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While the '56 Premiere was big at 223", the '58 Lincoln was huge, 229" in length, compared to 218.5" for the '56 Sr. Packards, they were Lincoln's biggest up until the whale like 233" long safety-bumper cars of the mid 70s. Even Lincoln realized the '58-60 cars were too big and the elegant Elwood Engle designed '61 was shortened considerably to a svelte 212.4", 2" shorter than the 56 Clipper!!

I'm imagining a dealer seeing the writing on the wall for Packard jumping to an Edsel dealership in late 1957, only to be disappointed and seeing the end coming for Edsel in 1960, buying a DeSoto dealership.

I'm imagining a dealer seeing the writing on the wall for Packard jumping to an Edsel dealership in late 1957, only to be disappointed and seeing the end coming for Edsel in 1960, buying a DeSoto dealership.


Wouldn't be surprised at all if that didn't actually happen. At the risk of being politically incorrect, would he be called a two time or three time loser. Maybe two time. Three would be if he jumped back to Studebaker when DeSoto went away.

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That's sad but true I think a lot of people lost dealerships they had built over many years. It was a very tough time. I can't imagine what a bleak time that was for people in the car business.

So is anything known about the plan for Clipper if Lincoln had provided bodies for senior Packards for 1957?

Bess and the body sharing plan came after Ford killed providing bodies to S-P.

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Roger, I think you've got the sequence of those events a bit mixed up.

The Kimes "...History" book shows the shared body program had been well underway in 1955. Full-size clays were complete by early 1956 - as seen in the following dated images in our Photo Archive:

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=88
packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=89

BTW, I especially enjoyed this "comparison" photo submitted by 423reed:

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=3874

I would also like to remind that, while many people consider the Predictor as the inspiration for the '57 Packards, that 1956 show car was actually intended to gauge public reaction to styling cues that were already on the boards for the intended '57 models.

However, as things began to unravel, "Black Bess" was hastily cobbled together as a last ditch effort to obtain money needed to tool-up for the all-new '57s.

As such, I don't think it was until after that attempt failed that building a '57 (senior) Packard on a '56 Lincoln shell was considered.

Meanwhile, I believe South Bend had been working on a proposal to use Ford bodies to make Studebakers, but that idea also died.

I don't believe there was any such consideration for the '57 Clipper. If an all-new body was not possible, the only other options (besides what actually came about) were another facelift on the '56 body or dropping the Clipper altogether.

Yet, I've found comparatively little written about these efforts. If anyone else has some hard facts, I'd like to hear about them.

Lincoln wasn't restyled for 55 like most other brands. The body for 56 was used for 57 as well so selling the same body (reskinned) with two nameplates would have been tough. Ford would have been pissed if Packard sold more cars than Lincoln using the same underpinnings. I could definitly understand why Ford didn't want to sell their lincoln bodies.

Am still curious about any proposed specs. Don't think wheelbase would be much of an issue but one of the reasons given for Packard not being continued in South Bend was it was too wide for the assembly lines. If that's the case, using a shared body between Studebaker and Packard lines would I think, have meant either Packard shrank or Studebaker grew. Question would be which would be more likely to sell. Studebaker had postwar been known for Loewy designs, light, low, narrow, and maybe some even somewhat sleek while Packard was large, wide, heavy but roomy. Each car catering to a different clientele as maybe somewhat evidenced by the lack of sales on the Studebaker based Packards. Of course, almost every auto publication predicting the imminent demise of S-P could have had something to do with low sales.

There could have been three wheelbases. The smallest for Studebaker Champion/Commander. The middle one used for Studebaker President/Landcruiser and Packard Clipper/Executive and the largest for Packard itself.

Do remember the wheelbase proposals and again, not much issue. Packard was very successful in stretching a 122" wb body to fit a 127" frame in 55-56--as was Studebaker in shortening a long body for a short frame in 59. I am more curious about the width. I've only sat once in a 57 but as I recall that short trip, sitting 3 to a seat in a 56 Packard is a bit different compared to 3 across in a 57.