Re: Concept drawings

Posted by R Anderson On 2009/12/27 20:43:49

Very classy indeed, but in my opinion, except for concept # 1, hopelessly out of date for the US market in the 50s. Jags, Bentley, MB and Rolls were considered, even at the time, very old fashioned, and with good reason... they were! Not a whit of imagination whatever. If Packard could have come up with something as Futuristic as the 1957 Forward Look cars from Chrysler, which are widely acknowledged nowadays as automotive works of art, but, unlike the somewhat gaudy Imperial, which was an uncharacteristically over-the-top successor to the impressive 55/56s, with the typical ineffable Packard touch of quiet and restrained elegance, they would have been world beaters.

The stillborn '57 Packards would have suffered mightily next to the beautiful '57 Mopars, and it is good that they did not have to suffer that ignominy. Let the overly conservative but oh-so-American, gorgeous, and quietly powerful appearing 1956 Packards be, finally and unlametedly, the last will and testament of America's Finest Automobile.