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

Oh, what a fun topic!

Being in the old car service business I've had the opportunity to drive a lot of different old cars and observe:

Era for era, the Packards are often more fun to drive than the competition. The others had some strong points but...

1950 Windsor Newport: excellent build quality and unbeatable dash treatment. Awkward, slow shifting transmission and very "heavy on its feet".

49 Buick: Suspension only worked well on boulevards as a result of incredible unsprung weight. Hopeless in corners on the backroads.

49 Lincoln Cosmo--where did all the gasoline go?

41 Cad: Where's the overdrive?

I like to drive my cars hard and meet or beat traffic. The Packards do this with no stress. Many cars of the pre-55 era could not manage a sustained high speed as they were geared for secondary roads and lacked the option of overdrive.

Having said all that, here are two oddball picks that won my respect the hard way: 50 Ambassador--snappy, smooth, quiet, and surprisingly light on its feet. 49 Frazer Manhattan: Astonishingly comfortable seats(so many seat springs it would make a Custom Eight blush), great ride, easy handling, a bit slow but turned in 20 mpg.

Amazing. 49 Manhatton 20 MPG, wow, for it's year just great.
Any opinion on how the 48 Super Eight Convertible Handles, comfort and MPG ?

Some classic cars have more high prices than others, is this justified?

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Harley Earl head of GM styling was always looking for something novel and distinctive to give his cars a unique selling point. For the 1949 models, he chose an aircraft theme. Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile all had details borrowed from the latest airplanes.

One of these details was the Cadillac tailfin. It proved popular and was copied by other makes. By the mid fifties practically every American car had tailfins in one form or another. They even served an important purpose, increased stability at high speeds and in crosswinds. They made the car hold a steady course on the new high speed Interstate hiways then coming into use.

You do not state what year model you mean in the case of the Lincoln and Packard so it is kind of hard to answer.

Quote:

Interesting, I've heard just the opposite. I wonder if there was any testing of the effects of fins on the handling of a car. I would think if they were of any appreciable help they'd still be around in some form today.

In the early 70's i had a 52 Hudson. 6cyl/stick. So rusty that cats would crawl up into it at nite and sleep.
The car was given to me free. I drove it a summer and late fall.
Probably the most impressive car i've ever drove in terms of handling and comfort bar none even my 56 Executive.
Decent power too from a 6 cylinder. Somewhat of a gas hog tho but at that time it didn't matter. Never drove it much above 60 mph. But it sure stuck to the road even with junk tires on it.

Everytime i a drive a corvette which is just once in a while now i always think back to the 52 Hudson. Lot more comfort in the hudson tho.

I mite add that the hudson was very difficult to see out of. Lotta blind spots. I didn't like that and parts were not ez to find. Kinda poor gas mileage. OTherwise it sticks in my mind as one of the greats.

It comes down to what you are looking for--for something cool-looking for top down motoring a 48 Convertible would be hard to beat. For driving pleasure, get the sedan or coupe. Those hydraulic windows will make you weep, the car is heavy feeling and still somewhat, uh, limber on rough roads. Packard was not alone in that.

I have historical reasons for cringing a bit when convertibles come in--they have very often had really rough lives in their cheap-used-car days. And we even have a special song we sing when Caribbeans come in "for a little work".

When sorted, any Packard will provide a comfortable reliable ride.

By the way, really enjoy hearing people's takes on various competitors.

I've ridden in some modern "luxury cars" (Lincoln, Lexus, Chrysler, etc) and they just don't compare with my Cavalier. Every time I take her out, I'm grateful that I'm now a proud Packard owner!

I'll second the Hudson plaudits, not for nothing was the Twin-H Hornet a NASCAR world beater, even against more modern V-8s. If you like a car that'll go AND be light on it's feet from that era, that's the choice, imo. The Step Down frame design made it the handler of it's time, and the big 308 made it go. Quality was very good too. We had a 51 in the family. It was wonderful, a real driver's car.

I recall a friend who owned a Hudson with the Twin H, and Hydramatic trans. That car was fast,roomy and a great handling car for the era.

Just out of high school myself and 2 other friends owned a 54 Hornet Special (2 door sedan) with Twin-H on the 308 engine (of course) and hyramatic. Our plans were to drag race it in stock class - which we did with much success. We used a #311040 hot cam from the 7X engine series, and had the hydramatic converted to a locked Hydro by B&M. It was pretty fast - about 85 mph in the high 16s in the 1/4 mile as I recall. Don't recall the classification, K or L stock automatic as I remember.

But the point was, it was a very luxurious and classy car, front seats like you'd like to have in your living room. Elegant dashboard, lovely wool upholstery, etc.