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The Mk II is a beautiful and elegant car, minimal chrome for the time. Some Lines actually remind me of the first buick riviera.
The Mk II came delivered in a felt bag from what I have read. True luxury.

Hi

And, not to forget who the Continental Mark II had as its chief designer, John Reinhart whose immediate prior work are the cars of our fascination: the Contour 1951 Packards and successors. His pre-war employment in the Packard styling group from 1939-42 informed his work as well.

The Continental Mark II is a gorgeous design, wonderfully crafted but rather missed the mark (no pun intended) of the original Continental. The four passenger Thunderbird in size and content was closer in concept. The Mark II was something of an interim step, demonstrated how to reinterpret the long hood/short deck proportions in the modern idiom.

Steve

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Mike (Tobs), I searched the web for the first generation Riviera. Another impressive car!

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Steve (58L8134), the reference to John Reinhart bridges from Packard to Lincoln, thanks for that.


image source: notoriousluxury.com

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Hi,
I know this museum ... I'm living 30 miles far from.

There is an other museum : D'Ieteren Gallery (D'ieteren is the family that have the market for Volkswagen-product distribution in Belgium, and in the past, they were Packard-Studebaker official dealers).

So they have a lot of Studebaker and Packard in this Museum, as one my father would buy 30 years ago, a 1955 Caribbean.

D'Ieteren was also well-know during the first 3rd of the last century as a quality coach builder, many of their bodies appearing on Minervas and other high end cars. D'Ieteren coachwork based on the Weymann fabric construction appears on a Minerva here in New Jersey.

That they assembled Studebakers in Belgium from knock-down kits is fairly well-known, less well-known is that they also assembled one or two 55/56 Packards in Belgium.

Emmanuel, thanks for this advice. It is neither on record of the city guide nor part of the electronic map of the GPS (POI's). But now I understand:

"Open
by appointment"

Again thank you!
Dave (O_D), thanks for delivering the historical context.

The museum has more cars then space, hence the deployment of heavy duty shelfs.
One of many cars with box seat is the Borgward Isabella Coupe, in Germany a pionier of cars for those who preferred a rather sporty driving style. Popular with men and women, Isabella was a lucrative model by a very considerable margin, was exported to several markets, including USA and Australia. Heaven knows why Borgward went bankrupt with this car.
Its former production base in Bremen was purchased by Mercedes-Benz, and is now used to make the C-Class, SLK, SL and the GLC.

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Hi Guscha

Why Borgward failed in the U.S. market was their cars weren't up to the mechanical rigors of road conditions i.e. hour after hour of high-speed sustained operation or the way Americans tended to neglect regular maintenance even then.

They were also perceived as expensive for what could be purchased for the same money. Selling four cylinder cars, other than VW Beetles, in an era crazy for V8 engines was a hopeless pursuit. Borgwards had limited popularity in regional sections of the country, primarily the New England states.

Steve

I noted that my 2013 Mercedes Benz 250 SLK was made in Bremen but did not know it was from the former Borgward factory. I liked the looks of those Borgwards. Too bad they were not successful.

(o{}o)

John (JW), they were successful and made more than 200,000 pieces, which was saying something in Germany at that time. So much, that the production of the Isabella had been maintained even after becoming insolvent.
Borgward have gone bankrupt but not because of their products. If, for example, a customer asked for tail fins, he got them. Even a Pickup - as lovely as sin. Hardtops, station wagons, convertibles, four-door sedans, ...




image source: wikipedia