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It always struck me how similar the rear and sides of the '65 Rambler Ambassador were to the '56 Packard and planned '57 models. You can see it in the slender cathedral taillights, rear trim and body side indent, which on the Cross Country wagon even have the familiar side trim. You can also see the V from the former Circle-V motif near the decklid key hole.

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Dick Teague, who joined AMC in 1959, seemed to be guided by Packard design throughout the Sixites. This Ambassador concept had the familiar Request grill, modified to be more brand generic.

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I love your what-if designs! I think the show car sides are very Engel Continental, but the front has too much bumper mass. What do you think of adapting the center vertical grille to the front of a 68 Chrysler 300, where the proportions are a bit better balanced?

That Ambassador sold well and there's a really good article on Curbside Classics about why mid-sized cars became so popular in the Sixties.

curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories ... ry-who-killed-the-big-american-car/

"What do you think of adapting the center vertical grille to the front of a 68 Chrysler 300, where the proportions are a bit better balanced?"

Well, so far all these pics are of actual cars with no mods on my part. Where I was going was the idea of adding a vertical grill to the Ambassador.

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Such a car could have resulted had Roy Abernethy, president of AMC, bought the rights to Packard in early 1962 when Studebaker dropped the name from Studebaker-Packard. The Curbside Classic article explains what was going on at the time with the mid-sized market and mentions the rise of Mercedes-Benz as a new kind of luxury car. Here is a sampling of ads for its 1965 models. Very interesting messaging.

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Here an ad of a '66 Ambassador modified only to swap Ambassador with Packard and add the famous tagline. OK the upholstery isn't quite Packard but the message is the type a mid-sized luxury Packard could have used.

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Here's a front view of '65 Ambassador and Packard mod that has Request grill and Predictor hidden lights. It's always fun to show lamps on at night.

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