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The 200 Club Sedan's combined sales in 1951, including the Business Coupe, was 20% of the Touring Sedan. Would there have been a similar market for a 300 and Patrician 400 Club Sedan on 127 chassis? Combined sales for the 4-door body style was 24,000 in 1951, so 20% would have been 4800 sales although there would have been some substitution between the 2-door and 4-door cars.

Lincoln's Cosmopolitan Club Coupe and Capri Coupe sold a combined 2,727 units in 1951 versus 12,229 for the sedan, or 22%.

Just wondering what everyone thinks.

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  1951 Packard Patrician 400 2-Door Club Sedan.jpg (51.68 KB)

Hmmm. I’m rather mixed about it. It looks like a Patrician (I know, that was the point) but probably would look better if it had its own identity. Not sure what that would be but perhaps trim that is a bit simpler and isn’t so ostentatious.

The engineering time and tooling money would be better spent on a 2 dr hardtop.

Let's try it on the 300 for starters, that would be a bit less ostentatious.

I agree with bkazmer, in 1951 the hardtop style was on its way in while the 200/300/400's late 40's taller and more rounded greenhouse style was on its way out.

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  1951 Packard 300 - 127 Club Sedan.jpg (316.31 KB)

One thing in the 127 Club Sedan's favor is that it would have provided additional volume to help amortize the rear fenders and inner structure aft of the front doors that a 127 Senior hardtop would have shared. The Mayfair and Convertible may have never happened had they not been able to start with the 200 Club Sedan's lower body.

Good afternoon...I agree...I always felt that the 47 body should have been kept until 51 and then the classic radiator grill kept for ever...just my opinion and I drive a 49! Ernie in Arizona

Maybe this new Packard can be called the 350!

If 350 was used, to be consistent with Packard's naming scheme wouldn't the 200 Club Sedan also need to be called a 250? But then in each case a higher number would have been given to a car lower in price than the 4-door version. As the Tiffany's salesman said to Holly Golightly and Paul: "You see the difficulty."

Here is a different take on the Club Sedan that uses the strategy that Packard employed with its pre-war traditional Seniors, where the Club Sedan was a close-coupled 4-door on a longer wheelbase, the chassis' extra length given to a longer trunk.

For this car the louvers have been removed and the 5 inch longer end panel forward of the decklid is the same as that used on the '55 Four Hundred.

Using the 200 sedan's greenhouse would have been a similar strategy to the all-new '52 Olds 98 sedan, though that car also had a longer rear overhang in addition to its 88 greenhouse being put on a longer wheelbase.

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  1951 Packard 400 4-Door Club Sedan.jpg (51.56 KB)