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More from *RoadTripDog

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:iconoldcarsnobodyliked: #OldCarsNobodyLiked

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July 24, 2010
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:iconroadtripdog:
I like Packards, but you can see the Studebaker influence on this 1957 Packard. Pre WWII the Packard company manufactured some of the most elegant automobiles and in fact was the largest selling luxury car marque in the 1930s. During the war Packard turned out huge quantities of engines for the P-51 Mustang fighter and our PT boats and tanks. Many of our soldiers and sailors who never got to drive a Packard before the war found themselves driving or flying with Packard power and the image was quite a confidence booster.

But after WWII Packard had much difficulty keeping up with competitors Cadillac and Lincoln, fading fast by the mid 1950s and merging with Studebaker. The 1957 Packards were merely high end Studebakers and were called "Packardbakers" by the public. Compare this car with a 1957 Cadillac and it's easy to see why buyers turned away from Packard.

Usually mergers of two smaller weak companies produce a large weak company and that's the story of Studebaker-Packard, although the Studebaker line kept going for several more years with the Studebaker Lark and Avanti (designed by a Raymond Loewy team).

This Packard would not be what we called in my high school days a "good pickup car". This is not a reference to pickup trucks but for being "chick bait" - sorry, I'm a politically incorrect product of my generation (actually no, I'm not really sorry either). Even so, I would look good driving it for its historic value.
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:iconstephdumas:
~stephdumas Aug 7, 2010
Another difficulty for Packard, if they continued their trend to be lower-priced first with the 120 who helped during the Great Depression but they continued it as well with the Clipper [link] Some choices for the design didn't helped either [link]

As I mentionned in another Packard picture, someone imagined the interior of a 1960 Packard at [link] Too bad then Studebaker (or was it the owners of Studerbaker at the time Curtiss-Wright?) dropped Packard. A bit of trivia, Packard beginned first talks of merge with Nash but some was relucted to that idea, some wonder like auto historian Patrick Foster what if Packard had made a deal with Nash instead of Studebaker? I spotted this one on Hemmings [link]

Another "what if" I spotted at this site devoted to the 1956 Packard was the use of a 1956 Lincoln body for Packard. There was a website who showed the picture but it don't exist anymore :( We could had talked of "Packoln" or "Linckard", and there was also an aborted revival using the Facel-Vega body [link] [link]
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:iconroadtripdog:
*RoadTripDog Aug 7, 2010
Excellent historic Packard information. I remember the talk of Packard and Nash merging which I agree would have made a stronger company with the Rambler becoming the low end volume car, Nash and Packard being the upscale brands. I always thought the Studebaker-Packard merger was doomed from the start. I'm not surprised they couldn't make a deal with Ford/Lincoln for bodies because of Henry II's objections.

Stretch the imagination of a Packard/Nash/Rambler company into the 1970's when AMC introduced the Javelin. What if, as Mercury introduced the Cougar which at first was an upscale Mustang, Packard had an upscale Javelin? All kinds of interesting possibilities.
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:iconquanticchaos1000:
*QuanticChaos1000 Jul 30, 2010  Hobbyist Photographer
Also called "Studepack" and I could get lots of girls in one now! :D (hell I do in my 72 chev truck but not my 31 Pontiac, people have no taste now)
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:iconroadtripdog:
*RoadTripDog Jul 30, 2010
Same around here, the 72 Chev truck would be better chick bait. But that's OK because it's affordable for me!:)
I like the prewar cars but except for the rods and rat rods there seem to be fewer prewar stock or mild customs around. Probably the age group is dying off. I've got a really sharp 30's Pontiac mild custom sedan coming up soon.
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:iconquanticchaos1000:
*QuanticChaos1000 Jul 30, 2010  Hobbyist Photographer
I have restored, original, rat rod and hot rods, I like it all, I have the most fun in my rat rod though!
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