1956 Clipper: A Companion Car for Packard
Lower-Priced Packard Clipper Series Became the New Clipper Brand
Mar 18, 2009
Packard was a car that should not have vanished. The company began in 1899 with its single-cylinder Model A runabout and in 1903, launched its four-cylinder Model K. With 1916’s Twin Six V-12, it left no doubt that Packard was a luxury car.
The 1932 Light Eight and a New Packard V-12 to Broaden Appeal During the Depression
Packard dropped the Twin Six in 1923, but remained upscale with well-engineered and finely built cars as the Classic Era opened. Six-cylinders came and went, but a straight eight appeared in 1924 and a new V-12 in 1932. Impeccable quality and stunning custom bodies made Packards favorites among those who could afford them
Those who could afford them, of course, were few. Like others in the upper market, Packard was feeling the Depression's impact and when it revived the V-12, it also unveiled its first vision of affordablility, 1932’s Light Eight. The thinking was right, but the Light Eight lasted one year; Packard never cut corners and couldn’t reduce the Light Eight's price sufficiently. It tried again in 1935 with the eight-cylinder 120, succeeding well enough to add a six-cylinder 115 for 1937.
Packard ended V-12 production in 1939, leaving high-end eights the top models, but with some name-shuffling, the affordable sixes and eights continued to support company fortunes. As World War II approached, 1941 brought something new.
The Packard Clipper Arrives
Rival Cadillac’s 1941 styling was undeniably attractive, but seemed an evolutionary step while the Packard Clipper’s was a leap. The new streamlined Packard had soft curves blending fenders and body, a low profile and a narrow recognizably Packard grille. The Clipper was its own model, but its styling was expanded for 1942. It wasn’t applied across the board – Packard’s customers included traditionalists – but became available on the expensive eights and the lower-level eights and sixes.
When production resumed postwar, Packard didn’t reintroduce its top models and made all 1946 cars Clippers. The look hadn’t aged especially well and when the name vanished in 1948, revised styling removed some of the Clipper’s grace. Quality stayed high, but Packard needed more.
The Packard Clipper Disappears, Returns, Then Becomes the 1956 Clipper
Packard introduced new postwar cars in 1951 and while modern, they had been beaten by new postwar Cadillacs and used flathead straight eights against Cadillac’s overhead-valve V-8s. Packard continued to work, though, to return to building both medium-priced and luxury cars. That seemed possible, as 1951 produced about 100,000 sales, but then the figure fell to less than 70,000 in 1952. For 1953, changes were made.
What had been the 200, the 250, the 300 and the top-level Patrician 400 for the previous two years became Clippers, Cavaliers and Patricians, and as a special comparable to Cadillac’s Eldorado, the Caribbean appeared. It was part of a plan by Packard’s new president, James Nance, to emphatically distinguish the most prestigious Packards from the lesser models. Sales reached almost 90,000, then fell to 31,000 in 1954 as Packard still lacked a V-8 and still used its 1951 body.
If there was a solution, 1955 seemed to hold it. Packard’s styling was new and modern, active longitudinal-torsion-bar suspension provided excellent ride and handling, and the V-8 had arrived. The Clipper distanced itself with rear treatment, grille and trim different from that of the higher Packards, but maintained a family resemblance. In all, Packard sold over 55,000 cars that year – over 36,000 were Clippers – as the collapse approached.
Packard had stabbed itself in the heart in 1954's merger with Studebaker and was now about to bleed to death; the V-8 and up-to-date styling had taken too long to arrive and while the 1956 models corrected problems that had arisen in 1955 Packards, serious damage had been done. For 1956, Clipper stood on its own with updated grille and trim, a heavily restyled rear with modern taillights and only a tiny “Packard” signature on the trunklid. Just over 20,000 Clippers were sold and the stand-alone make never had a chance.
Nance’s idea had been good, but too much was going wrong around it for Clipper to be part of the solution. The company could no longer afford the cost of planning future Packards, Nance left the presidency and for their two remaining years, Packards and Packard Clippers were based on Studebakers.
