The Packard look-a-like Problem

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Until surpassed by Cadillac for good in 1950, Packard was the best-selling American luxury car. The independent automaker had survived the Depression by introducing a medium-priced model, the One-Twenty, that literally saved the company, aided and abetted by a six-cylinder model in 1937.

 After World War II, Packard covered the same price territory, but unfortunately had money for only one basic design. Thus, by 1953 there were cars for every upscale “purse and purpose,” as General Motors’ Alfred P. Sloan put it: Clipper ($2,544, opposite Olds Super 88), Clipper Deluxe ($2,745, opposite Buick Super), an intermediate line called simply “Packard” and which confusingly included both a “regular convertible” (above) and the prestigious Caribbean ($3,486 and $5,210, respectively, competing with Buick Roadmaster and Skylark), Patrician ($3,740, head-to-head with Cadillac 62) and long-wheelbase Executive Sedan ($6,900, up against Cadillac’s Fleetwood Imperial Sedan). The trouble was, as in the song "Little Boxes," they all looked just the same (or nearly so). Despite new Packard president James Nance’s efforts to differentiate Clipper from Packard, the whole of it was swallowed up in an arranged marriage with Studebaker. Many feel Packard deserved better. ( photos & text Kit Foster)

Originally published: January 23, 2011

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