In 1955 I was in the graduating class of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. The graduation speaker was Paul Hoffman, Board Chairman of Studebaker-Packard and recently Chief of the Marshall Plan. In a small meeting with Mr. Hoffman I asked him , "Why didn't Studebaker build a convertible on the Loewy coupe chassis?" He replied that they had make a big mistake in that they underestimated the coupe's popularity, He added that when the board realized its error the engineers claimed that the first Loewy convertible could not be built until the 1955 model. The board felt that was too late. Hoffman then said, "That was their second mistake!"

Beautiful car! I'm trying to restore a 55 Patrician, but have same problems you do (getting old). I notice that the shop is using a frame lift. I have always heard that torsion level cars can be damaged unless one uses a wheel lift. Any thoughts?

Why would anyone go to this much expense (even to the Caribbean interior) without changing the manifolds, carbs and batwing aircleaner, all of which were available through the dealer in 1955 or 56???

A few years ago I had a 56 Patrician, Danube Blue top and the rest of the car Adriatic Blue (no repeat of the Danube Blue below the stainless trim). I talked by phone with a man (do not recall name) who told me that he was in charge of the "Special Paint Shop" which painted all special order colors, all cars intended for senior executives and all show cars. Since my car used standard colors but the paint code was blank, he said it must have been a show car. Only show cars and nonstandard color combinations had a blank paint code. The build sheet noted "ship to New York, hold for Sales Department".

In general I do not like the 55 and 56 Patrician's two tone scheme where they repeat the upper color below the chrome strip. It looks all right on the 400s, but looks too busy on the Patrician. Could you special order a Patrician with only the roof painted a second color? I had a 56 Patrician that was Danube Blue on the roof and Adriatic Blue everywhere else, and it looked great, but I'm not sure it came from the factory that way.

I've always suspected that the 25k test 55 Patrician had a higher rear end ratio than the 3.54 which was standard. Does anyone know what rear end ratio this car had?

I had a 56 Patrician with an aftermarket air conditioner and an aftermarket seven bladed fan. The car tended to get hot (but not boil) when the air conditioner was on either in a parade or traffic jams. I installed an inexpensive pusher fan in front of the radiator wired to operate whenever the air conditioner was on. I had no overheating problems after that.

I have been told that it is hard on a torsion-Level Packard to lift it with a frame lift. I only use drive-on lifts for my 55 and 56 Patricians. Have others hear this?

The Mid-Atlantic region of The Packard Club sells reproduction inside day-night mirrors for all postwar cars through 56. Contact Dale Mease (240) 362 7705.

I used to wonder why Packard engineers went to the trouble of designing different electrical and power steering units for different models. Then it occured to me that this gave them an out if either supplier went on strike or tried to gouge Packard. Any thoughts?