'56 Packard Man

Last week’s “Gear Head Tuesday” showed a modern Packard designed by stylist Richard Teague (and illustrated by famed painter Ken Eberts) shortly before Richard Teague’s death. We wrote that at the same time that Teague had done a modern Packard Caribbean. We didn’t have an image of that design to include in last week’s post, but today we have it, thanks to Stuart Blond. Teague had done the design for Packard Automobile Classics, a.k.a. “The Packard Club.”

In contrast to the appropriately formal sedan (below), Teague’s modern Caribbean is quite aerodynamic. The design has a hint of the fin that would have been over the “cathedral” taillights on the never-produced ’57 Packards (not to be confused with the “Packardbakers” that were actually produced). In Teague’s notes about the design, he wrote that it would have the red hexagon applied as cloissoné on the wheel covers. It includes another classic styling cue, the sweep spear, something Teague didn’t use on his 1955-1956 designs. He wrote that it would include the Packard coat of arms and that it would be the last word in luxury. Here (again) is his contemporary sedan rendering:

For reference to the fins on the unbuilt ’57 Packards, below is the ’56 Packard Predictor show car and a rendering of what the ’57 Packard four door hardtop would have looked like.

It’s time for a collective sigh … We didn’t get the fabulous ’57 Packards nor Teague’s modern interpretations of Packard. We can, however, enjoy speculating about what might have been …

Last week, we also showed two modern interpretations of Packards designed by retired stylists from GM, one by John Perkins and one by Dennis Burke. “Roger-Detroit,” a frequent poster at PackardInfo.com provided us with a rendering of a modern Caribbean done by another retired GM Stylist, Joan Cramer:

If it strikes you as having a strong Cadillac flavor to it, that would be because Ms. Cramer worked in the B-O-C (Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac) studios.

She is a member of the League of Retired Auto Designers. Ms. Cramer started full time at GM in 1966 and was their first woman exterior designer.

“Roger-Detroit” advises that you can see this rendering and others at the Packard Proving Grounds hosted by the Packard Motor Car Foundation this coming November. He writes:

This is the first time the Packard Proving Grounds is hosting an Auto Artist Exhibit and we can use all the publicity we can get. Starts Thursday, November 17 through Sunday, November 20. Special showing on Friday evening with Bill Robinson of Briggs Body to discuss his work there back in the day.

The Packard Motor Car Foundation was formed to preserve as much as possible of the Packard Proving Grounds and Lodge outside of Shelby Township, Michigan. The Lodge building was designed by Albert Kahn, who also designed the Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit. The Proving Grounds has a collection of significant Packard cars, including a very rare 1954 Pacific hardtop painted in the “Carnation and Amethyst” paint scheme. There is some debate as to how many of these special color Pacifics were built. Apparently 50 were authorized, but it seems that only 5 were actually built. This particular car was donated to the Proving Grounds and Packard Motor Car Foundation by Jack and Myrna Holmes from the San Francisco Bay Area.

A rare gem: 1954 Packard Pacific hardtop painted in “Carnation and Amethyst.”

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We have a celebrity among us! 

“Chris-to-Fear,” whose 1955 Studebaker Champion, “Uncle Tilden,” we featured HERE also owns a 1960 Land Rover, “Zeitgeist.” “Zeitgeist” is a star in Jim Beam ads running in the current issues of Rolling Stone and Mens Journal.