Re: The 57 chop job

Posted by BH On 2009/10/11 18:30:22

Howard -

He did finish Black Bess II in time for the Centennial, but the naysayers didn't appear sway him from further efforts. I ssupect money and, then, time are greater obstacles for him.

While I didn't see any overt quarreling with him over the rolling chassis on display at Warren, he told me a few people took issue with it, but he had a file folder full of what clearly appeared to be behind-the-scenes factory pix to back him up. (They were NOT photoshopped like images of the 1965 V12 prototypes that were published by one club.) IIRC, he told me that this chassis was only a first attempt - not what will actually go under the '57 car.

Meanwhile I would direct interested parties to couple pics of that chassis in our Photo Gallery, submitted by Packard53:https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=2026&cid=64https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=2025

Both are titled as a "1957 Prototype Torsion Level Demonstration Frame", but there's a bit more to the chassis than the next-gen T-L suspension with hydraulic leveling. One thing you can't see is a heavy version of a rack and pinion steering. A conventional 56th series engine and Twin Ultra was installed, temporarily.

Personally, I find this fella's efforts with Black bess II and the '57 chassis to be in the same spirit of three prototypes that Packard never built, but were commissioned some years ago by Carl Schneider. These cars were featured in in the April, 2002 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine, and have since come to be known as the Parisian (aka - Pininfarina, a fastback, the Pacifica (a roadster), and the El Paso (a station wagon).

In contrast, Mr. Schneider appears to have been embraced by at least one club and was guest speaker at the Perrysburg Invitational meet in 2008. Those cars were more finished in appearance, but Mr. Schneider probably had a lot bigger budget to work with and paid someone else to do the work.