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For those who like possible solutions to mysteries I give you this:

In an interview John Reinhart claimed to have wanted to sweeten the Clipper for 1948, but that George Christopher wanted "a whole new look" upon which John added "so I just threw blobs of clay on it".

I don't dislike the bathtub look, but it does look like the Clipper with a crinoline thrown over it. Crinolines are those hoop skirts worn in the old days when women's status was deonted by wholly impractical fashion. Sort of like preoccupation with sun tans.

I came across this shot of a styling proposal for 1948. It has the MacCauley grille, but the fenders blend into the doors. It does have some of the crinoline look, because the doors have been fattened somewhat but is pre-bathtub.

Maybe one of those people in the picture is John.

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  Reinhardt Proposal 200.JPG (37.27 KB)

There might be a better photo of John Reinhart in the Robert Neal book on 22-23 series Packards but there is a photo taken several years later while he was at Ford with him standing along side some others. He appears to be a fairly tall guy so from the hair color and heights of the people in the Packard photo he could be the fourth guy from the left.

Hard to tell from this photo, but if one of the guys in the group is John Reinhart, I think it would be the taller guy, fourth from the left.

From left to right is Erwin Weiss, unknown, George Grimm, John Reinhart, Ed Macauley, Col. Jesse Vincent.

A biography of John, written by his son, Jay, was published in the Winter 2007 issue (#129) of The Packard Cormorant Magazine.