Re: Are 57 and 58 Packards really Packards

Posted by kens53clip On 2009/10/16 17:27:32

Re: the designer(s) of the South Bend 57 Packard Clippers
Heard from George Hamlin and here, word for word, is what he had to say:

Greeting,

First I need to apologize for having taken so long. I was out of town, and then came Hershey. I came back to find this and realized that this is not what you'd call "customer service." I am using your email address to get you this response quickly, though I will still have to post you the article I'm going to refer to. Dwight Heinmuller is on the copy list but not Nat Dawes; I don't have his email address.

It did take me some time to remember where I had the piece I was looking for, but I did eventually come up with it. I'm sending you a Xerox of it under separate cover; we ran it in the Autumn 1984 Packard Cormorant magazine, and it included some of the things that I had learned from Duncan McRae and some direct experience from the 1957-58 area. I'm sending a Xerox of the whole story, because it's kind of cruel to copy just one page and leave you wondering how it came out.

The premise for the story was the 1958 hardtop; the assignment I was given was to keep it brief and just do a short background with some photos. I would have preferred to get more into the remarkable roof that went on that car and some other stuff, but The Boss had only the three pages plus the back cover available, so here we are.

I have highlighted the appropriate remark from Duncan McRae, wherein he said that "Dick Teague had developed a Packard using [the 1956 Studebaker] body in sedan and station wagon form." There's really no controversy involved - not when McRae himself told me that Teague had done it. Teague said about the same thing to me in other discussions, though he wasn't terribly proud of the product (1957, we're talking about). Well, Teague wasn't proud of the Panther Daytona either. Okay, he once told me he disliked nearly every design he ever did.

As for Mr. McRae, I believe that he is no longer living.

Whom Nat talked to when he was working up his book, I do not know. The chapter on the 57s and 58s in the AQ book, Dwight was not involved in, so any criticism of that chapter you might have, should attach to me alone. Dwight is currently working on publishing material about the originally planned, full-size, Detroit Packards for 1957 and will probably not be including much if anything about the Packardbakers.

I hope this helps.

GEO HAMLIN

Ken's comment: George Hamlin has quoted in his note the pertinent part of his article--a quote from Duncan McRae on the 57 designer-and the rest of his article deals with the 58 Packards. It is an interesting article on the 58 Packards but since we are here only dealing with the issue of the designer(s) of the 57 South Bend Packards, I have chosen not to put in the article here in its entirety. If anyone wants to read the article in its entirety, send me a PM and I will see what I can do. You can no longer buy this Cormorant magazine issue from PAC. Otherwise I would refer you there. Thanks, George!!

You have heard from all three authors and you can draw your own conclusion! Thanks to all three!
Ken