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

Hi all, new member here but long-time Packard admirer. First off, I don't want to offend anybody with what I'm about to write, it's just a "what if" scenario I'd be interested in getting some opinions on...

For a long time I had considered the '48 redesign as a turning point in Packard history that steered the company off the course it should've followed. Now I don't hate the '48-'50 cars, I just think the design was compromised and wasn't as well executed as it could've been; this becomes apparent when you compare the renders/brochure images with the real-world result (the desired result vs reality). It seems one mistake was attempting to compete with the mainstream luxury brands (with Cadillac setting the mark) which would come to rely on size/hp/flash when Packard should've maintained a image based on solid engineering/meticulous quality and exclusive blue blood snob appeal. In other words, maybe they should've left the mainstream luxury market to the nouveau riche and pursued the ultra-exclusive niche that ended up getting catered to by the likes of Jaguar, Rolls-Royce/Bentley, etc. To that end, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, I feel the resulting '48 was an unfit successor to the Darrin-esque '42-'47 Clipper; the '48 should've been an updated/sleeker evolution of the Clipper.

A while back I started looking up the different bodies executed on the post-WWII Alfa Romeo 6c 2500 chassis, most were pretty advanced that followed the cutting-edge design trends of the time (as in the "melting bar of soap" design approach). What's most striking is that most of the designs are pretty low slung for cars of that era. I eventually ran across the Pinin Farina berlina and it immediately struck me as a 15/16 scale version of the car Packard should've built in '48. With that, I went ahead and "Packard-ized" a photo of a '50 berlina just to see what it would look like (see attached), all/any input welcome.

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The real problem in the immediate post war time is that Packard built tons of Clippers. They should have made as many Packards as possible; they would have sold well from the war shortage, and helped maintain the image of the make.

I think your car looks fine to me! I prefer the fully radiused rear wheel openings to the skirts, this applies to '53 Caribbean compared to the '54 for me as well. Having said that, I like the skirts on my '53 Cavalier, which doesn't look as good without them and not sure that it would look as good if it had fully radiused rear wheel openings.

Everyone has their preferences, and my biggest preference is for my '53 Cavalier to look like it did in '53.

Yeah, there's that. I almost forgot the Clipper was a lower-rung car that eventually replaced the "real" Packards. Nonetheless, it was a great design but then you see all those Clipper taxi cabs in old movies and begin to dis-associate it as a real luxury car.

I agree that 46-7 should have ignored the taxi and six, reduced the 282 production, and emphasized the Senior cars.
The 356 gave superior or competitive power up to the end of production

As to the bathtub design, the fuselage styling was up to date. The problem was using the Clipper center section meant filling out the doors to do so. I do like the Berlina’s rear quarter window treatment

Dan_O, I agree about the Clippers thru 47 being some fine looking cars. One of my favorites too.

For some more thoughts on the styling change for 48, if you have not already seen or have a copy you might enjoy the book Packard -1948 to 1950 by the late Robert J. Neal. As I recall the book has a bit on the early styling discussions and reasons for some of the decisions on the move away from a slim face lifted Clipper variant. Believe he offers both deduced reasons and some actual as copied from notes taken during board meetings.

I don't know if the book ever made it to public libraries but if you are interested in a copy, I believe Dwight Heinmuller is now the exclusive sales distributor and he does list it on his website storefront as still available.

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Yes, I thought there was a good reason for the greenhouse to have remained relatively narrow vs the new ('48) fender profile. I may have read something about them starting with the Clipper and just slapping on the clay until they got that through fender line. Had the greenhouse width been pushed out closer to edges it would've looked a lot better, you can see that in the berlina. That whole '48 theme of course started with the Macauley Phantom which was speaking a design language that I feel was already outdated by they time it was in it's second (final?) iteration.

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I would love to check out that book, I'm sure they were positive they were moving in the right direction. At the time, who would've guessed all those fuselage, slug-like designs from nearly every make during that era would have such a short shelf life? Guess fins and chrome changed everything.

O Danny Boy....lovely bit of whimsy, yours, and believe i'd take one over a 1950-on Jag Mark VII, the car the XK engine designed for, the 200 "Super Sports" roadsters built to promote it in late '48 so popular they also went into production.

But such ponderings discount the tenor of the times, despite many then and now thinking the 1948-50 bathtub a blunder, certainly a fiscal waste, costing as much for a partial reskin (Clipper's roof and trunk lid retained) as a wholly new car, underscoring Packard by now more focused on their less hassle, more lucrative government and jet engine contracts, increasingly phoning in the cars. Dean of road testers, "Uncle" Tom McCahill, who loved the junior 1946 Clipper 8, termed the '48 tub "a goat," and "a dowager in a Queen Elizabeth hat."

If East Grand dead set on a squat grille, Chrysler's C-200 by Ghia handled it better a couple years later:

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Hi Dan_O, welcome to PackardInfo.com!
A Europeanized Packard is an interesting idea, even if it wouldn't be based on a design as beautiful as the Alfa Romeo 6c 2500. It is somewhat difficult for a European to always fully understand the American design language, even without the expectation that the vehicles on both continents are identical.

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Their first appearance hit old Europe like a blow, but after just a few years, Italian, German and oher non-US designers reflected on their own ideas of form.