Re: The Packard Request
Posted by Leeedy On 2016/9/16 13:53:18
Quote:
Esquireman wrote:
What thoughts do you have regarding Pat Foster's diatribe on The Packard Request in Hemmings Classic Car (current issue, page 45?)
As for talk about Mercedes and Rolls still having upright grilles... this was all discussed in the history of the Packard Predictor in The Packard Cormorant magazine a few years ago. While it is nice to see it repeated without attribution, this is not a new discovery or discussion.
As for Packard's air conditioning system in 1955-56, it was far superior to Cadillac (as much as I like the car). The electronic rheostat control was quite good and the plenum mix was advanced along with a very powerful front-mounted separate blower motor. The Lehigh V-4 compressor was a monster with proven reliability and ample cooling performance.
It was also better than most of everything else, except perhaps for Pontiac. The Cadillac system was hopelessly useless and antiquated... particularly in the convertible with a ridiculous mounting in the rear and absurd rear vent over the rear backrest! Even the most expensive car on the market in 1956 (the Continental Mark II) had a/c vents blowing out of the roof! Nice for putting icicles in the heads of balding men, but hugely ineffective and awkward (I know... I rode in them when new). Packard studied a/c systems and determined a theater-type presence of cold air blowing front-to-rear was far more effective than air blowing rear-to-front. And Packard a/c for 1957 would have been even that much better and more advanced still with electronic controls.
The 1955 Packard dealer's showroom album reveals airflow studies that Packard had performed to resolve the design of the 1955-56 factory air system.
No matter what anyone thinks today in 2016, in 1955, the Request was what many long-time Packard customers wanted. The theme was hugely popular again on Predictor and it would have been likewise on the 1957 real Packards. And while 1958 Edsel mimicked the look of the intended 1957 Packards, a vertical grille on a Packard was requested by customers and had a heritage. Sticking one on a totally new car with no customer base and no heritage for 1958 was a totally different matter.
An upright grille on a Studebaker was merely an upright grill added to a Studebaker. An upright grille on an Edsel 1958 was merely an upright grille on a car with no heritage, no customer base and something nobody quite knew what to make of it all. Putting an upright grille on a 1955 Packard, well, that was merely a return to tradition. The issue wasn't simply adding an upright grille for styling's sake... it was not a pure design issue, but rather, a customer reaction issue.
The Request was not a rush project since it had been toyed with ever since JJN arrived in 1952. There were at least a dozen different variations of the idea. Even Dutch Darrin submitted one. On this basis, all of the Packard design projects from 1952-on could be considered "rush projects..."
As far as "marketing surveys done at auto shows" these are notoriously misleading (AMC surveyed people who viewed AMX and some claimed they'd only buy AMX if it had a back seat-so why didn't they buy a Javelin?). The important thing (in effect-a survey) that counted was the fact that customers had already written in to say they wanted an upright grille. People (real Packard buyers) had already spoken. So there was no need to ask joe blow at a new car show if he might buy a Packard if PMCC went to vertical grilles. And quite obviously there was indeed merit to upright grilles on Packard since that was the styling theme that was already in place for the future leading up to 1959. This is not a debatable issue.This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=181960