Re: Clippers at the Motor Muster.

Posted by 58L8134 On 2015/6/25 12:42:16

Hi

"And there were styling studies for a Packard based on the 56 Lincoln. It would have been an easy, low cost, move to go with the Packard modifications and add them to existing L/M production at Wayne Assembly."

The '56-'57 Lincoln platform still at least one more model year currency, with a simple, clean restyle. The heavy-handed '57 restyle should have been nixed when the '56 sales proved such a success. Further refinements for '57 and '58 were all that was necessary to carry the BoF Lincoln through those model years.

Certainly fitting Packard into the make structure presented problems though not insurmountable. On the Lincoln platform for '57 and '58 as an expedient would be to "Packard-ize" the '56 Lincoln body as the late, desperate plan Nance proposed, build them as interim models until a fully-integrated 1959 program arrived. A 130" wheelbase, Packard engine and Predictor styling would be the easy part: Torsion-Level a temporary casualty, Ultramatic replaced with TurboDrive. It would not have been the optimum approach but given the short time frame of a mid-'56 buyout by Ford, it would have given them something to keep the dealer organization and market presence alive. Smacks of the Packard-baker program but at least the '56 Lincoln would have been a more appropriate basis than was the '56 Studebaker President Classic.

Steve