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If I could travel back in time and plead with Packard to do just one car, this would be it. Not only to bop the Sixty Special down the moment it reared its head but as a clear statement that the low slung Cord 810 and multicylinder Zephyr did not go unnoticed at East Grand Blvd two years earlier.

Wheelbase is 135 inches, height is a few inches lower than the '38 Junior, running boards are history and underhood is a monobloc 423 V12 with 180 HP based on the 282's bore/stroke. The biggest news is a Safe-T-Flex independent rear suspension that gets the floor height down while keeping it flat, and as a nice side benefit offers the best ride in town.

I know we've already covered this idea but I wanted to show you guys this new image based on the Rollston Town Car. The only thing missing is a V-windshield, which I didn't think I could pull off with quality.

All thoughts welcome as usual.

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Most attractive rendering. Not a fan of fender skirts, but they work well on this styling exercise. I think it would look cleaner without the exposed spare tire. I admire your efforts.

(o[]o)

Appreciate the feedback, thanks. Changes are easy on this, here's a pair with no rear mount and with/without skirts. Instrument panel from '38 Super Eight/Twelve would have been nice.

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Hi Paul

Priced at $2,100 to $2,300, had these appeared in showrooms, customers thinking of a new 60 Special would have had very good reason to consider Packard as well.

These prove the inherent design potential of the Junior series as basis for a new type of Packards. Proportions make all the difference, subtle changes pay huge dividends!

Keep 'em coming!

Steve

Thanks Steve. The styling and proportions were laid out pretty clearly by Dietrich years earlier. The only stumbling block was an enabler to get the height down. FWD was out. Either a trans hump or an independent rear were the only options left.

Certainly the new design direction cascaded down to the lower priced models would have made GM's intro of the 1940 C-bodies a non-event at EGB. Nor would there have been the mad scramble to do the Clipper. With the torch handed to a hot new breed of Seniors & Juniors well before the war's ramp up, next task would have been to focus on an automatic transmission. Wonder how far along Packard was in 1940.

Paul

Had a little fun imagining a 1938 line-up based on the aforementioned styling, assuming roughly the same tooling and complexity that Packard carried that year. Lots of body styles were possible, here's a sampling.

First two are in the Six series on a 122" wheelbase. Cars have a 5" shorter hood than the new Twelve proposal and use the sport sedan's roof.

Last four are in the new Twelve series that would have replaced the former Super Eight/Twelve seniors that year. They include:

- lowered Darrin-like coupe on 120" wheelbase with extended hood and jump seats behind the front seats. Victoria was possible too. Fenders carried over from Twelve sedans, otherwise a new body. Decklid possibly from the short decklid Six, rotated.

- Sport sedan that has already been discussed. BTW, had made a mistake on the earlier images. They sit on a 134" wheelbase, not 135". I have also included a V-windshield on all the new images.

- Formal sedan on same 134" wheelbase but with a 7" longer roof and Six's shorter decklid.

- 7-pass sedan and limo on a 143" wheelbase that also uses the short decklid. A convertible parade car would have been a straightforward modification.

Other body styles were also possible using these new body panels.

The Eight series would have used the Six's bodies for two 127" cars. A difficult task for Packard would have been to decide which Twelve bodies to share with the Eight, the trade-off being exclusivity for the Twelve versus greater sales and amortization of tooling if offered in the Eight too. A 6-window touring sedan based on the 134" formal sedan body and roof would have been reasonable. An affordable 143" wheelbase 7 passenger sedan, hard to say. Maybe an 8-pass Hercules wagon on the 134" wheelbase that was unique to the Eight was the way to go.

Regarding the sport coupe/victoria and sport sedan, one scenario would have been to reserve them for the Twelve in 1938-39 and take a wait/see with the competition and market. When GM introduced the new C-body torpedo sedans in 1940, for example, it would have been easy for Packard to respond with an Eight sport sedan.


UPDATE: changed the images to be same overall width/height so direct comparisons can be made.

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That coupe is really interesting. I think fender skirts on a coupe look a little stupid, but it works on that one.

I added the fender skirts to the Twelve line-up just to set them off here. Probably don't belong on the Formal Sedan and Limo.

The coupe would have given the Lincoln Continental serious competition if priced around $2,500 and caught Cadillac with its pants down for a change. Maybe Jesse Vincent could have coaxed a few more horses from the new V12, let it breath at the expense of a bit more noise and rumble.