1949 Packard Custom Eight Touring Sedan

When automobile production resumed after World War II, Packard, like most other automakers, simply brought back the cars it was making before. In Packard’s case, this was the Packard Clipper that was introduced in 1941. The Clipper hadn’t been in production long enough before the war to allow a relatively low-volume luxury marque like Packard to come up with all-new models in the late 1940s like other automakers. In 1948, Packard restyled the 1941-1942 Packard Clipper, eliminating the separate fenders and the narrow tapered hood & grille, with the Packard Eight and Super Eight on a 120-inch wheelbase and the Custom Eight on a 127-inch wheelbase.

1949 saw little change, aside from the mid-year introduction of Packard’s Ultramatic automatic transmission, Packard’s first automatic transmission and the only one developed by an independent automaker without outside assistance. Packard production would hit a peak of 116,000 cars for 1949, making it one of Packard’s best years ever.

1937 Packard Super-Eight Touring Sedan

Photo by Cliff West

 

In 1937, Packard offered the Touring Sedan across all four series: the Six, the One-Twenty, the Super-Eight, and the Twelve. The example pictured here at the Northwest Car Collectors Association Car Show & Swap Meet at the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center in Portland, Oregon, on October 18-19, 2003, appears to be a Super-Eight. The Super-Eight Touring Sedan was offered with three wheelbases: 127 inches, 134 inches, and 139 inches. This appears to be the 134-inch wheelbase model. The 1937 Packard Super-Eight was all-new with a smaller and lighter design, with each of the three wheelbases now 5 inches shorter than the previous year, and 1936's 150-horsepower 320-cubic-inch inline 8-cylinder engine was changed to a new 135-horsepower 320-cubic-inch inline 8-cylinder engine. Other changes included the addition of hydraulic brakes and the front doors now being hinged at the front instead of the back. The rear doors, however, remained rear-hinged "suicide" doors. 1937 would be Packard's peak production year, with a total of 122,593 cars, though only 5,793 were Super-Eights.

1941 Packard Super-8 One-Sixty Club Coupe

Photo by Cliff West

 

In 1940 the Packard Super-8 became the Super-8 One-Sixty, with the introduction of a new 160-horsepower, 356-cubic-inch, inclined 8-cylinder L-head engine with aluminum pistons, which was the most powerful 8-cylinder engine available in an American car at the time, following the discontinuation of the Packard V12 after 1939. The related Super-8 One-Eighty replaced the Packard Twelve at the top of the line. For 1941, styling was updated. The radiator moved forward and the headlights were recessed into the fenders with parking lights above, while running boards became optional. Other available options included Air-Conditioning, an Electromatic Clutch eliminating the need for a clutch pedal, and an early overdrive called Aero-Drive which reduced fuel consumption by up to 20% by reducing engine revolutions by 27.8% while reducing oil use and engine wear. This 1941 Packard Super-8 One-Sixty Coupe has a 127-inch wheelbase. It is difficult to tell in the picture, but this coupe at the Northwest Car Collectors Association Car Show & Swap Meet at the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center in Portland, Oregon, on October 18-19, 2003, appears to be a 5-passenger Club Coupe with the new full width rear seat, as opposed to a Business Coupe with no rear seat.

1940 Packard One-Ten Club Coupe

Responding to the Great Depression, luxury automaker Packard introduced a line of cars powered by six-cylinder engines in 1937, alongside its eight-cylinder powered standard One-Twenty line. Initially called simply the Packard Six, the smaller Packard line was renamed Packard One-Ten in 1940. The Packard One-Ten series had a 122-inch wheelbase, as opposed to the Packard One-Twenty line's 127-inch wheelbase, and was powered by a 245-cubic-inch six-cylinder version of Packard's L-head in-line engine that was rated at 100-horsepower, not much less than the One-Twenty's 120-horsepower 282-cubic-inch eight-cylinder engine. Packard built 62,300 One-Tens and 28,138 One-Twenties for 1940. The One-Ten line was expanded in 1941, but in 1942 the Packard One-Ten went back to being the Packard Six before World War II halted civilian Packard production. This 1940 Packard One-Ten Club Coupe was photographed in the Days in the Park parade in Rainier, Oregon, on July 8, 2000.

1953 Packard Deluxe Clipper 4-Door Sedan

The Packard line had been completely redesigned in 1951, which included the introduction of the 200 series at the bottom of the line on a 122-inch wheelbase. In 1953, this same basic design was still in production, but the Packard 200 was renamed the Packard Clipper. Like the Packard 200 that preceded it, the Packard Clipper was available as either a 2-door or 4-door sedan. The standard engine for the Packard Clipper was a 150-horsepower, 288-cubic-inch in-line 8-cylinder engine. The Packard Deluxe Clipper was powered by a 160-horsepower 327-cubic-inch 8-cylinder engine.

This 1953 Packard 4-door sedan was in the Days in the Park Parade in Rainier, Oregon, in July 1996. It appears to be the Deluxe Clipper model.

1957 Packard Clipper Town Sedan

This is a 1957 Packard Clipper Town Sedan. It looks suspiciously like a Studebaker sedan, and there is a reason for this.

In the early 1950s, George Mason, President of Nash Motors since 1948, had a dream of America's independent automakers banding together to form a fourth major auto company that could challenge the big three. In 1954, he started to make his dream a reality. In April 1954, Nash merged with Hudson to form American Motors. In October of the same year, Packard, under the leadership of James J. Nance since 1952, bought Studebaker to form Studebaker-Packard. This was part of the plan: after the dust had settled from those mergers, Studebaker-Packard was to merge with American Motors. But this never happened. The same month Studebaker and Packard merged, George Mason passed away unexpectedly, and his assistant, George Romney (father of Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney) took over American Motors. Romney changed direction, abandoning the plan to merge with Studebaker-Packard and eventually abandoning the Nash and Hudson names altogether, replacing them with Rambler.

This left Studebaker-Packard in trouble, as Studebaker had serious financial problems before the merger. The company tried to continue on, creating the Packard spinoff brand Clipper in 1956, but things rapidly went downhill. Nance resigned in August 1956, and Studebaker-Packard was taken over by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. With the company needing to cut costs, and with Packard's body style already several years old, the 1957 Packard line shared the Studebaker body. Unfortunately, this was obvious to most car shoppers, who saw no reason to pay the premium Packard price for what was a thinkly-disguised Studebaker. These cars became known as "Packardbakers."

Despite being considered inferior to the earlier "true" Packards, the 1957 Packards weren't bad-looking cars, although that would change for 1958, when quad headlights and another layer of tailfins were tacked on rather poorly. What buyers Packard had left were turned off, and between that and the recession, sales fell even further, and 1958 would be Packard's last year.