Ex-Packard Designers

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2014/7/18 8:22:35

In a newly-acquired book I read that John Reinhart (responsible for 51-54 high-waisted Packards) shares some design credit for one of my all time favorite cars, the 56-57 Continental Mark II. Given the role of Mitchell-Bentley in its creation, maybe that's not surprising. On an aside, one of my Corvette friends actually owned two of these 3000 Continental IIs, about thirty years and two marriages ago. He said that they were just "used cars" in those days, but the time he spent with both was largely pleasant aside from some electrical issues. He also wishes he could afford to get back into either one of them again.

Reinhart was replaced by Dick Teague at Packard as the V-8 cars of 55-56 were being restyled. Teague went over to AMC and later, Chrysler. His late handiwork was seen on the original Jeep Cherokee and (gasp) the first generation Neons. He proved to be a master of doing a lot with very little.

Between Mitchell-Bentley and Creative Industries, the village of designers in Detroit must have been small and close-knit, once you were out of the realm of Harley Earl's domaine.