Re: First Production 1955 Patrician

Posted by Leeedy On 2014/7/8 12:51:49

[quote]
BryanMoran wrote:
Sorry to bring this topic back up but the seller has posted an ad on the AACA forum and in a browse I found it and was directed here.

In all of the comments here I do not see anything on a couple of questions or observations:

1. Why would Packard or how might it have come to be - that the 1st production 1955 vehicle was painted all white (Ivory) in an era when Patricians were typically conservatively painted and trimmed?

This makes me think, and I am no Packard expert, that this was meant for the show circuit or was a special order car.

I am surprised to see that few commenters were as surprised and intrigued by the color choice as I am. At 1st sight, I thought it might have been repainted all white (Ivory) at some point in it's life.

It just really struck me as fascinating that car #1 would be all Ivory with some contrast to the interior. I wonder if there are any other all white 55 Patricians and what percentage of paint codes represented all white.

While no one here might have the answer, this question is meant for those members with more extensive knowledge to speculate, which leads to question number 2.

2. Why is there not a better archival photo record of this car? If it is truly car number 1 of the last production car for Packard, and a car with so much riding on it (no pun intended) why is there no record of it and we are all amazed and surprised to see it here.

You know, there are those "Illustrated Photo Archive" books for most of the independent makes. I have purchased several and for Packard, I would think this would be a highly publicized car and we would see photos of it new.

3. Is this 0001 car the 1st production 1955 Packard or the 1st production 1955 Patrician? I have not seen that brought up in the commentary. How does a regular Joe like me that is not a bonified Packard historian know how Packard numbered cars? If the 1st 4 digits before 0001 designate that it is a 1955 Patrician, wouldn't the 1st 400 have their numbers in front of another 0001?

Or does it go sequentially so that car number 2 could have been a 400 or a Caribbean or whatever?

4. Is there an update regarding the owner history?

Thanks for considering my inquiries. Bryan Moran[/quote
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A few points in response to the statements here.

RE: item #1... It is not known that this is the very first 1955 Packard built. Only that is is the first production numbered 1955 Patrician built. Also being the first Patrician for the 1955 model year does not mean it was the very first V-8 vehicle built, which quite possibly could have been a Clipper. According to Ward's publication Jim Nance was complaining about the first cars off the line being stripped models and basicially that translates "Clipper."

RE: item #3... The 1955 Packards were not the final year of Packard production. The last real Packards were the 1956 model year. And then those were followed by two more years of "Packardbakers" for 1957 and 1958.

Furthermore, the new Binks painting system with air wall at the Conner Plant still did not have all of the bugs worked out of it at the very beginning of operation and thus a lot of cars first done were single tones. And even those cars were not getting the proper amount of lacquer actually being applied to the bodies as intended.

Also, tell you a little secret: light, solid colors-especially white-hide flaws a lot easier than dark colors. In fact, black is the toughest color to paint if everything isn't top notch. It is always the color that shows flaws and quality control issues the most!

Finally, people should know that the first few serial numbers of production are (depending on the company) often what in the car industry we call "pilot production" and often are not even sold to the general public. While this is not a hard and fast rule (as in the case of Mustang and others) vehicles with serial number 001 (or similar) may not be final specification. Also such vehicles may often end up being press cars. If they do indeed end up later in the hands of the public, it is usually via an employee sale (again, this is not a hard and fast rule with every car company).

In the case of Packard, I can tell you that, for instance, some 1955 Caribbeans ended up re-dressed as 1956 models. These were pilot production vehicles.

Early serial numbers are always a tricky business because one has to know the company's internal policies, how the manufacturer was handing early production and pilot cars, press cars, etc. In Packard's case-especially for 1955-there was a lot going on when production at Conner Avenue commenced.