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Hi

I think of my Continental Touring Coupe as Letourneur & Marchand meets Darrin. It's based on a 138" wheelbase chassis, with '38 Eight-'39 120 & Super Eight frontal features.

The aluminum top is designed to be a cantilevered unit, supporting members anchored to the frame. The cast manganese bronze windshield frame thin, tapered and elegant but not structural. The "Shooting Star" hood vents complimenting all the gently falling arcs.

Note the lack of chrome trim accents. The highlight line begins at the leading edge of the grille sweeps continuously to form the window sill. As will L & M's sporting coupes, the C-pillar angles and sweeps to the windshield. The fenders, wheel openings, full wheel covers are designed to enforce the sporting feel

I guess you can tell I really had fun creating this design, it was completed in 2006. Enjoy!

Steve

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Steve,

This is a fine looking concept. Makes me wish I had the ability to produce something like this. I could only imagine how sleek it would look in real life.

Thanks for sharing,
Jim

Hi 39super8

You and me both! Every time I see an unrestored Packard that could be the basis for this car.....I think about how great it would look in real life too.

Let's see, what do I need: a restored 138" wheelbase chassis with a nice 356 c.i. to power it (not worried about authenticity since it wouldn't be), a highly skilled coachbuilder and ....... a HUGE wad of cash to pay for it!

Steve

I sure like your drawing and your idea for the concept Packard.

Your design of the roof line and rear window treatment reminds me of the 1938 Lincoln Model K Touring Coupe by Judkin.

The Judkin and Letourneur & Marchand designs look very much a like. The L&M design was used on the Delage Aerosport Coupe D8 120S in 1938 and 1939 that I know of.

John F. Shireman

That's the vision I have for my Speedster if I could find the proper grille and fenders, minus the roof of course. But after seeing the roof on that, I'm not totally opposed to the roof idea now....

Hi John & Eric

Yes, the Delage D8-120S Aerosport coupe by Letourneur & Marchand and the '38 Lincoln K Touring Coupe by Judkins were both inspiration. You know your coachbuilders! For the hood and fender forms, you can beat Darrin!

Where I departed is the use of half-door convertible type construction rather than the full door with the hinge at the top allowing the removed B-pillar.

The other departure from those cars is the fastback, which for me, doesn't work visually on larger cars. The Delage and the Lincoln K both seem too high and short, sort of a cut off sausage look. As you can see, treating the trunk and roof as separate items to compliment is more visually interesting. I saw this rear body treatment on a L & M bodied Delage at Hershey years ago and like it much better than the fastback.

Hey Eric

How about a nice wide sunroof to make this top more appealing? A convertible version looks great too! Love to drive this rig with a supercharged 356!!!

Steve

If I didn't have to worry about the $$ and was paying someone to build the body for me, I'd build a Packard version of the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Corto Touring Spyder:







Only I'd make the tail more "boat tail-like", like an Auburn but not as narrow. It's hard to explain what I'm talking about because I can't find any accurate pictures of what I'm aiming for. The tail on the Speedster will be a wider boattail, with the fenders moulded into the tail, instead of having the rear fenders a "pontoon" style. It also won't taper down as sharp like all the other boattail Speedsters out there, but more of a gentle, rounded curve down.

Hard to explain, I know...

Here's a better idea of what I'm talking about:




Notice how the tail goes down sharply and stops too short to be more "proportional" to the rest of the body. On the Speedster, I plan on making it go past the rear frame rail and fenders, as well as doing a very slight taper towards the bottom, say 1" in 24".

Hey Eric

I'll sketch up some ideas from your description, send them to you to see if they're close to what you have in mind.

Steve

Steve, that works for me, I look forward to seeing "The Speedster V2.0"