Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Sitting at lunch listening to several experts tell me that their cost exactly xxx dollars in 56. Then another chimes in with a completely different figure. And yet again.

Experts!

Is there a list price sheet from 1956 that lists the came-withs and the popular options? I'd sure like to see it!

Thanx!

To clarify....of course I have the list from this site that tells what the basic options were and which were included with each model. For instance, wires were an option for Packard branded cars; not available for clippers.

Power windows were an option (which my 5682 lacks, to my surprise).

It would be fun to see what cost what back in the day, as in what was all but free and what seemed way overpriced.

For that matter, it would be fun to see stats on what percentage had which options and what percentage had which colors.

My original Patrician was dark bluish green in the middle; light green to and bottom. In the two years I looked for my current car, I never saw a matching green one in any condition, although green must have been a relatively popular color, judging from the variety of greens offered. But I digress.....

They'd probably seem incredibly inexpensive now...

One thing to remember is that the prices then were set by the dealer no window sticker and when buying a Packard or any independent car the number of dealers was limited in most areas. Therefore the buyer was at the mercy of the dealer as today except few places to get help on what would be the selling price or a good deal. This was how car dealers got to be classified as not the most honest people to do business with.
The above is my feeling and car dealers were not the people my father uncles and grandfather held up as role models

patgreen said:Quote:
Along with the Nance interviews published a few years ago, there also is at least one memo he wrote in 55 to his production dept complaining that almost every car coming off the line was green. Believe it went on to say dealers were complaining they couldn't get cars in the colors customers had ordered and he had gone out himself and looked at what was coming off the line. Maybe by 56 they had things under better control.

Those prices used to released by the factory in letter form to the dealers. I once researched a series of factory prices for Chrysler and in certain years (1952 comes to mind) the factory put out 4 revised price lists due to rapid inflation.

Understand that this was before informative stickers. I'm assuming that someone suggested prices for internal use, no matter what they told (or didn't tell) the public.

Somebody must have a handle on this; share.......please!

The price list in the parts manual lists:
DEALER NET LIST TRADE NET
446280 53.40 89.00 66.75

That is the breakdown for wire wheels
SP50070 16.63 24.95 19.96
FOR SEAT BELTS

SP50049 4.17 6.95 5.21
BRAKE SAFETY RESERVOIR KIT

For that matter, it would be fun to see stats on what percentage had which options and what percentage had which colors.

Pat, production slips for the 1956 (and perhaps the 1955) Caribbean convertibles have been analyzed and published with this information, see "The Packard Cormorant", Autumn 1987, #48. I'm not aware that the same treatment has been given to the other 55 and 56 models though the raw data exists for the most part if someone were willing to undertake the effort as was done for the Caribbeans.

Of course there were MSRPs (manufacturer's suggested list prices), dealer nets, etc. for the cars and all the options but the final pricing to the customer was established by the dealer, just as today. MSRP for the 56 Caribbean convertible was $5995. I believe all the data on factory MSRP and dealer net still exists. Some option prices I jotted down years back, MSRPs I believe though I forget the source at the moment, for the 56 cars were:

Wire Spoke Wheels: $325
Air conditioning: $567
Twin Traction: $44
Push button: $52

As far as colors go for the 56 Caribbeans (paraphrasing the above-cited publication): 207 were 3-tone, 31 were single color, 25 were 2-tone, 6 were shipped in prime, and the balance unknown. The most popular single color was Corsican Black (13) followed by Dover White (11). The most popular 3-tone was white/blue copper (95) followed by white/orange/black (43) and white/scottish heather/gray (38). The most popular 2-tone was black/white/black (15) followed by white/orange/white (2). There were 28 special-order interiors assigned.

For 56 Caribbean convertible options, only 6 had chrome wire spoke wheels and only 15 had A/C, far less than we find today on restored examples! Only 1 came with factory-installed seat belts, and 2 had rear-seat speakers (an installation I've very much like to see.)

That's the 5699 in a nutshell, most of the raw data for this originated with an occasional correspondent to these pages, "56executive" who has or had the build slips and has commented on them on other threads on this topic. In a few instances his data differs from that published. Mike Grimes has also done an thorough analysis of the V8 Caribbean models though to my knowledge it has not been published. It would be a nice contribution to the hobby if someone would come forth and do the same type of analysis on the other models.

Here are those prices in todays dollars based on an annual inflation over between 1956 and today of 3.94%.

Wire Spoke Wheels: $2,618.78
Air conditioning: $4,568.77
Twin Traction: $354.54
Push button: $419.01

A 1956 Caribbean Convertible with an original MSRP of $5,995 would cost $48,306.50 in todays money.

(Conversion Calculator:http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm )