Re: Did the public think of Imperial as Packard's replacement?

Posted by Steve Mackinnon On 2009/8/4 16:17:41

This is a most interesting thread. With Packard fading out in the late 50s my guess would be customers would go any number of places.

Certainly one of the most elegant and well built cars of the era would be the Continental Mark II, also a separate division during its production - apparently a strategy to brand a special car at the time. Ford supposedly lost money on every one, probably due to production inefficiencies. But if you were looking for a postwar car that embodies what a "True Classic" is, that one is tough to beat.

Also, there is arguably a strong Packard connection to the 58-60 Lincolns. This is covered in Ed Blend's book "One Man's Family" - an excellent book for those interested in an older, established collector's recollections of many cars, mostly Packards. (He also wrote "The Magnificant V-12 Packard of 1934") In his book, Blend recalls the Packard staff at Lincoln and makes a strong case that this is a Predictor based style.

Finally, I was interested to learn from Linc400 that the same designer did the slab sided lincoln and '64 Imperial. This explains why I am drawn to that Imperial. Very nice but I think the lincoln is the cleanest, most elegant design of its time. Those Lincolns were very well built, I understand that it took three days to complete one, which may account for the large number of excellent originals even here in New England.

While Packards are my favorite subject, I think many great luxury cars of the 50s and 60s are overlloked due to interest in more common cars and musclecars of the era.