Packard

The Packard 200 was an automobile model produced by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan during model years 1951 and 1952. Models in the 200 designation represented the least expensive Packard model range, on the firm's shortest wheelbase, and least powerful 288 cubic inches ... 8-cylinder in-line engine. Concurrently, the company also produced the Packard 250, which shared the same basic body and wheelbase as the 200, but was equipped with Packard's larger 327 cubic inches 8-cylinder in-line engine. The 1951 Packard 200 and 250 were introduced as Packard's least expensive model range on August 24, 1950, taking the place of the low-line Packard Standard models which were eliminated for the 1951 model year. The 200 debuted as part of the fully redesigned Packard line, attributed to John Reinhart. Replacing the bulbous 1948-1950 Packards in the 22nd and 23rd Packard Series, Reinhart's "High Pockets" design was more formal than its predecessor, and would serve Packard until the end of the 1956 model year when true Packard production ceased.
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The Packard Caribbean was a "halo" vehicle produced by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan during model years 1953 through 1956. Some of the Caribbean's styling was derived from the Pan American Packard show car of the previous year. Produced only as a convertible from 1953 to 1955,... the Caribbean added a hardtop model in its final year of 1956. Introduced as part of the Packard Cavalier model range, the 1953 Caribbean was perhaps Packard’s most easily identified car because of its full cutout rear wheel housing and side trim, limited to a chrome band outline that stretched the entire length of the car. The band also helped to further delineate the car's wheel openings. A steel continental spare tire was also standard. The hood featured a broad, low leaded-in hood scoop. Bodies for the Caribbean were modified by Mitchell-Bentley Corporation of Ionia, Michigan. Available "advertised" colors for the car were limited to Polaris Blue, Gulf Green Metallic, Maroon Metallic or Sahara Sand. However, a mere handful of special-ordered cars were built in Ivory or Black. Interiors of the Caribbean were richly upholstered in leather.
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The Packard Clipper was initially a single model of the Packard Motor Car Company introduced in April, 1941, midyear, much as was the 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang and other new departures. It was manufactured between 1942 and 1947, from the six and junior eight, to the Super-8, where it cost more than and... outperformed corresponding Cadillacs. The Clipper name alone was reintroduced in 1953 for the Company's bottom line through 1956, in which final year it was considered a stand alone make, and not a model of Packard. By the end of the 1930s, Packard president Max M. Gilman realized that his best efforts to improve profitability during the last lean decade had not been enough. The Packard One-Twenty had arrived in 1935 and saved the company from immediate demise; the One-Ten had followed, achieving even higher volume. But despite a strong performance in revival year 1937, Packard sales had plummeted as the depression returned in 1938, and the 76,000 sales for the calendar year 1939 were hardly past the break-even point. To be precise, they netted the company a scant half million dollars.
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The Packard Panther was a show car, built in 1954 to showcase some of the more radical ideas Packard was considering for its production models in the mid- and late-1950s. The Panther was a two-seat "personal luxury" sporting convertible , with Packard styling cues but much lower stance. A total of... four Panthers were built, of which only two survive. Originally, the cars had 1955 Clipper taillights, but these were subsequently removed and replaced with the Senior Series' "cathedral" style units. The design for the Panther's one-piece fiberglass body is credited to Dick Teague, later of AMC, who worked at Mitchell-Bentley Corporation at the time. Of the four Panthers built, one was owned by Mitchell-Bentley exec William Mitchell, Sr. The Mitchell car is the only Panther which had a removable hardtop . Mitchell sold it in 1988 to the Bortz Collection. The car was sold in 2006 to an unknown buyer for in excess of $360,000.
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