Re: '57 Packard What-If based on Turnpike Cruiser
Posted by Mahoning63 On 2011/8/18 8:31:54
55Pguy - thanks for the comments, will revist and tweak the image. I see what you are getting at with the argument to wait until '58, a good point re: Chevy. On the luxury end, Caddy and Chryler/Imperial made big changes that year, perhaps an argument to push through a '57 such as the Turnpike Cruiser-based theme. Not sure, would be enlightening to unearth all the details about that period. Perhaps Dwight's hoped for book might help.
Couldn't resist asking the question "what if Packard kept using Mercury/Ford body shells into the Sixties and continued to price 25% higher than Lincoln?" The result might not have been too bad based on this quick image work-up. Side glass would not have been curved but otherwise the car would have been believable. Torsion-Level would have continued to be a big selling point. Perhaps Packard could have introduced an independent rear suspension by then. I lengthened the hood 10 inches for a new wheelbase of 130. Also, the C-pillar forward edge has been moved forward 5 inches. Didn't alter anything else except the side molding but the idea would be that Packard would stamp completely unique outer sheetmetal except perhaps the front doors. One thing I didn't mention with the Turnpike Cruiser was rear legroom, which would have been good but not best in class. Same with this '61. I think Packard would have been fine with it. Look at the Eldorado Brougham on its modest 126" wheelbase. Rear legroom was "cozy" to say the least, the car basically being a sport sedan. Packard would by now be moving in that direction too, though never to that extreme. I would argue that the inches still needed to go towards the hood, as they had since the 1920s.
I just read where McNamara wanted to can Lincoln, Mercury and Edsel in the late 50s, and the compromise was that Mercury lost its unique body for 1961 to save costs. This suggests that maybe McNamara might have gone along with a sharing program with Packard in 1957 and again in the early 60s as a means of helping to improve the financials for Mercury.
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Couldn't resist asking the question "what if Packard kept using Mercury/Ford body shells into the Sixties and continued to price 25% higher than Lincoln?" The result might not have been too bad based on this quick image work-up. Side glass would not have been curved but otherwise the car would have been believable. Torsion-Level would have continued to be a big selling point. Perhaps Packard could have introduced an independent rear suspension by then. I lengthened the hood 10 inches for a new wheelbase of 130. Also, the C-pillar forward edge has been moved forward 5 inches. Didn't alter anything else except the side molding but the idea would be that Packard would stamp completely unique outer sheetmetal except perhaps the front doors. One thing I didn't mention with the Turnpike Cruiser was rear legroom, which would have been good but not best in class. Same with this '61. I think Packard would have been fine with it. Look at the Eldorado Brougham on its modest 126" wheelbase. Rear legroom was "cozy" to say the least, the car basically being a sport sedan. Packard would by now be moving in that direction too, though never to that extreme. I would argue that the inches still needed to go towards the hood, as they had since the 1920s.
I just read where McNamara wanted to can Lincoln, Mercury and Edsel in the late 50s, and the compromise was that Mercury lost its unique body for 1961 to save costs. This suggests that maybe McNamara might have gone along with a sharing program with Packard in 1957 and again in the early 60s as a means of helping to improve the financials for Mercury.
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