Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Recently I found a site called Classic Car Database that gave some good specs on many cars, including late model Packards. It has a reference category that specifies what any car's "Classic" status is, and includes the "Milestone" status.

Well, I was surprised to see that all the seniors for '55 and '56 are considered "Milestone" cars, but NONE of the juniors.

Maybe I'm mistaken on the definition of a Milestone car, but I was always under the impression that a true milestone was a model that had unique characteristics for the marque (for instance, a GM car would have to have a unique body structure and not be a knockoff of another model). Hence the '63-'65 Buick Riviera was a Milestone car, no question.

I can see that the '55-56 senior Packards could be considered milestones in spite of the fact that they did not use an all-new Packard body, but rather an all-new, groundbreaking suspension. But wouldn't a '55 or '56 Clipper with TL suspension fit that category? Do you suppose they were excluded because they didn't all share the unique suspension while the seniors did?

Who decides this stuff, anyway? What's the effect, if any, on value?

There used to be a club --I think it was called the Milestone Car Society--where cars were nominated and voted by ?? --similar to the AACA nominations and approval process. I don't know if the club still exists but was a member for years and have several of their magazines. Perhaps that is the Milestone status they refer to.

They have essentially gone the way of dodo bird. Last time I looked their website was still up but hadn't seen an update in many moons. Too bad, I thought they had latched onto a good idea.

I think this site has enough useful information to merit a link here. But what do I know? See for yourselves:

http://www.classiccardatabase.com/search.php?year=1955&make=Packard

This takes you to Packard. It's really set up logically, I think.