Re: First Production 1955 Patrician

Posted by Jimmy Scichilone On 2014/7/8 12:23:51

With the slow start up and early production problems of the Conner Ave assembly plant, its not hard to understand why the first car(s) out the door were not only solid colors but also white. The new 1955 Packard was 'introduced' to the public and made its way to showroom floors on January 4, 1955, very late in the 1955 selling season compared to other makes, which were introduced as early as Sept and Oct of '54. Even at the late date of January 4th, many of the Packard dealers didn't yet have a car or cars to sell in their inventory. On page 185 of the Ward book it states:
"....Nance discovered that the first cars off the assembly line were stripped models.....He was also peeved because the factory persisted in building only single-color cars......." Apparently most if not all of the very early cars were solid colors. And also apparently both parts supply problems and production problems limited the number of options and two-tone paints that Conner was able to get out the door..... with the very early first production models.....