Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

First, I've been a Packard fan since I started in 1959. Although they were always on the radar screen only a couple came home to roost over the years; well three, a 1955 Caribbean in 1965, only tens years old and I couldn't find a windshield for it, a 1955 Patrician with a stuck engine that I shouldn't have sold, and now the 1948 Deluxe Eight that I am enjoying. I was really happy to discover it is a modified Clipper body. I had been looking for a straight eight car for a while, searching Packard mostly and it just popped up the day after peeking through a garage window to see if a Commodore 8 was still around in need of liberation.

My question is about the diversity, or lack of it. I am figuring there is a sedan body and a limousine body. Other differences between Junior and Senior series appear to be in the front sheet metal to accommodate the longer wheelbases.
How am I doing? Are the doors, interior measurements, and the like the same on a 4 door sedan body, Junior or Senior? I know a limousine is longer.
Thanks, Bernie

Hi Bernie

Each and every two and four door sedan, be they Junior or Senior series, were exactly the same shell, same doors, same trunk-lids, all the same stamping, with minor differences to accommodate trim etc.

The seven passenger/limousine body was developed from the sedan stamping plus whatever was necessarily unique to create them such as rear doors, quarters, extension panels.

Any dimensional difference in seating would be the degree to which they were more generously upholstered.

Steve

Thank you. I studied a lot of information closely and needed confirmation.
Bernie

The practice of Packard using one body for all its models goes back to the 1940 models and continued through the 1950s. The longer wheelbase senior cars had the extra length from the cowl forward. So, the same body whether you had a junior 6-cylinder or a senior Super 8. Can you imagine the disbelief of an owner of an expensive new Super 8 sedan when he notices his employee's new medium priced Six sedan looks remarkable like his car? The difference between a senior and junior Packards was not obvious to the person on the street. This blurring of junior and senior models did not help Packard to secure the luxury market.

(o{}o)

Hi

Sharing bodies across price segments became necessary when the all-steel body became industry standard. Tooling costs were significantly higher than the old composite steel over wood structure and had to be amortized over a greater number of units.

The public accepted the practice, GM had been promoting "Body by Fisher" since the late 1920's. Chrysler was also an early adherent, it's body sharing across makes obvious to even the casual observer.

Packard, and the other independent makes, suffered to the degree that without another price segment make to share and amortize costs, every series they offered ended up with the same series of bodies. Definitely a marketing disadvantage.

The best way to understand this was when the 1940 GM Torpedo C-body arrived, it was available from Pontiac through Cadillac. But, no one balked, because a '40 Pontiac Torpedo Eight sold for $1072 as compared to a Cadillac 62 at $1745. Different price segment covered by different makes. While the body was the same, the chassis weren't, nor was anyone likely to confuse which was the solid, medium-priced value and which was the prestige/luxury car. GM had done a fine job of establishing a make/price structure in the public conscious.

Unfortunately for Packard, the idea of a Packard at $867 and also $1655+ didn't square in their minds inured to "A Car For Every Purse and Purpose"

Steve