (with two major cases ongoing), I phased out all big three automobiles (including toy cars too) and my ’95 Fleetwood is replaced by a ’54 senior Packard (among the candidates of Armstrong-Siddeley sapphire, Daimler DS420, and Studebaker President)
Of course, most people around me found my approach quite odd. Italian coworkers were quite surprised at my wayback attitude too.
1955’s were 320 or 352, 1956s used 352 and 374. They were designed to be be bored out to 500 cu in!! If only they’d lived that long. A few Packard V8s found their way into Nash, Hudsons, and Stude Hawks.
With the exception of the red convertible, these Packard owners are very clearly not Cadillac owners of the ’50s. That may well explain the demise of the brand.
The ’56 400 in the first shot is stunning, as is the ’55 Patrician near the end (too bad not a ’56; the aluminum trim running the length of the car went a long way de-emphasizing the rather tall beltline and taking your eyes of the no-longer-fashionable rear pontoon fender). Not much can be done to make the ’48-50 bathtubs look good, except choosing the convertible body style (as the owner with the maroon car with the trailer did here) where it looks surprisingly shapely.
I like the second shot where the kid’s face is almost exactly the size and shape of the headlamp he’s standing next to.
In the yellow Packard picture, notice the 25 year old car photobombing in the background. That’s the equivalent of a 2000 model today that goes unnoticed.
Yep…I saw that too.
However, I think the leap from the 30’s to the 50’s is greater.
From 2000 to today, the big difference is tables attached to the dashboard.
Paul, you’re right. Most look like their next car will be a hearse.
I wish I could find the B&W picture of my father standing next to his `41 Packard Clipper coupe.He`s wearing a suit and a white fedora hat. It looks like a still from a 1940s film noir.
My first trip to Yellowstone was in 1970 and sights like the one above were still very common. We’d be in a road jam repeatedly because a bear showed up alongside a roadway and would stop traffic. We couldn’t drive around so yes, the bear showed up inches away from our Chrysler New Yorker’s frameless hardtop windows. We didn’t have a choice.
That said – the Packards are wonderful. They are all solid, quiet and high quality cars. It wasn’t a lack of quality that ended the brand, but it was the lack of style innovation, cost of construction, and poor product mixes during the post WWII seller’s market. So sad that they got taken in with the Studebaker merger – they merged with a bottomless pit.
My dream car is a 1941 to 1948 Clipper. They have such a beautiful design all around. Loads of new stuff including air conditioning. Very modern, yet classic Packard.
You know, when we look back at cars, we aren’t looking with contemporary views. We don’t have the context of the times either. I would like to think that I would have loved Packards if I had the chance to have lived during those years, but I am also aware that how I view the brand is from afar and romanticaly. To 2024 eyes, these cars are such a statement, but perhaps to contemporary eyes, they weren’t as exciting as the brands that had outlasted them.
Wish ’55 would have seen a new showroom based on the Panther, even if it meant pushing back the V8 to ’56. And maybe the show car’s fiberglass body was the way to go, which they could have set up at EGB, ridding them of Conner Ave. That and steering clear of Studebaker might have changed their fortunes. They needed to figure out how to exist being far more than R-R while being far less than the Big 3.
Ask The Man (or woman) Who Owns One! Sail⛵the Caribbean 🚢 as one of the 400 Patricians!
Cool pics, now do some about Hudson
Which car started the looong trunk craze, or did it just begin from shortening the greenhouse to create coupes on a 4 door body? I guess since hoods were much shorter than in the ’30-’40s, something had to grow besides fins.
I believe the ’57-8 Sedan de Ville (or was it the ’56?) could be ordered with a longer trunk, probably using the 60 Special’s longer rear fenders. The 60 was 8″ longer than the de Ville, but only 3.5″ longer in wheelbase.
Ralph, it was in `58 when you could order a long or short deck DeVille. Coupes and convertibles always had the longer deck. Then in `61-`63, Cadillac offered a rather rare model called the “Park Avenue” that had a slightly shorter deck. It wasn’t a good seller & dropped by 1964.
#1 Picture shows a beautiful Packard and, a 1956 Buick Roadmaster in the garage. Also loved the hood swan’s Packard once had..
Good eye Mitchell. I spotted the ‘straps’ on the rear deck of the Buick & knew it was a `56 Roadmaster! In the second-to-last photo of the blue/white `55 Patrician, a `57 Lincoln Premiere sits in the garage.
The ’56 400 in the first shot is stunning, as is the ’55 Patrician near the end (too bad not a ’56; the aluminum trim running the length of the car went a long way de-emphasizing the rather tall beltline and taking your eyes of the no-longer-fashionable rear pontoon fender). Not much can be done to make the ’48-50 bathtubs look good, except choosing the convertible body style (as the owner with the maroon car with the trailer did here) where it looks surprisingly shapely.
I like the second shot where the kid’s face is almost exactly the size and shape of the headlamp he’s standing next to.
Here’s a trickier question: did you have to register ’57 & ’58 Packards as “Studebakers”? (sorry; couldn’t resist). I actually LIKED the look of the ’57s; but then I liked the 54 & 55 Kaisers too. Guess I like the oddballs. (Proof: I used to drive a ’59 Opel Caravan station wagon & ’60 Ford Taunus 17m 4dr sedan!)
I’m almost sure the answer is “no” – the companies had been merged for over two years at the point, and they didn’t have to establish a new make from what had previously been just a model name (as with Clipper or Imperial). If they called them Packards, that’s what they were to the authorities.
I always thought the 1955-56 Packards were uniformly beautiful. The high belt line I think actually gives them a little more formality than, say, a Buick or Cadillac from that era, a little more elegance.
The 1951-54 Packards also can look beautiful, esp. after the 1953 Dick Teague refresh, but only from certain angles – from the front, from 45 degrees from the front, or from the rear or at 45 degrees from the rear. From the side, esp. in the 4-door form, they look a little dumpy, and even the hard-top looks a little too pedestrian. Packard also skimped on the dash for these, though that was the early-1950’s trend, a less cluttered dash meant “the car takes care of everything for you”, as I understand it.
The second shot of a 1941-47 Clipper also shows how beautiful those cars are.
The bear picture is documenting the very start of the traffic jam! Trailer stopped to take pictures of the bear, Packard decides to stop and take pictures too. He is getting out with his camera.