Re: 1938 Sport Sedan What-If
Posted by Mahoning63 On 2011/10/19 10:07:14
Had a little fun imagining a 1938 line-up based on the aforementioned styling, assuming roughly the same tooling and complexity that Packard carried that year. Lots of body styles were possible, here's a sampling.
First two are in the Six series on a 122" wheelbase. Cars have a 5" shorter hood than the new Twelve proposal and use the sport sedan's roof.
Last four are in the new Twelve series that would have replaced the former Super Eight/Twelve seniors that year. They include:
- lowered Darrin-like coupe on 120" wheelbase with extended hood and jump seats behind the front seats. Victoria was possible too. Fenders carried over from Twelve sedans, otherwise a new body. Decklid possibly from the short decklid Six, rotated.
- Sport sedan that has already been discussed. BTW, had made a mistake on the earlier images. They sit on a 134" wheelbase, not 135". I have also included a V-windshield on all the new images.
- Formal sedan on same 134" wheelbase but with a 7" longer roof and Six's shorter decklid.
- 7-pass sedan and limo on a 143" wheelbase that also uses the short decklid. A convertible parade car would have been a straightforward modification.
Other body styles were also possible using these new body panels.
The Eight series would have used the Six's bodies for two 127" cars. A difficult task for Packard would have been to decide which Twelve bodies to share with the Eight, the trade-off being exclusivity for the Twelve versus greater sales and amortization of tooling if offered in the Eight too. A 6-window touring sedan based on the 134" formal sedan body and roof would have been reasonable. An affordable 143" wheelbase 7 passenger sedan, hard to say. Maybe an 8-pass Hercules wagon on the 134" wheelbase that was unique to the Eight was the way to go.
Regarding the sport coupe/victoria and sport sedan, one scenario would have been to reserve them for the Twelve in 1938-39 and take a wait/see with the competition and market. When GM introduced the new C-body torpedo sedans in 1940, for example, it would have been easy for Packard to respond with an Eight sport sedan.
UPDATE: changed the images to be same overall width/height so direct comparisons can be made.
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First two are in the Six series on a 122" wheelbase. Cars have a 5" shorter hood than the new Twelve proposal and use the sport sedan's roof.
Last four are in the new Twelve series that would have replaced the former Super Eight/Twelve seniors that year. They include:
- lowered Darrin-like coupe on 120" wheelbase with extended hood and jump seats behind the front seats. Victoria was possible too. Fenders carried over from Twelve sedans, otherwise a new body. Decklid possibly from the short decklid Six, rotated.
- Sport sedan that has already been discussed. BTW, had made a mistake on the earlier images. They sit on a 134" wheelbase, not 135". I have also included a V-windshield on all the new images.
- Formal sedan on same 134" wheelbase but with a 7" longer roof and Six's shorter decklid.
- 7-pass sedan and limo on a 143" wheelbase that also uses the short decklid. A convertible parade car would have been a straightforward modification.
Other body styles were also possible using these new body panels.
The Eight series would have used the Six's bodies for two 127" cars. A difficult task for Packard would have been to decide which Twelve bodies to share with the Eight, the trade-off being exclusivity for the Twelve versus greater sales and amortization of tooling if offered in the Eight too. A 6-window touring sedan based on the 134" formal sedan body and roof would have been reasonable. An affordable 143" wheelbase 7 passenger sedan, hard to say. Maybe an 8-pass Hercules wagon on the 134" wheelbase that was unique to the Eight was the way to go.
Regarding the sport coupe/victoria and sport sedan, one scenario would have been to reserve them for the Twelve in 1938-39 and take a wait/see with the competition and market. When GM introduced the new C-body torpedo sedans in 1940, for example, it would have been easy for Packard to respond with an Eight sport sedan.
UPDATE: changed the images to be same overall width/height so direct comparisons can be made.
Attach file:
(51.92 KB)
(52.31 KB)
(51.69 KB)
(51.49 KB)
(52.07 KB)
(51.48 KB)
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