Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

why are the 55-56 models not as popular or worth as much as the similar Chevys of the day....ie 55-57 Chevy Bel-Air.

i think the Bel-Air is way less class than the Packard. So, WHY are the Bel-Airs so dang popular. i mean they are a dime a dozen, they are ALWAYS on the auction shows. how many times have you seen a V8 Packard on those shows.

i just don't get it...don't get me wrong...i am kinda glad otherwise i may never have been able to afford to get into this hobby.

Maybe it is because Chevy is still around....makes you wonder what would have been for these much classier V8 Packards over the Bel-Airs had Packard still been around today.

just thinkning out loud ladies/gents


thoughts?

Hank

What's more popular at the butcher shop? Hamburger or steak?
Hamburger naturally. Why? Because it's cheap. Young men with their first job bought used chevies and Fords because they wanted a car and those were the cheapest. They all wanted the latest Ford or Chevy, but couldn't afford it. Now in their fifties and sixties they can afford those cars they couldn't buy back in the day. Also they can buy all kinds of NOS parts and repros for those cars. The Packard market was never that size and it is not economical for someone to repro all the Packard parts. Strictly a matter of economics.

and packard was targeted more towards older folks who cared about ride quality, noise levels, etc. the big three were more in the hp game.

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There you have it...class. Post-war America's taste in luxury was quickly changing from an aesthetic of class, style and grace to one of flash and excess. Packard, founded on and remaining committed to excellence in motor coach building could no longer compete with the likes of Cadillac and Lincoln who had abandoned a "high-brow" notion of luxury and began peddling glitz and glamour to the newly wealthy.

That of course trickled down to lesser models which were more within the reach of the average consumer. Couldn't afford a flashy new Cadillac? Then buy a flashy new Chevy. That aesthetic of excess remains today in both the new car market (Cadillac Escalade, anyone...yuck!) and in the collector car market, hence the popularity of the '57 Chevy.

The Packard V8's were wonderful cars for those with more traditional and discriminating tastes. Too bad they struggled to find an audience in the fifties and faces an even harder time finding classy people today. (Of course, I, too, have a difficult time find classy people nowadays!)

As an aside, Ford outsold Chevrolet in 1957 with a car I've always felt was executed in much better taste than the Chevy. It's just too bad more of them didn't hang together to compete with the shoebox Chevrolets for the admiration of today's enthusiasts.

funny thing though Packard had the HP game beat as far as i knew....didn't the 55 have more than any other manufacturer at the time, with the potential for 500ci out of the same block.....kinda a small/big block car?

and what makes me mad about today....the government 'saved' GM....where were they back in the Packard days.....especially with all that Packard did for the war effort....sad....way to let the rolls royce of America die yah jerks....

this is just my opinion of course...i am young and don't understand alot of that stuff. obviously that is why i am here LOL!

Hank

I think in 1957 the S-P were going to bore the engine out to 440 cid for the Packard line. Who knows how may versions they could have wrung out of the block. If things were more agreeable between Nance and Romney, there could have been many versions of the Packard V-8 in Ramblers, Nashes, Hudsons, Studebakers and Clippers. In return S-P could've bought Nash's air conditioning system which was the cheapest on the market and made it standard equipment as well. Oh, well hindsight is always 20-20. The governments role in reducing military contracts were a bit shabby, indeed considering Packard sold its prewar dies to Russia on FDR's request.

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This has been proven to be a myth. There have been extensive discussions on this topic, and I am sure your comments will generate more.

(o{I}o)

Ahhh, yes. After reading about the myth and then, later, other forums about the dies, its hard to rewrite your mind sometimes.

Randy Berger said:

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I agree with your sentiment Randy. The affordability of the cars were what made them popular. Plus they offered a station wagon, nomad, and an affordable convertible in those body styles.

This reminds me of a car show that my co-workers wife put together. She is the events coordinator for a retirement community. She advertised a car show to be in the parking lot of the retirement community. They had a good amount of cars show up. Of course the 55-57 Chevs made up their own row of cars. Alot of the older people who came out to the car show really were drawn to the Packards, Imperials, Cadillacs, and upper end models. These were the cars people wanted when new, but could never afford. I think alot of the '55-'57 love is merely nostalgia that goes to the generation who bought them used a couple of years after production and used them in school, college, made hot rods out of them etc.

In fact, one of the ladies that was wheeled over the a '56 or '57 chev made a comment that ticked off the owner. She asked:
"Is that a '56?"
He replied:
"Yeah"
the little old lady said:
"I bought one new. Worst car I ever owned"

She than listed to him all the trouble she had with it. It was quite comical. People forget that as beautiful as the cars are restored nowdays, that they were every day drivers once had plenty of troubles and quality issues.

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1. Ford outsold Chevrolet in 1957 because Ford introduced a new body style, albiet an ugly one to some, while Chevrolet stayed with their three-year cycle.
2. All independents were destined to die. There were seven hundred makes and brands which died before Packard and several more which died afterward. The inevitable trend was to a few mega-manufacturers.
3. The Packard V8 was just physically too large and too heavy for medium and small cars. The only OHV8 engine physically as large was the 429", 472", 500" Cadillac and it was never used in anything smaller than the Cad. With the benefit of thirty years of casting improvements, the Cadillac is much lighter. With a few core box design changes, the Packard could easily have been 500" also.
4. The '55-56 Packards were on a dated old platform when introduced and it couldn't be disguised. Yes, Torsion Level was new and wonderful. However, park a '55 Caribbean next to a '55 Cadillac Eldorado or Chrysler B300 and the age of the Packard platform is obvious. The fender and beltline heights of the Packard tower over the competition. Lower was perceived as better in '55.
5. Small manufacturers can't survive poor quality. The build quality of the '55 Packards was sub-standard. The lack of reliability of the Twin-Ultramatic made any owner hesitant to buy another, much less recommend one. "Ask the man who owns one." if it was a '55, was a sure sales killer.

jack vines