Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Home away from home
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Would the frame from the 54 Corporate Limousine work for the 55 / 56 Corporate Limousine? If not, what would?
Someone on this forum has got to build this.
Posted on: 2013/2/19 10:29
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Don Skotty
1938 Super 8 1604 1116 Club Sedan 1939 Twelve |
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Webmaster
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Would it have Torsion Level?
Posted on: 2013/2/19 12:05
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-BigKev
1954 Packard Clipper Deluxe Touring Sedan -> Registry | Project Blog 1937 Packard 115-C Convertible Coupe -> Registry | Project Blog |
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Home away from home
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Good question...and I think that is one of the sound reasons why no limousines on elongated chassis materialized.
The torsion bar system--running fore to aft--would have presented a major engineering problem and I am not sure that elongated torsion bars would be effective or strong enough. I will defer to the technical folk on this site for this one (and we sure have some qualified spokespersons!). If the limousine was to be the flagship Packard in 55-56 then it would have been a parody should that car not feature Packard's newest engineering triumph!
Posted on: 2013/2/19 12:13
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1956 Packard Caribbean Convertible
1956 Packard Patrician Touring Sedan 1938 Eight Touring Sedan 1949 Custom Eight Touring Sedan |
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Forum Ambassador
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The limos, like the Caribbeans, were interesting with respect to their contribution to the bottom line. The Caribbeans were nice "non-discounting" items meaning they usually sold for full list price, but they also were probably loss-leaders most especially the 53 and 54s; they brought glamour and nice showroom traffic but not adding to the profit line. The same can probably be said of the 53 and 53 LWB cars, adding lustre to the line but not much if any to the profit line. If a 55/56 limo were to have been build, almost certainly it would have used a standard suspension modified as needed from that used on the early 55 Clippers.
Posted on: 2013/2/19 12:40
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Forum Ambassador
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Packard's adaption of Torsion Level across the entire senior chassis "line" was the cause of Henny closing up shop. The costs of elongating the torsion bars and engineering required far exceeded the volume of business they could hope to realize, so Henny closed up shop.
Not to say that Hess and Esienhart couldn't have come up with something if Packard had offered a coil/front leaf/rear retro chassis or kit.
Posted on: 2013/2/19 13:33
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Quite a regular
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It does seem a shame thatthe limousine and formal sedans were not continued for 1955 and 56. Given the low volume, I would think the standard suspension could be justified--and spun properly in a glossy brochure. I have often thought the 400 hardtop could have made a wonderful platform for conversion. Mamie Eisenhower had a "hardtop" Fleetwood and a Packard limousine with hardtop styling might have been just the thing to offset the conventional suspension.
As for the formal sedan, I'd take mine in Roman Copper and a matching roof and the light copper broadcloth piped in dark copper leather
Posted on: 2013/2/19 14:13
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Forum Ambassador
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Not a long wheelbase limo, but there have been persistent rumors throught the years of a 1955 or 1956 formal sedan based on the Patrician and modified by Derham, who had a regular diet of doing these conversions as late as 1954. One person I know has claimed to have seen it in the back of a livery service garage in Chicago about 10? years ago. It would be nice if it were true and the car surfaced one of these days.
Posted on: 2013/2/19 14:50
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Home away from home
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How far would the '55-'56 frame have to have been lengthened in order to facilitate a limo, hearse or ambulance body? Packard engineers had already lengthened the torsion-bar frame for the projected '57s by three (3) inches when the wheelbase went from 127" to 130" for the seniors and from 122" to 125" for the Clippers.
I noticed that some fellow in Australia had built himself a working model of the full-sized 1957 Packard chassis, including the torsion-bar suspension. There was an article about him in a prior issue of the Packard Cormorant and the closing paragraphs teased us with the possibility that the building was going to put a '57 400 body on the chassis. That was a few years ago and I haven't heard anything about this project since. Seriously, some folks on this site with engineering backgrounds could respond to this issue.
Posted on: 2013/3/2 20:24
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PA Patrician (Tim Wile)
[size=x-small][color=000099][font=Georgia][url=https://packardinfo.c |
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Re: 1955-56 Packard Corporate Limousine
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Forum Ambassador
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How far would the '55-'56 frame have to have been lengthened in order to facilitate a limo, hearse or ambulance body?
Limos with 7 passenger capacity (jump seas) would require something between 144 and 150, and perhaps something over 150 for funeral service vehicles. I believe the corresponding wheelbases for 1954 limos and the Henney Senior were 149 and 156 respectively.
Posted on: 2013/3/2 23:15
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