Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Much of the trim was changed at some point, notice also that the rear bumper was changed to a 1953 style.

I didn't have a tape measure with me but the wheelbase is about 133-134 inches, will measure exactly next time I'm there.

Not sure what you mean by an "Executive" chassis, but Packard had no long wheelbase chassis in 1952, that didn't come along until 1953. Rejecting Henney's appeals for a LWB chassis in 1951/52 was not one of Packard's best decisions IMO. This car clearly started as a 1952 model and a very early one at that based on VN and body dash number.

More info will emerge, hopefully. It will be ingeresting to see what info if any surfaces in the Derham archives.

Perhaps this was a '52 Derham build that used one of the first batch of '53 Exec 149" frames and roof extensions, possibly pre-production. Anxiously awaiting the tail of the tape!

Owen - the comment you made about Packard rejecting Henney's appeals, do you think this might have been Henney's way of convincing them? Find a willing buyer perhaps through a Derham contact, shorten the 156" hearse chassis by 7 inches (if no signs of cut/weld were found on the frame maybe they ordered a one-off frame as was suggested), give Derham a piece of the action by letting them do the rear roof section and interior, then gather up the positive feedback from the customer and his friends.

Perhaps this is why only this car has long doors front and rear? For production they may have all concluded it was easiest to do a 6-window style like Cadillac, working off a standard sedan front door and coupe rear section. Just guessing...

Owen - the comment you made about Packard rejecting Henney's appeals, do you think this might have been Henney's way of convincing them?

I had that same thought early on when first seeing the early B&W photo, and I think that's a reasonable theory. What might firm it up a bit would be to know if there was some relationship between Feldman (Henney's owner) and the then President of Champion Spark Plug (assuming that bit of speculation is true).

I should have the wheelbase measurement today or tomorrow, and perhaps some photos of the underside frame. The Derham archive search is being looked into by Robert J. Neal as part of his research on the 51-54 Packards for his latest book project.

I'm not inclined to think the car was built on a modified early pre-production 1953 149" wheelbase chassis; the thief-proof or body dash number is the lowest 1952 number known, and the vehicle # is VERY low, pretty much assuring the Patrician starting point was built in late 1951.

Did a quick comparison of the car in question versus a '54 Henney on 156" chassis. I made one big assumption: the front door lowers were the same. From there I scaled accordingly. Hood lengths check out positive, so do many other gemometries. It appears that the rear door lengths are also the same but not the door outers; perhaps Henney grafted in the Patrician's to align with the Patrician's rear quarter panels. Wheelbase looks to be around 144-145".

I tried to upload the image comparison but can't. Not sure why it doesn't work.

Rechecked the images taking into account elongation disparities due to camera proximity. Wheelbase may well be 149".

Wheelbase may well be 149".

Good estimate! It's longer than I though by just eyeballing it. A stretch of the tape measure by the owner gives 148" without I'm sure any special attempts at precision. He also verifies my obsrvation of no evidence of any frame alterations. Enough to make me wonder if the car existed for a year or so as a standard Patrician and the coversion was undertaken later?

Could that body have been built on the 148" chassis used for the '46 and '47 LWB Henneys?

The 148" wheelbase was used thru the 22nd series as well, but I think it's use on this car is quite unlikely; too many changes is engine and body mounting, suspension, steering, etc.

"...car existed for a year or so as a standard Patrician and the coversion was undertaken later?"

Quite possibly. Another scenario is that Henney was in the process of using up '52 body panels earmarked for the hearses and by year's end it came down to a first in / last out pull from the parts bin.

Something about the 148" (presumably 149"?) doesn't seem to add. Assuming the front doors are from a coupe, when one compares the front and rear door distance from respective vent window to B-pillar (choose any measurement point you wish), the balance as Ross earlier stated is quite good. The standard sedans also have this balance. By deduction, if the front door is from a coupe, which we know to be 9 inches longer than a sedan, then the back door must have been extended the same. 127" wheelbase + 18" = 145" wheelbase.

Wish we could confirm the 148" dimension or get door width dimensions front and rear.