The cover of the 1955 Packard sales brochure is very understated. There are three color bands, a logo, and type that reads, “The NEW Packard.” It’s a teaser as they say in advertising since the reader has to open the color brochure to page two in order to see the completely restyled Packard for 1955. To me, the 1955 Packards are great looking cars that capture the colorful elegance of a mid-50’s luxury vehicle. They have a much different vibe than a Cadillac of that same year. Sadly, it was too little too late. Packard was dying on the vine and would be in the graveyard of other independent auto makers after the 1958 model year. But let’s focus on 1955 for now. Here’s a nice example of one of the 7,206 Packard Four Hundred coupes produced that model year in Packard’s Detroit factory. Currently housed outside of Chicago in Elgin, Illinois, this proud Packard is for sale here on craigslist for $13,500. Thank you again to T.J., a Barn Finds tipster machine, for bringing this cool car to our attention.
The seller is light on the Packard’s history and how long he has owned it. In the ad, it’s described as “Solid, rust-free car that runs and drives well.” Based on the photos, it indeed looks rust free and solid. The classic mid-50s color combo of coral and white (more about this paint choice later) is shiny and very presentable, although the seller admits there are some minor blemishes. The chrome and shiny stuff looks good as does the glass and lenses. This coupe shows off Packard’s new “sculpted styling” for 1955 very well. About the only thing I wish it had were the period-correct whitewall tires. Regarding the Packard’s color, the seller describes it as “custom.” Based on my online research, it appears that Packard offered 18 attractive paint color choices in 1955, but not one in a coral hue (a Naples Orange color was offered on the ’56 Packards). Nonetheless, this coral paint is a classy choice that works well with the white accent color. It screams 1955, but in a more subdued, dignified voice level.
Packard’s sales literature touted, “Packard for 1955 spells COLOR! And Packard has chosen newer, more sparkling, exciting colors than ever used before by the automobile industry.” Pretty colorful language, and the brown and white interior presents itself well and compliments the coral and white exterior very nicely. And check out the restyled, dazzling instrument panel and those door panels. Plus, with the 400 being near the top of Packard’s luxury lineup, this one is well equipped with power steering, power brakes, power windows, power antenna, and an electric clock. The seller states that all the gauges and lights work, but the radio powers up but gets no reception and the vacuum operated wipers need the vacuum hoses replaced.
There’s only one soft-focused photo of the Packard’s engine bay. The seller claims it’s the original 352- cubic inch, 260 horsepower V-8 that’s paired to Packard’s two-speed Ultramatic automatic transmission. Nothing is mentioned about any rebuilds and the odometer is listed at 65,600 miles. In closing, the seller says the Packard’s exhaust needs replacing since “it rusted out from sitting a lot for the last 30+ years” (I’d want to know more about that statement), and that it’s a very easy car to drive with its power steering, brakes, and automatic transmission. Hagerty’s currently values a 1955 Packard 400 in #1 Concourse condition at $45,000, a #2 Excellent at $25,200, and a #3 Good at $14,800, so this particular car seems reasonably priced at $13,500. Would you like to have this classy coral and white Packard coupe gracing a bay in your garage?
Though before my time, I always thought these cars had a ‘customized’ look to them from the factory. Well built, but too bad about their demise.
While Packard was losing its cachet and market image, they were scarcely being rejected. Packard was always a small-numbers producer, with a lower breakeven number.
Packard, in the early 1950s, was debt free – but contracted out its body stamping, to Briggs Body Company.
Instead of expanding their plant to make bodies, Packard management got Merger Fever – and set out to buy Studebaker. Which was done, and without an independent audit of Studebaker’s essentially-fraudulent books.
Shortly thereafter, Chrysler arranged a purchase of the Briggs auto-body manufacturing division, which had also done a lot of Chrysler work. The plumbing fixtures division remained, and to this day.
Packard was out a body source.
Packard quickly found that the South Bend plant they now owned, was not capable of manufacturing the wider, longer Packard bodies they had just-recently introduced.
And Packard likewise found that banks had little interest in floating a loan or line of credit for Packard to buy or build other facilities. The story of how the Studebaker former management rolled them, had trickled into public knowledge.
Packard’s legal counsel advised an undoing of the purchase on the grounds of fraudulent premises, but CEO James Nance was still in love with the idea of a bigger, flossier Packard Company.
Which was not to be, of course. Not being able to make Packard bodies in South Bend, meant, the only thing to do was use Studebaker bodies for Packards. We know how THAT played out.
And since the bodies and chassis were assembled in South Bend, it was found to make little sense to make Packard V8s in Detroit and ship them to South Bend. Ergo, the Packard plant was closed and abandoned.
And since a Studebaker with P A C K A R D on its hood was still a Studebaker, customers, many of them going back several generations…left, never to return.
THAT was what killed Packard. Complacency led to incompetent management that took its customers for granted. Then, at a fork in the road, they took the obvious wrong one. Studebaker, meantime, had little appeal to anyone, and high breakeven numbers they hadn’t met since the early 1950s…and all that was left was for the company to shrink and stagnate.
FWIW, we saw much the same thing with Daimler-Benz around about 2000…where, with management taking their customer base for granted, they abandoned engineering in favor of empire building, and bought a number of businesses they didn’t understand. Including mass-market low-price maker Chrysler.
Great write up
I know I’m late in responding, JPT, but just discovered this post today. Excellent overview of what happened; agrees with other articles I’ve read on the demise of Packard with some great detail. Thank you! I completely agree with the Daimler-Benz comments as well; they got arrogant about 20 years ago and started building “mass-market” cars, along with increasing prices, hence forgetting the reason customers paid more for “premium” cars. Their electronics currently are a nightmare! I believe people are starting to get wise to their current MO.
🎶 🎵
“Yeah, now the sun goes slidin’ ‘cross the water
Sailboats, they go searchin’ for the breeze
Salt air, it ain’t thin
It can stick right to your skin
And make you feel fine
It makes you feel fine
I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and get high by the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I’m a-chewin’ on a honeysuckle vine
Yes, and now you heard my strange proposal
Get that PACKARD up and let’s move
I wanna be there before the day
Tries to steal away and leave us behind
I’ve made up my mind…. ” 🎶 🎵
Can you imagine the days when these cars and others like it were all over the streets? Today I parked my red Jeep and noted that for two blocks around, the only vehicles on the street where white, silver and a couple black ones, nearly 100% SUVs. What has happened to us!
You have a red Jeep? I HAVE a red Jeep.( ’91 YJ) I’ll tell you what happened to “US”, typical American denial, “our Ramblers, Packards and Studebakers are just fine”, was the cry. And for the most part, it was,,FOR YEARS, with little, if any regard for the future. I know, there will be some flak, but clearly I’m very vocal on the subject, along came the Asians, with seemingly “modern” vehicles, vehicles more in tune to what the world really needed, and American behemoths like this, fell out of favor pretty quick. I’d say, early 60s, the tide began to change, Valiant, Falcon, etc, as commuting became the norm, parking was a chore, and big cars just didn’t cut it anymore.
As far as color, the jury is still out on that one. Some say, it’s our non-outwardly expression today, ( behind a screen) and most prefer to “hide” in a non outlandish colored vehicle. All the car companies had these multi-colored themes, none more prominent than Rambler. People WANTED to be different, and their car was the best way to show that off. Now, I think their phone is above all. Yeah, I miss it too, but I think it’s beginning to change. I see more vehicles that are just a plain blue or even green making a comeback, so who knows what’s next.
Howard A,
Right on about colour. The same dismal palette is the current norm here in the U.K. Any interior colour you want, as long as it’s black. I don’t want to drive in a coal mine atmosphere. There are manufaturers that offer three greys, black, white and a dull blue. Feh! I drive a Fiat Ducato van (clone of Ram Promaster) in metallic orange, from 2010 when it was a factory colour. I can’t lose it in a large carpark.
I live in the high desert of southern Nevada and why, in the name of everything that’s holy, would anyone buy a black vehicle of any sort eludes me., but they’re EVERYWHERE!
As for the SUV craze? No idea. They don’t make any sense to me. A station wagon gets better gas mileage and probably has more usable space. And you wouldn’t have the 4WD units to contend with.
And like the commercial says”with all the style of a washing machine” 😆
I was 13 when this car hit the streets, and I wanted one…lol.
I liked the 55 Chev, but I loved the 55 Packard. I have a 1:18 scale metal model of the 1955 Packard Caribbean convertible black with a turquoise stripe that runs along each side and tops out at the top of the fin. I wish I had the extra money for this one, would love to tool around my retirement village and watch the other old guys drool…. lol
Jay Leno’s Garage has a very cool episode highlighting Jay’s 55 Caribbean…worth the watch.
Know a retired banker that owns a 53 Caribbean conv.,car is absolutely amazing
Amazing!
Nice car, but a bit on the expensive side.
The rear bumper is almost identical to the ’55 Cadillac rear bumper. Exhaust ports and all.
Everyone wants to know what happened to us? If a manufacturer only offers 6 colors and 2 interior colors, what are you going to do? You pick from those 6 colors. I blame the manufacturers. A lot of it is $, also. It’s cheaper for a manufacturer to keep 6 cans of paint for their offerings than the 42 cans of paint offered in the 50s and 60s. Just my opinion.
Hi ACD, well, yes and no. In the 70s, I worked for an auto paint supplier, and most of the colors were “custom mixed”, using only a few basic colors. To show how times have changed, when I wanted to paint my then mustard yellow MGB silver in the 70s, the only factory silver available was from the Corvette. I had the ONLY silver MGB around.
Hey Howard!
Packards were never plentiful, and were usually owned by the upper crust. They were kept because they were built to last and rarely, if ever, broke down. They were great for used cars because of their strong bodies and well built engines and were reliable even when they were over 30 years old. They were an independent builder, so they competed with Cadillac but GM was the biggest and Packard, even though it was a better car, could not compete. This car was one of the last built by the Packard corporation before the “merger”. They got snookered by Studebaker, and somehow Studebaker out lived Packard. Both were good cars, and Packard’s history is well known.
My favorite color is green. My dads favorite color was green. I was able to purchase a 2003 Focus wagon in a cool shade of green. Since then you had a choice of red, white, silver, grey, black, or dark blue. Not happy about it. Copper is coming back, which is another cool color, but a decent shade of green isn’t out there (only lime green).
I agree with Howard and Tim, mostly. I checked Ford’s web site last night for the new Maverick truck. Thought I’d read Ford was going to offer it with a manual transmission, but that’s gone, too. Color choices just as Tim mentioned. No new Fords for me. Rico, I live in the mid-west, so temps aren’t a factor for me like they are for you. About 25 years ago, answered an ad for a ’55 Packard 400, and contrary to the popular two and three tone paint jobs at the time, this one was solid black. Wife said I had enough projects already, so I drove away. I still dream about that 400, shiny, fresh black paint with chrome wire wheels and sorry, Ron, sinister blackwalls.
Not to be partial, but it was Rambler that offered a rainbow of colors, often on the same car. 3 or 4 colors was not unusual. I suppose, people that bought Ramblers were a bit off anyway, why not make a statement. As a kid in Milwaukee, we’d ride our bikes down to the AMC plant, and watch the car bodies coming out on trucks destined for Kenosha for the drivetrains. I recall, a truck every 5 minutes with beautiful colors. Nothing matched, but didn’t seem to matter.
I have a 03 VW Jetta TDI sportwagen with 339K miles. I got an email from someone at VW that told me that I con replace my Jetta with a new one and I’d get special pricing.
Just for grins I called the toll free number and this guy assured me that they can replace my car with the exact Jetta sportwagen TDI only it would be new.
I mentioned that it’s silver metallic, no problem.
Mine’s an automatic but maybe I’d like a manual transmission, no problem.
Mine has a light grat, cloth interior, ummmmm.
It turns out that VW, like most manufacturers only offer black interiors.
I told him that I live in the southern Nevada desert and a black interior doesn’t make any sense.
The salesman actually said that “after you buy it, you can get it reupholstered!!”
I asked if VW was going to pay for the new upholstery, nope. Discount the price of the car to cover the upholstery, nope.
Censorship is popping up everywhere! By not offering a choice, they’re essentially restricting us.