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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#11
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Mahoning63
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Points well taken. I looked for an image of Mayfair's rear quarter window assembly, couldn't find anything. Would be interesting to see.

OK, let's move on to your 127 4-door suggestion and meld in thoughts on how Packard could have breathed new life into the Seniors. If they had followed up on the '53 Caribbean by dropping Ionia and productionizing a full series of four inch longer rear overhang cars, with decklid moved back to get the extra luggage space, and called the new series Caribbean, the Seniors would have been rejuvenated and Packard finally would have had a car that competed with 60 Special. A 122 hardtop coupe and convertible with extended rear overhangs would have rounded out the field, the rear fenders derived from the 4-door. A few 149 pillared hardtop cars could have been run out by Henney, with a formal leather roof added by Derham.

The Patrician name would have been retired and its roof given to Clipper for its own 127 Super Touring Sedan, joining the 122 Club Sedan and Touring Sedan and a Henney-built 149 8-Passenger Sedan and Limousine.

Attach file:



jpg  1954 Packard Caribbean 127 4 ROH.jpg (55.84 KB)
2060_617401bb2dcb8.jpg 951X446 px

jpg  1954 Packard 127 Clipper Super Touring Sedan.jpg (78.69 KB)
2060_617401c721599.jpg 681X543 px

Posted on: 2021/10/22 20:07
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#12
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Mahoning63
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The big kahunas, the former of Clipper's sturdy full window frame design, the latter a year before Cadillac's somewhat similar one-off for Ike.

Attach file:



jpg  1954 Packard 149 8-Passenger Sedan.jpg (77.61 KB)
2060_617401e839834.jpg 681X543 px

jpg  1954 Packard Caribbean 149.jpg (55.38 KB)
2060_6174020dc42e8.jpg 951X446 px

Posted on: 2021/10/22 20:40
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#13
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Packard Don
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I think that your original design looks the best regardless of wheelbase and the Caribbean trim should be left to that exclusive model. I’m not too keen on the minimalist 1953 Caribbean style either (not that I would turn one down if offered!) as it too is better on the Caribbean than on a 4-door of any sort.

Skirts or no skirts is another issue. If none, then it could have the moldings as found on the Constellation.

Ditch the 1952 hood ornament too as by 1954 it was too old school! The 1953-‘54 ornament looked good so let’s keep it.

Posted on: 2021/10/22 21:56
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#14
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Packard Don
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The long wheelbase versions don’t seem right if we’re going for a 4-door hardtop look. They do not seem formal enough. Keep the narrower B-pillar as the 122” wheelbase version had which makes it look sporty and elegant at the same time!

Also, while I like the 1954 senior rear window and C-column that it creates, it has always seemed a little disproportioned due to its height. It makes the rear of the roof look odd where it comes down to meet the window!

Posted on: 2021/10/23 0:48
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#15
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Mahoning63
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It would be great to have the narrow B-pillar on the 149 car but in the up position the rear door windows wouldn't budge due to their rectangular shape.

Re: '54 Senior roof... are you talking about Cavalier/Patrician or the Caribbean 127 4-door work-up?

Posted on: 2021/10/23 7:35
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#16
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Mahoning63
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Someone did a wonderful job adapting '54 Caribbean trim to a '52 Convertible. I tweaked the image only to remove the short front spear and rear speedline, and cover the paint lines on the side and below the taillights. This is what I envision the suggested '54 Clippers looking like. Paint was an inexpensive way to make an older design look newer and I think Packard for 1954 needed to strengthen it's Seniors to the exclusion of almost everything else. The new two-tone Clippers would have sold because of Nash's low-cost A/C and if ready, T-L.

Attach file:



jpg  1952 Packard Convertible Custom with mods.jpg (82.45 KB)
2060_617405b2534a3.jpg 948X563 px

Posted on: 2021/10/23 7:58
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#17
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58L8134
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Hi

At certain times in automotive history, the public has been open to embracing new body styles. The decade after WWII was one of those times. In the lower-priced fields it was the all-steel station wagon, first the two door then the four door dominating with the rise of the suburbs.

The other major new style was the B-pillarless hardtop. The style embodies all the carefree spirit of a convertible without the drawbacks. Once the public had experience it in two door form, it wasn't a major conceptual leap to expect a four door version. This was an opportunity for the first carmaker to present such to the market, well before GM did in mid-1955.

As Paul has presented, the first step toward that ultimate four door hardtop could have been a hardtop-styled four door sedan with the same thin, chromed window frames, low-roof line and interiors found in the two door hardtops. It simply took the vision of designers and the willingness of management to make it happen.

Steve

Posted on: 2021/10/26 17:45
.....epigram time.....
Proud 1953 Clipper Deluxe owner. Thinking about my next Packard, want a Clipper Deluxe Eight, manual shift with overdrive.
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Re: 1954 Packard Patrician Sportster
#18
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Mahoning63
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"...willingness of management to make it happen."

Steve is so right on this. Victory in the auto industry requires not just deep knowledge, which most folks in the industry have, and creativity, which some have, it also requires a daring and adventurous attitude. We see the lack of both today as OEMs dive headlong into electric vehicles but have taken the safe route of putting the tech in vehicles that are familiar to them: sedans, SUVs and pickups. The reality is that EV tech belongs mostly in small devices that do big things for the user, not big devices that do little more than before but cost a lot more.

When I joined the industry 20 years ago at Ford, the Premier Automotive Group (PAG) had a half dozen other brands including Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. We watched Lincoln try and fail to approve products that would have remade the brand, one of which was quite innovative, and there was always an excuse. By 2003, Lincoln was staring at a 5 year product drought and the rest of PAG withered and was eventually dismantled.

Part of the problem was that all the brands wanted to become full-line producers, which even a company as big as Ford could not afford. In the auto industry it is important to shoot only a few arrows rather than the whole quiver, and make sure that each hits or lands close to the bulls-eye. Unfortunately for PAG, the idea of the brands working together to limit each brand’s all-new products to the vital few best suited to their particular strengths, was something that the PAG family could never accept.

And so we get back to Packard. On one hand they had Nance seeking industry domination. On the other, they couldn’t identify even one product between 1954-56 that would move the needle in any meaningful and lasting way. Except for T-L, GM constantly beat them to the punch and with whole vehicles rather than features. Lincoln and Imperial made moves too.

Posted on: 2021/10/27 10:44
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