Re: Packard Cormorant Badge

Posted by BH On 2010/9/27 17:49:12

That crest is similar to, but further developed from, the 48-50 design.

There was a time when annual model changes involved more than just grilles and taillights. Of course, styling changes on Packards tend to follow the Series, rather than model year - that is, until the 24th Series, for 1951. Sometimes the changes are quite subtle, and even the grille and taillights aren't quite telling enough.

In fact, the SAE code on a lens could be misleading - at least on Packard vehicles. That code actually indicates the first model year of use, but some lenses were used for more than one year on some Packard models.

An awareness of additional styling features is needed to tell some years apart. Consider this confused thread, where an owner purchased what he thought was a '54 Clipper, but the car had a '53 VIN. Respondents pointed out differences in style of side trim, thick/thin headlight rings, even hood ornament.

Personally, I found the Car Spotter's series of books by Tad Burness to be the most help in this regard - a cut-n-paste collection of vehicle images, culled mainly from magazine ads, but sometimes factory brochures. (Understandably, brochures are far less common and more costly to collect than magazines.)

I first picked up the American Car Spotter's Guide, 1940-1965 back in the 1970s, when I was a teen; though its year range was less than my own interests, that one edition was all I could afford at that time. Guides were also published for cars from 1920-1939, and 1965-1980, but later printings were revised and expanded with additional images and models. Eventually, all three of those editions were combined, in hard cover format, to produce the Monstrous American Car Spotter's Guide to cover 1920-1980, which I purchased, but it is rather bulky to carry around. There were even titles for trucks and another for import cars, IIRC. Alas, most of the Spotter's titles are now out of print and can only be had in "used" condition.

Today, we have the advantage of cell phones with cameras to capture digital snapshots from multiple angles, which can then be compared to those in the Model Info feature and, if necessary, brochures available at PackardInfo.