Re: Packard Monte Carlo

Posted by 58L8134 On 2014/12/26 19:09:34

Hi Guscha

Those door release pushbuttons are the same ones used on '41-'48 Lincoln Continental coupes and cabriolets as well as '42 Lincoln Zephyr and '46-'48 Lincoln standard models. They look nice but functionally leave something to be desired. Any Continental you see has fingerprints on the paint from the door being pushed shut. Pretty hard to do without a handle to grab.

The Phantom's top configuration, with its removable forward canopy but stationary rear roof is called a coupe de ville. The style found more currency in Europe in the pre-war period with high-end coachbuilders. A variation was the three-position convertible victoria: 1)fully closed, 2)folded open over only the driver's compartment, and 3) fully open.

Beginning with Cadillac's introduction of the hardtop convertible, its Coupe de Ville, the term took on the meaning of simply a B-pillarless two door coupe or four door sedan with half-door construction.....at least for Cadillac. Cadillac utilized the term to its marketing maximum throughout the 1950's and 1960's.

Steve