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I knew I shouldn't have whined ...

The following e-mail was at my office this morning from Stuart Blond:

"Thank you for your e-mail of last week. I am sorry that it has taken me this long to answer you.

"I have updated the records for your car on the V-8 Roster, and have attached a copy of the 5567 pages for you.

"Except for the 1956 Caribbean convertibles, I do not have the delivery records for the 1955-56 Packard V-8s. However, I can make an educated guess as to when your car was produced.

"The 1955 Packards were introduced on January 17, 1955 and production continued until early November 1955. As your car was the 3,236th produced out of a total of 6,672 (1955 Clipper Custom Constellations), that would put it right before the halfway point of production. Thus, I am
calling the date late-May / early-June 1955.

"I hope that this information has helped you, and I wish you good luck with both your car and your search for information about it."

I am glad to know this stuff and I thanked Mr. Blond for the info. Hopefully more good news is on the way.
both your car and your search for information about it.

Quote:

I believe the PAC associated Packard club in Albuquerque is inactive. Try the PI associated Studebaker-Packard club. You can probably get the contact information from Packards International or the Studebaker Drivers Club.

My father (former Packard dealer in Santa Fe) owned a 55 Constellation like yours in the early to mid 60s. As I recall it was in a well used condition when he sold it. I do not know what happened to it. Probably not the same car.

(o{}o)

JW:

Thank you for this information. That probably explains why I have not received any reply. Your reference to your father's Clipper sounds intriguing. There cannot have been that many of them around in New Mexico and there is no reason to believe that the car could not have made it to Santa Fe. Is there any way you could find out information about your father's car? The VIN is 5567 4236. I have a partial receipt for service in Albuquerque in 1962. I will try to see if I can get a name off of it, though it didn't look like I can. I certainly appreciate the tips that you provided and will follow up on them.

Stay tuned ...

Craig

Very nice looking Clipper, makes me long for one I once owned in the early 60's, purchased from the secretary at the former Packard dealer in Savannah, Georgia.

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I really like the color combination. If you have the VIN, you may be able to track where your car is today. You might be surprised!

I like the blue combination as well, but I'm afraid too many years have passed to find a record of the vn number.

Photo is in front of my wife's parent's home, probably around the time our oldest son was born in 1963. We sold the car to purchase our first "new car" in 1964 and we've gone from a teenage couple to old folks in the years that followed, no clue where to find a copy of our registration papers after all these years.

I don't think I even have a photo of another 55 that we had around the same time. I sold it to a mechanic from the former Packard dealer who wanted the engine to swap into another vehicle.

It's too bad the mechanic wanted the car solely for the engine. I figure that if the car is clean, as yours appears to be, pulling the engine from it literally relegates it to scrap or a parts car. A real shame. But who knows? There is always a chance it could still be around.

You should check out Henry's 55 Constellation. This young guy in Texas is doing a frame-off restoration of one of those cars and you should see what it looked like when he started.

I didn't express myself well. At the time I had two 55 Packards, the one that was sold (I think for the use of the engine) was a 2 door senior car, always in rather rough condition, my understanding was that it had been totaled and rebuilt at some time before I bought it ($300). Painted (Black) myself and drove it a couple of years before purchasing the blue Clipper ($500)sure would like one that nice for that money today.

After we had the blue Clipper the black one was more or less just parked behind a gas station where I traded when the mechanic asked about purchasing.

Was having some issues with the transmission on the blue one and traded or took it out in trade with my gas station friend and purchased our first new car, 64 Impala.

Time sure races by fast, but I always wanted to have Packards again, purchased a 22nd series about 8 years ago (general style of the 23rd series in the picture with me all those years ago) and last month purchased a 40 110 Coupe.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/registry/index.php?Action=view&ID=1281

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/registry/index.php?Action=view&ID=1150

Wow! Those are both beautiful cars. I bet they drive just as nice as they look. 1955 Clippers come up for sale in Hemmings from time to time.

Here is an update on my progress to find the history of my 1955 Clipper Constellation:

I had a great conversation with a friend who told me that the find out information on old cars is to approach the matter in a roundabout way; that is, try to get information from those closest to the source.

With that in mind, I followed JW's advice and e-mailed the Studebaker-Packard Club of Albuquerque. Soon afterward I was contacted by a fellow Clipper owner who was enthusiastic about helping me in my quest. From him I found out that the Studebaker Car Museum in Indiana will provide a specific car's build sheet which specifies when the car was built, its original color(s), and destination, all for a nominal fee. While I will be the first to admit that this is not likely to lead me to who specifically bought the car in 1955 or to any other owners between that time and 1982, I still think it could be a very valuable piece of documentation for the car.

Those of you with Packards from 1956 to 1958 should consider inquiring about this information.