Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
Posted by Mahoning63 On 2021/10/22 12:39:16
Here's the glass sweep and package for Mayfair articulation and side action. Very tight. Second approach is perhaps similar to '55 Olds/Buick 4-door hardtops. Packard would have needed to find its way to the same sealing/weatherstrip design that GM did.
Skirts/no skirts is like whitewalls/blackwalls... always a hot topic! The '53 Caribbean, because its fenders were designed for skirts, had a lot of lateral overhang, which a wider rear track would have reduced.
I've always felt that '54 was when Packard as a stand-alone player needed to make its stand. The cars needed to sell well, make money and stay viable through '55 with only the V8 added, and 1956 needed to be all-new. Despite talk of going after Cadillac, a lot of the '54 appearance investment went to Clipper's rear fenders and taillights and rather less went to the Seniors. Had Packard focused on the Seniors and used the '54 Caribbean's two-tone paint and a few other tricks to freshen Clipper, who knows...
Other levers for '54 were Nash's low-cost underhood A/C and Torsion-Level. Allison had been working with Packard on T-L since 1951 and had running prototypes in 1953. More prototype refinement came during 1954 but perhaps the feature could have been pulled forward a year if Ferry and then Nance had gone after it.
Attach file:
Glass sweep and package.jpg (10.80 KB)
Skirts/no skirts is like whitewalls/blackwalls... always a hot topic! The '53 Caribbean, because its fenders were designed for skirts, had a lot of lateral overhang, which a wider rear track would have reduced.
I've always felt that '54 was when Packard as a stand-alone player needed to make its stand. The cars needed to sell well, make money and stay viable through '55 with only the V8 added, and 1956 needed to be all-new. Despite talk of going after Cadillac, a lot of the '54 appearance investment went to Clipper's rear fenders and taillights and rather less went to the Seniors. Had Packard focused on the Seniors and used the '54 Caribbean's two-tone paint and a few other tricks to freshen Clipper, who knows...
Other levers for '54 were Nash's low-cost underhood A/C and Torsion-Level. Allison had been working with Packard on T-L since 1951 and had running prototypes in 1953. More prototype refinement came during 1954 but perhaps the feature could have been pulled forward a year if Ferry and then Nance had gone after it.
Attach file:
Glass sweep and package.jpg (10.80 KB)This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=238020