Let's make E's 359 option a special code with 220 HP courtesy freer breathing exhaust and a distinct rumble, Jesse Vincent smiling at his last best Eight.

This is a great discussion! I think its always good run out what-ifs and poke at history because it exercises the mind to better see the non-obvious. They say history doesn't repeat but it often rhymes. If one can't "fix" the past - with all the history in plain sight - then how can one have any chance at improving the future?

Earlier you saw the proposed 1955 Patrician series. All three cars would have run with the new 352 V8 producing 260 HP, the 275 version reserved for the Caribbean series.

Now let's step back a year and look at the 1954 Patricians, which would get the '54 Cavalier's side trim. To keep material cost in check let's give them the 327 Eight with 185 HP and leave the new 359 Eight for the Caribbeans. This would have still been 5 HP more than previous year's Patrician so would have been good news for the customer (relatively speaking).

Let's see what happens if we line-out the earlier proposed Clipper 4-door sedan that would have been carried over from 1953, and instead make a big push to move as many of the proposed new 4-door Clipper Sportsters as possible (and include a pillared 2-door version?). And let's de-content the base model to greatest extent possible and give buyers an incredibly expansive options list (think original Mustang), under the assumption that this car would "have legs" sufficient to resonate with a broad reach of the market. If this turned out to be true the company would have seen fairly strong sales and profits, certainly better than what history recorded for 1954. I like the fact that the series would have stood alone in appearance just like Patrician and Caribbean, helping to minimize cannibalization.

At this point in Packard's trajectory it would have established a dual product strategy that managed the transition in consumer preference from traditional, conservative legacy vehicles as represented by the Patrician series, to the "next big thing" identified by performance and styling that had typically been associated with playboys. Not without coincidence a young guy with sideburns driving truck in Memphis would in early 1954 cut a record called That's All Right Mama and see his income steadily rise. He would crave the new Caribbeans and eventually go on to buy many Packards, but for now would set his sights on a base Sportster with manual transmission, checking only one obscure option buried deep in the list of available goodies: a 359 212 HP Eight.


5/1 EDIT: added chrome trim to rocker.

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Speaking of grills, here's an idea for proposed Caribbean series. Forgo the Pan American raised hood and bank the cost save. Instead set the front apart from rest of Packard line by making the ribbed piece gold anodized. Its not much but it is prominent and distinctive. Idea came from the '53 Balboa concept which has red painted ribs to match its roof. BTW, many thanks to the owners of all these fine cars being digitally modified.

Have made updates to that last Caribbean sport sedan image, check it out if interested. Handles and beltline are much cleaner and I scaled the B-pillar to a sedan to make the width similar. Any narrower and the glass won't roll down.

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OK let's take a look at a front view, the Request grill being a great place to start. Mount a Cormorant on top and we get a decent idea of how it might have come together. First thing that strikes me is that the Packard grill wants to be more slender than M-B, also more straight-edged and these lines would have flowed up along hood to base of windshield. It always worked on the 30's cars even as the rest of the car was of rounded form like this Mercedes. For some reason on the 50's cars it is more of a challenge. The Contour hood suggested an edge that disappeared as it flowed down to the grill.

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Given that Packard shared its door uppers between its 122 and 127 sedans, realized an opportunity enabled by the Caribbean Sport Sedan's new side glass: a 122 Clipper 4-door sport sedan.

The challenge would have been the roof and backlight because cost pressures might have forced use of exiting 122 hardtop coupe's roof, which tapers inward where the new side glass/frames would intersect. To connect roof to frames the solution would have needed to be a rain channel that got wider as it went rearward, which might have looked a bit odd.

The other hurdle would have been the backlight. The supplier for the hardtop backlight would have needed to provide Packard with a second, notched version that somehow used the same tooling as the first. Packard would have needed to tell the supplier to "make it happen" and see if they could answer the challenge.

Have labeled the car Sportster to catch the wind of what would have been the outgoing 2-door model. The new car would have needed to be priced similar to what Panama had been or even lower. Because of the structural B-pillar there would have been no reason for it and the Caribbean sedan to add the weight and cost that the hardtop coupe did to strengthen its chassis.

In this new model Packard would have had a hip volume car to take on the new 1954 Oldsmobiles and Buicks. One of the reasons the company got creamed that year is because it didn't.

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"I have often wondered what a re-badged mid- to late-50s Mercedes with Packard styling features - grill and tail lights - would have looked like."

Thanks for your kind remarks. I could give it a try but turns out someone was thinking just like you, way back in 1952! Carl Evers did a much better job than I could ever do, see image and story here:

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108951099/

During the V8's development Nance asked Engineering why Packard couldn't have overhead cams like Mercedes. I wonder how things might have turned out had Packard cancelled its Utica plan and instead chose a low-cost upgrade of the 359 to OHCs, saving something approaching $20M. Mercedes raced an inline-8 with OHCs up until that disastrous crash in 1955.

As to whether an M-B turned into a Packard would have been successful, hard to say. M-B objected to a luxury Packard being sold alongside it during negotiations with Studebaker. Americans were buying imported European luxury cars in small but slowly growing numbers at that time. The cars were strong on handling, comparatively weak on comfort and convenience. Rolls-Royce was much more luxury oriented. Hmm, need to ponder your idea...

"I think Packard would then need two lines in their group, "Packard" (Patrician, 400)and "Caribbean" becoming a full line more like Fleetwood."

Was thinking the same, with Patrician designated as the more conservative version, which by the late 50's would have meant fixed B-pillar, full door construction with integral window frame, and a taller roof. Caribbean would cover the low-roof 2 and 4-door hardtops and convertible.


"This may leave a market gap between Mercury/DeSoto/Olds/Clipper and Packard/Cadillac 62. Maybe Executive is designated the Buick fighter, but based on what platform?"

The factory needed volume for efficiency and didn't care too much which dealers and under which brands the cars were sold. This is where AMC could have helped, sourcing Packard for its middle market Hornet and/or Ambassador. AMC would pay for the design and tooling of its unique sheet metal and would be required to always come in measurably below Packard in content, specs and MSRP. Packard would build the cars and supply the engines, transmission and chassis.

Packard dealers wanted a mix of luxury and volume cars but when push came to shove they invariably chose volume, which is why the company sometimes needed to pressure them to pull their weight with the Seniors. I think Packard, historically, invited cannibalism of its Seniors by its Juniors when it did't dial in enough daylight between the two.

By the mid-50's would rather have seen the mid-market Packard-built car sold by a different dealer network under a different brand, and source AMC for Packard's 1956 Clipper. Unlike 1953-5 when the Clippers were clearly Packards and customers howled when the Packard name was removed, the year 1956 in this alternate scenario would have been the perfect time for Nance to create Clipper as a stand-alone brand. Like Packard, Clipper would come to be known for quality - but now executed in a breezy, more carefree way... for common folks who aspired to something unique and advanced but still financially accessible. Sell these people a Packard-built large car approaching this price and they would no doubt get a bigger car, but the interior would be cheap and there would be no bells, no whistles and no "taste of luxury." Such a car would only remind them of how poor they were compared to "real" Packard owners.

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Lincoln limped along in '55 with same windshield they had been offering. 1956 saw an all-new body with wrapped windshield and stand-out styling, turned Lincoln's fortunes around and beat Cadillac and Imperial redesigns by one year. This was Packard's timing opportunity too.


"...suggest the trailing edge of the front doors be extended to eliminate the double gap..."

I left the body insert between front and rear doors alone, assumption being that it would have been too expensive to redesign. Might have been doable but would have involved tear-up to many parts. Most cost-effective approach arguably would have been to save the money for the next full redesign, 1956 the suggested year. That theoretical car, btw, would have probably included several design cues that we see on the '55 Seniors including cathedral taillights and hooded headlights. The cars would have been longer, lower and wider, and probably with straight-through sides.

This would have been the year to cut a deal with AMC: they make the Clipper based on Rambler, Packard makes the Hornet and Ambassador based on new Packard. Love without marriage, all ships rise with the improved economies of scale and all kings remain ruler of their kingdom.

I may have shown this before but here is example of '56 Clipper sourced from AMC. Has 9 inch longer axle-dash per '58 Ambassador. Would run with AMC's biggest OHV Six and possibly Packard's smallest V8 as option. Roll down rear backlight per Rambler prototype except with a slightly wider C-pillar to package it so that heads would not hit it in a rear-ender. Clipper boomerang rear fenders and side trim. Packard's dealers would have needed such a volume car, assuming it sold well. '58 Ambassador was middling in sales but it only came with a V8. I suspect that the compact market, even for near luxury appointments, was after a reasonable level of economy.

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Fair enough. Interestingly, Packard's designers - who many times during the post-war era had been thwarted by Engineering in significant ways - did not want to do the wrapped windshield for '55, preferring the existing ones.

Please bear with me as I run through the other proposals. Here's a look at suggested '55 traditional cars knowing that the 149 sedan would have been extinct. Let's assume a few Henney bodies were left over from '54 and sold as '55 models with all of that year's updates including Utica V8, Twin-Ultramatic and integrated A/C.

Would Packard have bothered with its Gen 1 Torsion-Level for one year only? Quite possibly. The 5 year old body would have needed all the marketing help it could get and it would have been a good opportunity for the engineers to field test the new technology.

In looking at these three models it occurs to me that perhaps the 122 wb 4-door Clipper with vertical taillights could have been kept in the line-up, name and all, as the showroom cost leader and with Packard's lowest spec interior. The 2-door Clipper could have also been kept if it made financial sense. Were all this the case then maybe the series below could have been offered only with Patrician level interior trim and carried that name.

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