Re: '55 or '56 body style

Posted by 55PackardGuy On 2009/10/30 17:37:13

Quote:

I'll second that emotion.

Great stories about actual crowd reaction, Craig.

"... the epitome of '50s flash" that Eric attributes to the '56 models is one of the things that I dislike about them (not that I dislike them, but in comparison with their Packard brethren of '55). The '55's are more elegantly understated IMHO.

I think the 1956 Packard seniors were ahead of the times in styling, with the late '50s over-the-top "look" really not appearing in other brands until '58. F'rinstance the Buick Special as well as most of the rest of the GM lineup, the MOPAR bunch, as well as Ford, although they were upsized in '57 the Fords didn't become chrome monsters until '58. 1958 was a real watershed for styling change across the board, including a general widening and lowering of just about every American car.

That's one reason I'm always puzzled by the sentiment that it was essential for the '57 Packard model to undergo a radical change. The Chevy that year was still a "shoebox," based on a platform that was even older than Packard's, while Fords and MOPARs were upsized.

Here we're all talking about how beautiful the 55-56 Packard lineup was, and yet bemoan the fact that they were "completely outdated" by '57. Not true, IMHO. If Packard had been able to make more '56 cars, ON TIME, I think they would have sold what they could make, and been just fine waiting until '58 to bring out the all-new Packard.

But I guess that's way off topic, and the whole "last years of Packard" discussion has been done at length elsewhere.