Re: Packard Request

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2015/10/1 11:18:26

A good question, and I don't know the answer. Well, I take it back - maybe there is a little mystery to the origins of the Request. I do have a copy of the June 1, 1954 interoffice instruction from D. H. Adams outlining the numbering systems to be instituted for the "experimental" (pre-production) and production 1955 models. For the to-be 1955 400 it gives the pre-production models as having vehicle numbers in the 5587-101 to 5587-999 range, with production vehicles commencing at 1001. Possibly the early date of that memo and the late timing of the final details threw that a bit askew - there was certainly plenty of chaos in bringing out the 55th Series. It's also possible the Request was renumbered as it was completed, maybe Leeedy can shed some light on this.

Also perhaps of significance is that the Request does not have a theft-proof number and there are a very small number of other 1955 Packards similarly w/o those numbers, 5582-1001 and 5588-1035 among them. One guess, these (and perhaps the Request) started life as pre-production units and were found unnecessary for that purpose and the bodies redirected with appropriate vehicle numbers for "regular" production.

One other interesting thing about that document is that it also listed a "standard" 1955 Packard convertible in addition to the Caribbean, just as was done in 1954.