Quote:
Bess and the body sharing plan came after Ford killed providing bodies to S-P.
Roger, I think you've got the sequence of those events a bit mixed up.
The Kimes "...History" book shows the shared body program had been well underway in 1955. Full-size clays were complete by early 1956 - as seen in the following dated images in our Photo Archive:
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=88https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=89 BTW, I especially enjoyed this "comparison" photo submitted by
423reed:
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=3874 I would also like to remind that, while many people consider the Predictor as the inspiration for the '57 Packards, that 1956 show car was actually intended to gauge public reaction to styling cues that were already on the boards for the intended '57 models.
However, as things began to unravel, "Black Bess" was hastily cobbled together as a last ditch effort to obtain money needed to tool-up for the all-new '57s.
As such, I don't think it was until after that attempt failed that building a '57 (senior) Packard on a '56 Lincoln shell was considered.
Meanwhile, I believe South Bend had been working on a proposal to use Ford bodies to make Studebakers, but that idea also died.
I don't believe there was any such consideration for the '57 Clipper. If an all-new body was not possible, the only other options (besides what actually came about) were another facelift on the '56 body or dropping the Clipper altogether.
Yet, I've found comparatively little written about these efforts. If anyone else has some hard facts, I'd like to hear about them.
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