Curtiss-Wright shifted Packard’s government contracts to its own defense companies, closed the remaining Packard factory, and for a couple of years tried to sell piscine-looking monstrosities as Packards, although they were really Studebakers with very badly executed face lifts. In the late 1980s, the Museum had the Predictor sensitively restored by Packard specialists LaVine Restorations of Nappanee, Indiana. As it happens, Studebaker was a highly diversified and profitable company as a whole, but its car-making division was a financial black hole. Grayson, Stan & Kimes, Beverly Rae. The post The last Packard that never was: Dick Teague’s Predictor appeared first on Hagerty Media. The oversized Plexiglas windshield had an extreme dog-leg that extended into the passenger compartment. Packard continued to manufacture products with amazing craftsmanship and prestige. The oversized Plexiglas windshield had an extreme dog-leg that extended into the passenger compartment. GM styling chief Harley Earl’s Buick-based Y-Job, introduced in 1937, is generally credited as being the first concept car produced by a major automaker, although it followed 1929’s Auburn Cabin Speedster. The Predictor was hardly Packard’s first concept vehicle. That’s six inches longer than a ’57 Cadillac coupe. On February 9, 1942, Packard became part of the war time effort. Packard was deeply committed to defense production. Professional racing: Do you have what it takes. The C-pillars were cantilevered both fore and aft, reprising Teagues Balboa backlight, which, as implemented in the Predictor, could be lowered at the push of a button. Maserati comes to mind. Perhaps Ghia’s promise to complete the job in three months was a deciding factor. 1956: The Last Of The Produced Packards Today is the day that the Detroit Packard plant rolled its' last Packard off the assembly line. Three years after Packard vacated the factory, Chrysler demolished it. I don’t know if the Predictor would have saved Packard, but in many ways it succeeded in predicting the path that automotive styling took in the late 1950s and into the ’60s. This content is imported from YouTube. As it happens, Studebaker was a highly diversified and profitable company as a whole, but its car-making division was a financial black hole. Hence the 1955 and 1956 Packards were the last true Packards and it was Nance who was responsible for them. Fast forward six decades. Back in 1956, monthly magazines had lead times of up to three months between a story being written and the date of publication. From 1930-1934, Packard sales fell to only 1.9 million units annually. The new Packard-Studebaker became the nation's fourth-largest light-vehicle manufacturer. In 1955, on the verge of collapse, Packard designed an elegant show car in response to longtime customers' requests for a Packard that resembled the ones of the 1920s and 1930s. To demonstrate that Packard was still a viable, forward-thinking company, Schmidt and Nance wanted a show car that could excite dealers, potential buyers, and, most importantly, bankers who might extend the company some badly needed credit. The $20,000 prototype -- dubbed the Request -- was enthusiastically received but was never approved for production. During World War II, automotive designers were more likely to be drawing concepts for tanks or missiles than for passenger cars, but General Motors was back in a big way with its Motorama exhibition, which was introduced in 1949 and ran to ’61. Packard’s eventual demise was pretty much baked into the Studebaker-Packard cake. I’m personally a fan of the last real Packards, particularly the ’56 Patrician. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to insure the accuracy of product data and cross reference information. Have an opinion about this story? Leno's 1955 Packard Caribbean is an unrestored, all-original car he bought in the '80s, and one of the just 500 built for 1955. In 1993, the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan had foreclosed on the property. In the early days of Detroit's history, the Packard Motor Car Company was one of the first automotive companies that helped move the city of Detroit forward. In 1956, Nance resigned and Curtiss-Wright—seen as something of a saving angel—acquired control of Studebaker-Packard. It made the covers of Car Life and Motor Life magazines, went on a nationwide tour of Packard dealers, where it drew pretty good crowds, and Packard brass used it to schmooze bankers and other possible financial backers. The Packard Predictor may have predicted the long, low lines of many ’60s cars, but it never really had a chance to change Packard’s fortune. In many ways it’s a special car show, not the least of which is the fact that you get to see many of the cars actually being driven as they go up and down the quarter-mile-long driveway to the reviewing stand in front of the estate’s Tudor mansion.

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