Here's a picture of the Monte Carlo (II), taken at the Earle C. Anthony dealership in San Francisco in 1953. This photograph has been republished from time to time, too bad the quality isn't better. It doesn't have external spares (plural) as was noted in an older reference source, and the wheels are no doubt Motor Wheel Corporation, not Kelsey Hayes. There is also a frontal view which shows the Caribbean-style air scoop, but with a cormorant (wings down) hood ornament. Frankly, I think it's awkward looking, not enough wheelbase to carry the lines for one thing.

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Notice that lousy alignment between the cooler and the pump on the V8 picture Kev posted for me. Fortunately the alignment is a lot better in real life.

I've really enjoyed this thread, especially the quest to be authentic. Very enjoyable! Although Salesman's Data Books are published before production begins and can have a certain amount of artistic license used, in the absence of something like an actual photo of a chassis coming down the production line, I think you'd have to accept it as the best documentation available. Even as has been already pointed out, a correct part# clamp in an original box or envelope wouldn't mean that other functionally equivalent but physically different ones weren't used as well. I'd go with the type pictured in the Data Book and my congratulations on the effort for accuracy. Certainly not the first time that a judging guide was incorrect.

I would still like to see a photo of the style used on the V8 engines, specifically 1956 is someone has it handy.

Thanks Kip56, it's interesting to note the differences, especially where the hood meets the fenders and the fenders themselves, of the 44 version with the 48 version.

I think some of you are confusing the Monte Carlo with Alvan Macauley Jr.'s "Phantom", built on a 22nd series chassis. It really wasn't a show car but rather his own vehicle for trying different styling ideas and it was much modified over its years with Packard. There was also a pre-war version. But like his "Phamton II" on a reworked 1951 club sedan, these were just playthings for Macauley.

EDIT: One wonders if Macauley really was a force in styling, or just kept on because of his parentage.

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You're fortunate to have found the build slip, many are either missing or degraded into dust. You'll find the build slip codes on this website, but I'll save you the trouble of finding them:

HE = fresh air heater and defroster
RPM = radio, push button, with manual antenna
WS = white sidewall tires
FS = fender skirts
BL = backup lights
OB = oil bath air filter
OF = oil filter

My German is quite rusty but did I catch something about large-chested women in a prior response.

That's a really crisp photo of the Balboa, thanks. I've not succeeded in finding the current photos I have of it, but perhaps they'll turn up. Seems there's a difference of opinion about whether the top was removeable or not; perhaps it was so on one of the two?

I'd love to see the brochure on the Balboa, is it available on this website? If not, could you scan and add it?

Wasn't there another later, next-gen Monte Carlo concept?

Perhaps you're referring to the Balboa or Balboa-X? At least two were built, both surviving I'm told in the Ralph Marano collection here in NJ. they were based on the Reinhart body and built in 1952 or so. There is at least one vintage picture of it taken from a bit of a distance in a factory (perhaps Packards), and I also have a fairly recent picture taken when it was at Stone Barn restoration shop in NJ, I'll see if I can find it. It featured a reverse-sloping rear window not unlike some much later Mercurys.

Back to the Monte Carlo for a minute, no doubt many more pictures were taken at the time but apparently haven't surfaced. I'd love to see the rear end treatment, it almost looks like a stock trunk lid but with vestiges of fins on the rear fenders.

EDIT: Here are two vintage pictures of the Balboa, courtesy of the very fine Nat Dawes book Packard 1942-1962, a book which no fan of the postwar Packards should be without. Further comments from the Dawes book indicate the Balboa was built from a 1953 Caribbean with a fiberglass removeable hardtop and the unique rear window.

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Should have mentioned, it also had curtains on the rear compartment windows. The article also had a number of detail pictures, interior and exterior. I agree it's homely, but I think to the military that wasn't a high priority.

Here's an occasionally seen photo of the Packard Monte Carlo, designed by Richard Arbib (who also did the Pan American) and built by Henney on a 22nd Series Custom 8 2-dr sedan chassis. The story goes that it made the circuit of dealers for publicity purposes and just "disappeared". Perhaps it still exists in some private collection. It's interesting to speculate how it would have done in the marketplace, but it came along just prior to the 1951 models and by then the bathtub design was on the way out. One thing about it, rear visibility would have been the best of the 22nd/23rd series.

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