Re: 55 TL pic from LIFE.

Posted by 55PackardGuy On 2009/4/15 23:05:06

Nice to hear from out your way, Henry. Hope all is swell.

I agree, on the LIFE pic that is definitely a ship's wheel center.

Unfortunate shot of Mr. Nance, though. Especially when you can't see what he's looking at. Appears to have stepped in something bad.

For some reason they liked to chrome plate the air cleaner on these show pieces, although I don't think chrome was ever actually available.

Maybe they chose the Clipper because early in the model year, the TL was still officially an option on the Custom--a required option on the seniors (which I believe could be deleted on special order, someone help me out here)--but the Clipper Custom/Constellation was the test-bed for actually selling the TL option--and did it ever sell.

Apparently the public wasn't too squeamish about it, as most ordered the option whenever it was available, and dealership demand for it was also high.

A while back on AACA, Craig H posted a couple of pics from a '55 Dallas auto show that included an overhead view of the chassis and other Packards on the showroom floor.

There's more discussion of these special show chassis in addition to pics in the first post from this long-ago thread:http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/251631

I hope it's OK to post these links... if not someone let me know. I just remembered this one and did a search for it.

If you just want to see the pic straight from Craig's website, here's that link, which I don't think he'll mind if I post:http://www.1956packardpanther.com/1955_Packard_DallasAutoShowT-L1.jpg