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I've following some of this stuff and checked a few numbers for the Cadillac. For 1952, they claimed a 0-60 time of 17.1 seconds for the Cadillac 62. That's not much faster than the Packard. However, all the Packard tests are using a manual shift from low to high. So Packard really blew it by not having a program to upgrade the transmission.

I don't like Cadillac styling. They look like Buicks with fatter sheet hung on them. However, the 51-54 Packard grille is too heavy for my tastes and looks like a fish. When cars look like animals that is a styling negative (today they look like insects and are universally ugly). Although, I do think the 51-56 Packards are better looking cars than Cadillacs.

I think GM took advantage of prosperity and was getting their existing customers to upgrade to more expensive models. Packard really failed with their marketing by thinking they could return to the fat margins of the 1920's and that everybody secretly wanted a Packard. Granted, nobody could compete with GM and Ford's dealer floor plan programs, but companies like Packard were at a loss to figure out how to make their products desirable from a marketing prospective.

Tim - the Crestline book on Cadillac really laid into the 1950-53 styling, basically said the same thing you did. I agree, never liked the bloated look. The '54s were improved but am not a fan of the long deck, cab-forward look.

"Packard at a loss..."

Had Packard's marketing folks been given cars with the proportions shown in the ads below, the cars would have flown off the lots. Look at the distance between front axle and front door leading edge in these ads. Much longer than actual Patrician. This is why I keep suggesting Packard needed 5 more inches up front and in back of the Patrician. It wasn't rocket science, the folks making these renderings knew exactly how the cars should have looked.

And yes, the grill needed to be better. Call it snobby, snooty, high brow or proud, the Packards of yore had the stuff a certain sizable percentage of the moneyed crowd wanted. In the Fifties there were probably lots of older folks especially who would have chosen Packard over Cadillac had the cars had the right look up front and from the side, back and driver's seat. I think people did secretly want a Packard but Packard didn't give it to them.

That last '55 ad in particular really captivates me. It has the styling elements of the actual Patrician but is a different car. It's fabulous!!! And the color is right for the car, very Packard and very not Cadillac.

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Here's a 132 wb car that nudges closer to that last ad's ideal by dropping the beltline/raising the glass 3/4 of an inch. Gives the car a wider, sleeker stance. Better proportions were within Packard's reach all through these years.

Many thanks to owner of the beautiful '55 Four Hundred.

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