Re: 1954 Packard Panther Daytona Roadster concept car....

Posted by BH On 2009/3/19 8:54:57

Personally, I think this car looks much better than the PanAmerican that Macauley customized (the white car updated with a lot more '55 elements), but to each, their own.

IMHO, the updates merely reflect the changing tastes of that period. While I don't think the Panther body was designed with two-tone paint in mind, two-tones were all the rage (just look at Packard's production paint schemes for '55 or '56), and you'll find a similar hood scoops on the T-bird and other sport-type cars of the time. The one thing the really looks out of place on this car, at least to me, is the removable hardtop roof, but I accept it all as a significant piece of Packard and automotive history.

There are two surviving Panthers that were not updated - one red/orange and the other silver. I seem to recall seeing both of those cars, still wearing their original colors at the Centennial, but that was before I had a digital camera, and didn't do film-type cameras then.

Hard to say what the Predictor would bring under similar conditions as, being in the hands of the Studebaker Museum for what seems like forever, I doubt if it would ever go up for sale. I heard the car was driven on the road, briefly, about the time it was under restoration, but it handled very poorly, which I suspect was the result of putting such a massive body on the Junior chassis. In contrast, the Panthers, like the PanAms, look very roadworthy.

As a fan of postwar Packards, I probably wouldn't consider any prewar car for same or less money, but that's just a matter of personal taste/interest. The prewar Packards that I find the most attractive are the Darrin convertibles, but even one of those would be out of my budget. When it comes to owning and working on a Packard, I'll stick to my V8s.

I'm neither defending nor condemning. I'm just glad we had this update on one of the surviving Panthers - with pix.