I like your avatar! But in my case, if I had a similar avatar, the "HELP ME!" thought balloon would be coming from both the car and from me! LOL!

That is a sweet body style for that car! Can you imagine how futuristic that design must have seemed to people back then? When ten years earlier they had still been driving narrow, old-fashioned cars with four separate fenders? These must have seemed like they were out of Buck Rogers or something!

Enjoy!

Another two-alarm fire last night :

http://www.freep.com/article/20090629/COL27/90629003/?imw=Y

I think there may be a growing groundswell of support in Detroit for tearing the whole thing down, now that the weekly fires and non-payment of taxes is getting publicized. As much as I've loved Packard, the automobile and the company, it's time to bury the decayed corpse of this plant and help this beleaguered city to move forward. Now that we have a new mayor and the biggest moron on the City Clowncil has pled guilty to accepting bribes and resigned, maybe there's a modicum of hope still alive for this place. Unfortunately, the time for hope for the old factory ended about 10 or 15 years ago.

Don't look now, but Danbury's already gone another step beyond the hardtop:

http://www.diecast.org/diecast98/html/asp/list_reviews/xq/ASP/id.DM1587/qx/reviewpix.htm

How am I ever supposed to get my real Caribbean done if I have to keep buying these awesome models?

A very unusual color combination - quite attractive! I wonder what the data plate says on it?

There are probably plenty of collectors out there that have parted out other Senior Clippers and saved the motors as spares, but those are probably sitting in the back of garages and aren't being actively advertised. Your best bet is to advertise that you're looking for a 356 in places like PackardInfo.com and any other Packard groups like PAC or PI.

I don't want to give you bum information, but my understanding is that the 356 was a unique 9-main bearing block and the casting was not shared with any other Packard motor. Do any 1940-1950 Senior owners have better info to share?

PackardV8:

I want a Chevy Volt because I think its powertrain is going to be a game-changer. The expected range of this first generation is going to be exactly what I need for my daily commute and for errands. And any money that I don't have to send to the Middle East to be used for another indoor ski slope or mega-skyscraper, or to fund fascist dictators in Venezuela, is fine by me. They can take their oil and choke on it. Plus, the Volt is a really cool design (in my opinion) and has a sweet interior. And, I will admit that I like the idea of buying a leading product that was designed and built in the USA. The price is steeper than a Prius, but I believe that the Volt is a bit larger and should be eligible for some tax credits that will help bring the price more in-line.

My name is Kevin, and I'm about a week away from being 52. I was born the year after Packard left Detroit, but with any luck I may have been conceived before the last 1956 Patrician left the line!

Desi, I think I should know you, but for the life of me I can't place you. I was a college student at Michigan State when Motor City Packards was forming, and I think I was about a month off from being considered a charter member. I remember attending the early meetings at the Dearborn Youth Center. I've been a PAC Packard Club member for 37 years now.

My Packard was the first car I ever owned, and I still have it. In order of purchase:

1955 Packard Caribbean
1955 Packard Patrician
1970 Dodge Challenger conv - 383 four-barrel
1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S conv - 383 Magnum
1956 Packard Patrician
1975 Chrysler Imperial sedan
1974 Corvette conv
1981 Buick Skylark Limited sedan
1985 Camaro Z28 IROC-Z
1979 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
1967 Cadillac Eldorado
1990 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1993 Cadillac Coupe de Ville
1999 Cadillac DeVille Concours
2002 Camaro conv - 3800 V6

I would love to add a Chevy Volt or a Cadillac Converj to that list someday!

It seems to me that my own 1955 Caribbean had a bumper mounted hitch on it when I first got it back in 1973, but there was no pigtail for attaching lights so I'm not sure it was ever really used for anything. My engine and transmission are not original to the car either, but were replaced due to the dual carb set up being stolen in the 60's, and water getting inside the engine and ruining it. The powertrain swap was not necessitated by catastrophic failure due to towing.

So, will you be retaining the manual transmission or going back to a Twin Ultra-tragic?

For what it's worth, I liked the 1955 ornament better because it still tried to resemble an actual bird, with definable eyes, beak and wings. Unfortunately, it can't be determined if it is truly a pelican derived from the Packard family crest or a Kirtland double-breasted ruby throated warbler. Or, a sparrow.

I do like the extended lines of the 1956 ornament, as they give more of a feeling of speed and modern elegance to the car, but it might just as well have been one of Gene Roddenberry's prototypes for the USS Enterprise. There's really nothing to the ornament's shape that suggests a living, flying bird. A ninja attack weapon or gigantic pickle fork, maybe, but a bird, not so much.