1953 Cavalier "Hardtop" Sedan
Posted by Mahoning63 On 2019/5/24 21:10:28
Another appearance exploration for 1953, a year which presented an incredible opportunity for Packard. As a hardtop sedan (with chromed window frames like '41 LeBaron Sport Brougham) the Cavalier would have become the flagship and priced against Sixty Special. Or this car could have been given another name like Pacific. Backlight is 1-piece because Packard needed to keep up with Cadillac. Interior would have been the same as previous 250 except for a padded I/P upper for a luxury touch.
An alternative to the car being added to the top of existing '53 line-up would have been for Packard to have made it and a hardtop sedan version of the Clipper the new sedans that replaced the 200 and 300/400. Someone - perhaps Nance in the year leading up to his officially starting, or Ferry or Teague - would have needed to question the wisdom of tooling a new windshield and making expensive roof tooling changes to make the existing tall sedans look more hardtop-like, when the squared off 250 windshield already existed and its roof tooling, if lengthened 5 inches, the perfect solution for the 127 sedan. The hardtop coupe could have benefited from a new flatter roof anyway and the Clipper sedan would have needed its own new roof, all of which Packard could have afforded at that time.
In this scramble to compete without breaking the bank, the Eights could have been converted to OHVs with aluminum heads and given as high a compression as possible, enabling the 327 to produce upwards of 220-225 HP. Nash converted its small Six to OHVs in 1956 and saw a 20% increase in power with similar compression and carburetion as the flat head it replaced. Packard probably should have converted its Eights to OHVs for '51 as stand-in for future V8.
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An alternative to the car being added to the top of existing '53 line-up would have been for Packard to have made it and a hardtop sedan version of the Clipper the new sedans that replaced the 200 and 300/400. Someone - perhaps Nance in the year leading up to his officially starting, or Ferry or Teague - would have needed to question the wisdom of tooling a new windshield and making expensive roof tooling changes to make the existing tall sedans look more hardtop-like, when the squared off 250 windshield already existed and its roof tooling, if lengthened 5 inches, the perfect solution for the 127 sedan. The hardtop coupe could have benefited from a new flatter roof anyway and the Clipper sedan would have needed its own new roof, all of which Packard could have afforded at that time.
In this scramble to compete without breaking the bank, the Eights could have been converted to OHVs with aluminum heads and given as high a compression as possible, enabling the 327 to produce upwards of 220-225 HP. Nash converted its small Six to OHVs in 1956 and saw a 20% increase in power with similar compression and carburetion as the flat head it replaced. Packard probably should have converted its Eights to OHVs for '51 as stand-in for future V8.
Attach file:
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