{"id":2754,"date":"2007-08-22T03:40:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-22T07:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2007\/08\/clipper-conundrum\/"},"modified":"2010-12-30T12:00:59","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:00:59","slug":"clipper-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2007\/08\/clipper-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clipper Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1956<\/a><\/p>\n

In April 1941, Packard Motor Car Company introduced the new Clipper<\/a> model. A single streamlined sedan on the wheelbase of the traditional One-Twenty<\/a>, its four-month sales equaled those of the One Twenty, itself a successful foray into the medium-priced field introduced in 1935<\/a>. The One-Twenty was so successful that a six-cylinder version became available in 1937. But while these “junior Packards” were keeping the company afloat in the Great Depression, there was no mistaking a Six<\/a> or a One-Twenty<\/a> for one of the “Senior Packards,” like a Super Eight<\/a> or a Twelve<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1942, “Clipperized” styling proliferated, including a new coupe<\/a> model. After World War II, only Clipper<\/a> models were built, the Senior cars having been dropped. (A persistent legend holds that their tooling was sold to Russia. If so, it wasn’t used, because the ZIS<\/a>, the USSR’s Packard look-alike, shares no sheet metal with any Packard model.)<\/p>\n

Packard introduced the new Twenty-Second Series “Pregnant Elephant” cars in 1948. There were three lines of cars, Eight, Super Eight and Custom Eight<\/a>, but aside from different grilles and wheelbases, there was little to distinguish them, despite prices ranging from $2,275 to $4,175 (for standard wheelbase four-door sedans). They were competing with cars from Buick Super<\/a> to Cadillac Fleetwood 75<\/a>. Put another way, the Packard Custom Eight looked very much like the Eight but cost almost twice as much, whereas even the cheapest Cadillac, the Series 61<\/a>, had character much different from a Buick. Alfred Sloan’s “Car for every purse and purpose” was much more than a trite slogan.<\/p>\n

With the Twenty-Fourth Series in 1951, the situation was the same<\/a>, the $3,662 Patrician 400<\/a> being only subtly different from the 200 Business Coupe<\/a>, which sold for $2,302. James Nance<\/a>, the Hotpoint executive who became Packard’s president in 1952, believed that Packard needed a “Buick.” He re-introduced the Clipper name<\/a> for the cheapest 1953 cars, then further differentiated the 1954 Clipper<\/a> from the Patrician<\/a> with its own tail treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nineteen fifty-five brought a new skin on the old body, V8 engines<\/a> and “Torsion Level<\/a>” self-adjusting suspension, though entry-level Clippers made do with a conventional coil-and-leaf spring setup. Clipper<\/a> trim, particularly in the rear<\/a>, was completely different from that of the Patrician<\/a>. For ’56, Nance went all the way, taking the Packard name off<\/a> the Clipper<\/a> entirely, and forcing dealers to sign new Clipper franchise agreements. An upscale Executive<\/a> model on the Clipper’s wheelbase was introduced in March, selling for $700 less than the Patrician<\/a>. Whether the Nance dance could have helped Packard we’ll never know. Time had run out, Nance was sacked and 1957 Packards<\/a> became gussied-up Studebakers<\/a>, all of which were Packard Clippers. By July 1958, they too were gone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April 1941, Packard Motor Car Company introduced the new Clipper model. A single streamlined sedan on the wheelbase of the traditional One-Twenty, its four-month sales equaled those of the One Twenty, itself a successful foray into the medium-priced field introduced in 1935. The One-Twenty was so successful that a six-cylinder version became available in….<\/span>
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