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I think the Packard station wagon was one of the smartest cars of its times.

The woody station wagon was the most expensive style in any car maker's line and usually associated with the country club set, the yachting set, and the upper crust generally.

So it was a high fashion car and it was also smart from a business standpoint.

The Packard Station Sedan used as much as possible of the sedan tooling. Most of the parts specific to the wagon, were made of wood. So the cost of tooling this model was minimal.

True, it did require a lot of hand work to build. But it also sold for a premium price.

I believe Packard did good business on these cars. They also added prestige to the line, and gave them something fancy to sell and to show off.

Why they never made a station wagon 1951 - 56 is a mystery. This was the heyday of the station wagon and Packard would have had the prestige market nearly to themselves. The most expensive rival wagons were Chrysler and Buick, Imperial Cadillac and Lincoln never made a wagon. I believe a Packard would have sold well against Chrysler and Buick.

Rusty:
To each his own. While the idea of a Packard station wagon was smart and it was expensive to buy and to build, I would offer the following as for your perusal. Looking at these examples, I would argue that the best looking one is the 1948 Hudson Commodore station wagon. In order of presentation these 1948 models are:

1. Packard station wagon

2. Hudson Commodore

3. Ford Super Deluxe

4. Mercury Marmon-Herrington

5. Plymouth

6. Pontiac

Please let me know which you think is the best looking.

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I have to agree with Mr. Bumble. As much as I like the bathtub era Packards, by 1950 the comparisons become even more uneven. While the big three embraced the station wagon concept and built stylish wagon purposed cars, Packard was still trying to sell the totally unmodified 1948 model as a 1950. It didn't work. Having said that... I would somehow manage to find space for a Station Sedan in my 3 car garage (which currently holds 3 Packards and an Explorer) if a nice one dropped into my lap.
1950 Ford
Photo: popularrestorations.com

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JD:

That is a nice '50 Ford. Despite claims that the Packard Station Sedan was a smart car, the fact that it was a modified sedan and not a dedicated station wagon was clear to potential buyers. While 1948 saw a brisk sale of the wagon, by 1949 the numbers had plummeted and in 1950, the Station Sedans were virtually non-existent. Packard's total wagon production from 1947 to 1949 was only 3,864.

In 1950 the era of the woody was coming to an end. Demand for the all-steel Chevrolet wagons beat Ford by more than 7 to 1 and Ford's station wagon production that year fell to 22,929. With numbers like these, Packard's Station Sedan can only be considered a flop. The fact that Packard decided not to pursue wagons in the future demonstrates its surrender of this market.

While station wagons were becoming increasingly desireable, its market was not the country club set and yachtsmen. It was actually middle class families, which is why wood was dropped. Surburban families did not have the time or interest to spend properly maintaining superfluous wooden trim work on daily functional vehicles.


21 square feet of cargo area with the rear seat folded, or 29 with the tail-gate lowered, providing a nearly nine-foot-long platform

only 3,864

demand for the all-steel four-door wagon from Chevrolet far surpassed Ford by more than 7-to-1 for 1950. Model-year production of the Ford station wagon fell to 22,929

With the seats laid flat and the tailgate lowered, a linoleum-covered cargo floor 109 inches long was achieved. Maximum width was 62.5 inches, but there was a loss of a full 18 inches around the rear wheelhouses. The Country Squire could hold up to eight people, the same as before the switch

JD:

Here are a couple of other good looking 1950 wagons:

Top: 1950 Buick Super Estate Station Wagon.

Bottom: 1950 Chrysler Royal Station Wagon.

Notice how the wood used on the Buick was simply accentuation of the car's lines. The Chrysler looks nice, but the wood is still too much.

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Good point MrB about the changing market. Sure would have fit Packard well in the Fifties. Here's the other one-off, a '53 that appears to sit on the 122" wheelbase.

http://www.russoandsteele.com/collector-car/1953-Packard-Woody/41182

Seems all these late 40s and 50s wagons were based on a sedan, differences being only where the manufacturer chose to meld in the wagon portion. The '48-50 Packard body curves in severely aft of the rear door, which gives the wagon a somewhat odd looking taper. An alternative would have been to continue the wood below the door handles in order to control and minimize this inward taper. Packard also kept the rear door window frame while the others went with a vertical frame. Which was "better" is subjective. Packard made good use of its forward canted frame by making the rear of the wagon forward curving and sporty. Personally I love it, seems to go with the rest of the vehicles curves. Hudson Jet could have done similar to good effect. I took a close look at the one-off Hudson Commodore wagon at last year's Concours at St. Johns. Feel they missed an opportunity to use Packard's sporty style at the rear. Its upright rear looks out of place with the rest of the vehicle's swoopy flow.

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'49-'53 Buick wagons were boss, would take'm over all the others.

The Mercury is outfitted with after market 4-wheel drive equipment. That is why is has the high road clearance as compared to its contemporaries.

(o{}o)

Quote:
Funny you should mention that; appears to be same car cited in a post from another thread, here:

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=118267#forumpost118267

I like the additional use of wood for some of the interior trim panels, but the flat tailgate styling doesn't suit me.

There's also this one-off:

http://wikicars.org/en/Packard_El_Paso

The greenhouse features a more vertical treatment, but the tailgate, which has been revised since its original appearance over a decade ago, leaves me flat.

Yet, MIDan's opening post in the aforementioned thread includes a link to perhaps the closest thing to a production Packard wagon for the period:

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/21-foot-12-passenger-station-wagon/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ModernMechanix+%28Modern+Mechanix%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

It's literally a bit of a stretch, but too much of a halo car. I think a more viable wagon could have been more easily pulled off without the stretch and the additional rear quarter window, while using conventional sedan rear doors.

Well, I think if Packard were still around today, this is probably what it would be producing, as far as a wagon is concerned:

Cadillac CTS-V Wagon.

556 HP Eaton-supercharged V8 engine
Brembo? disc brakes
Dual-mode Magnetic Ride Control reads the road up to 1,000 times a second to ensure constant traction through cornering and altering road conditions.
RECARO? front heated and ventilated performance seating.
58 cubic feet of storage.
From $64,515 - $75,345.
Fastest production station wagon in the world.

The perfect combination of practicality and insanity available. Unfortunately, the CTS-V wagon does not have genuine exterior wood trim ...

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