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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#21
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bkazmer
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swapping grilles integrates well since their shapes are similar, but the MB body looked so archaic, more 1948 than 1958.

now a Hawk based on the 190 SL, with a Packard engine...

Posted on: 2020/3/30 15:22
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#22
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Packard Don
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As nice as these look today, I doubt that a Packard like that would have sold well, if at all, in the '50s. It was a major jump back in overall design for American buyers, looking like something out of the '30s or early '40s.

Posted on: 2020/3/30 15:46
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#23
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Mahoning63
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Speaking of grills, here's an idea for proposed Caribbean series. Forgo the Pan American raised hood and bank the cost save. Instead set the front apart from rest of Packard line by making the ribbed piece gold anodized. Its not much but it is prominent and distinctive. Idea came from the '53 Balboa concept which has red painted ribs to match its roof. BTW, many thanks to the owners of all these fine cars being digitally modified.

Have made updates to that last Caribbean sport sedan image, check it out if interested. Handles and beltline are much cleaner and I scaled the B-pillar to a sedan to make the width similar. Any narrower and the glass won't roll down.

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Posted on: 2020/3/30 21:09
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#24
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bkazmer
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very practical for the era. The trunk lid "hoop" over the emblem in gold also, so yiou know it's a Caribbean coming or going?? Of course, the service dept would sell more of these parts than the factory ever used!

Posted on: 2020/3/31 9:00
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#25
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JWL
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Quote:

Mahoning63 wrote:
OK let's take a look at a front view, the Request grill being a great place to start. Mount a Cormorant on top and we get a decent idea of how it might have come together...


Yea, that's what they would have looked like. Although the M-B styling was dated as compared to the more radical things being rolled out of Detroit, they were popular for those looking for something different and more restrained.

What about the rear re-styling to give more of an American look?

Maybe the best thing would have been for Packard to follow through with the Request styling for the senior cars.

Woulda, coulda... It all history now and we know how the story ends.


Thanks for the efforts.

Posted on: 2020/3/31 11:39
We move toward
And make happen
What occupies our mind... (W. Scherer)
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#26
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bkazmer
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as has been discussed before, the fifties styling direction was to look longer, lower, wider. The disfunctional overhangs stem from this. Packard, like others with a vertical grill shape as a major design, had a difficult task.

I think the Request was a pretty good job of integrating a vertical grille. Compare it to the 58 Edsel. MB retained it by holding back the rest of the body shape.Generally, the direction was to make the grille skinnier - 59 Edsel, Packard Predictor, Alfa Romeo. Looking more like Alfa could have been a better direction for the 58 Hawk.

Posted on: 2020/3/31 12:01
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#27
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Mahoning63
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This is a great discussion! I think its always good run out what-ifs and poke at history because it exercises the mind to better see the non-obvious. They say history doesn't repeat but it often rhymes. If one can't "fix" the past - with all the history in plain sight - then how can one have any chance at improving the future?

Earlier you saw the proposed 1955 Patrician series. All three cars would have run with the new 352 V8 producing 260 HP, the 275 version reserved for the Caribbean series.

Now let's step back a year and look at the 1954 Patricians, which would get the '54 Cavalier's side trim. To keep material cost in check let's give them the 327 Eight with 185 HP and leave the new 359 Eight for the Caribbeans. This would have still been 5 HP more than previous year's Patrician so would have been good news for the customer (relatively speaking).

Let's see what happens if we line-out the earlier proposed Clipper 4-door sedan that would have been carried over from 1953, and instead make a big push to move as many of the proposed new 4-door Clipper Sportsters as possible (and include a pillared 2-door version?). And let's de-content the base model to greatest extent possible and give buyers an incredibly expansive options list (think original Mustang), under the assumption that this car would "have legs" sufficient to resonate with a broad reach of the market. If this turned out to be true the company would have seen fairly strong sales and profits, certainly better than what history recorded for 1954. I like the fact that the series would have stood alone in appearance just like Patrician and Caribbean, helping to minimize cannibalization.

At this point in Packard's trajectory it would have established a dual product strategy that managed the transition in consumer preference from traditional, conservative legacy vehicles as represented by the Patrician series, to the "next big thing" identified by performance and styling that had typically been associated with playboys. Not without coincidence a young guy with sideburns driving truck in Memphis would in early 1954 cut a record called That's All Right Mama and see his income steadily rise. He would crave the new Caribbeans and eventually go on to buy many Packards, but for now would set his sights on a base Sportster with manual transmission, checking only one obscure option buried deep in the list of available goodies: a 359 212 HP Eight.


5/1 EDIT: added chrome trim to rocker.

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Posted on: 2020/3/31 12:44
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#28
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Mahoning63
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Let's make E's 359 option a special code with 220 HP courtesy freer breathing exhaust and a distinct rumble, Jesse Vincent smiling at his last best Eight.

Posted on: 2020/3/31 13:02
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#29
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Mahoning63
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Regarding Conner Ave's inaugural "shake down" year building whole cars, with this strategy the '55 body that they would have been building would have been a known commodity, which would have allowed the plant managers to focus on shortcomings in assembly process and logistics of incoming parts, and quality probably would have improved compared to what actually happened.

Posted on: 2020/3/31 13:36
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Re: 1953/4 Caribbean 4-door hardtop sedan exploration
#30
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bkazmer
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Put all Patricians on the 127" wb, use the 122" wb only for the Clipper. I don't think many buyers of a Patrician-type car would object to the lack of a 122" wb version.

Here's pot-stirring: Do you offer a parts-bin special like the original Chrysler 300? 122" wb 2 dr Clipper Sportster for the body. 359 engine. The gold trim, full leather interior, senior grille. Pan-American?

Posted on: 2020/3/31 14:29
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