Re: IMHO, the 1950s Packard designs have held up well...

Posted by Loyd Smith On 2008/10/29 6:54:05

One cannot help but marvel at the disparity of tastes in all things, including automobiles.

Although I own one, today, and love the car - I thought they'd completely lost it when the 55th Series cars came out with all of the extemporaneous, "shiny," stuff tacked onto it.

Packard's simplicity of line and lack of unnecessary embellishment and the fact that they didn't change things every year, just for the sake of change, had always been one of their selling points.

I think that public taste and perception of, "quality," changed drastically in the ten years following the war. Following the depression and the shortages of product during the war, everyone seemed to want, "new," stuff and paid less attention to true quality.

All things considered and with the benefit of hindsight, however, the, "high-pockets," design still appears more attractive on the 1951 - 1954 cars than on the 55th and 56th Series ones - to me. The Caribbeans looked better than any of the rest of them.