My internet is intermittent and keeps going dead, so I’m going to make this fast. I stumbled into this yesterday, and can’t remember having seen it before. So i thought I’d share it with you. It rather grabbed me, as do so many of Pininfarina’s takes on big American cars in the early 50s.
The interior is decidedly more European than even the body. I like the idea of swinging that big stick shift backing up the mighty straight eight.
The body is more american than european as it looks like a pontiac of the same era. the top does echo some euro’s but look to gm in the early fifties. then again im not sure and someone please correct me if i’m wrong but the gm body styles of the early fifties chevy especialy was cribed from the bentley of late forties ?
The Bentley of the late 40s was still very much in pre-war styling mode. The Continental was 1952 as mentioned by PaulChgo.
The wheels are a giveaway to this car’s modern construction (because that was mentioned below).
Wasn’t it a bit late to bring out a torpedo back?
This being a 1951, I would assume it had to be penned in 50 anyway. Wasn’t GM deep into their fastbacks, which lasted until 52, I think?
I always liked the GM fastbacks and I think this one is gorgeous.
Wow! I have never seen this before. It is mind boggling how stock the front end looks, but yet it has been extensively re-crafted. Those front fenders are longer, lower and the wheel is moved farther to the front. This thing would have made a stunning convertible.
And yes, the floor shift behind the straight eight. With all the torque available, that shifter is something that would not get a whole lot of use.
The finned rear fenders work well on the regular Packard models, but are a bit overwhelming on this fastback coupe.
So, something seemed fishy; those 18″ Chevy Rally-styled wheels scream restomod…
A web search brought way too many Pinterest links stripped of all context and information (thanks for nothing, Pinterest) but conceptcarz.com had this to say;
“The car was built from the original styling rendering Pininfarina Design of 1950 and was designed to be built from standard Packard parts. This is a one-only car that has unique styling and advanced handling.”
I wondered about those, but not long enough. My internet modem comes on for a few minutes, then is dead for long stretches. It looks like this is a more recent reconstruction. And who knows what’s underneath or under the hood.
I love it. It just needs to be painted a more vibrant color, I think that would make the body really POP!
Like! And I agree with Dan about the paint. Maybe even a tastefully done two tone might look killer on this.
This car is in the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, by LAX
I have my reservations about the wheel spats at the back (I’m always in two minds about that styling feature) but overall I like it – ‘lead sled’ direct from the factory as it were.
Love it, even if it’s a modern creation based on a vintage design study. I especially like the interior shot. To my eye, the production Packard dashboards were really spartan. This one maintains period Packard visuals with some added pizazz.
I don’t think the console and the gearshift could be vintage, even if one-off. I’d say they are modern, and I, for one, don’t like them. It’s like a Packard with some Fiat 131 details.
The Reinhart body design was quite advanced for 51, but Packard went way overboard with the chrome. I like this cleaned up version a lot.
I remember seeing this car in a magazine before. It was built by a Packard collector and is based on drawings done by Pining Farina. It was built in the last 20 years or so. He also built a station wagon and I forget what the other was but he had 3 “fantasy” Packards. The workmanship was top notch.
That’s pretty awesome.
The basic shape of this car looked almost Ghia-esque to me, so I had to search this site for the Chrysler Ghia I thought I had in mind… I couldn’t find that post, but the Ghia GS1 has a similar shape to this one, including the bulging rear quarter panels. I think both are attractive designs.
The rear quarters do look similar to the Ghia, don’t they? Overall, though, it has a vibe of “Packard interpretation of a Bentley R-Type Continental”. And that is not a bad thing in the slightest.
The wheels do strike a bit of a discordant note, though, in my opinion. The small Packard caps are nice but the wheels themselves don’t quite match.
After posting I did some looking around. The builder of this car is named Peter Portugal, and the 3Rd car that I couldn’t think of was a retractable hardtop convertible. The guy is hugely talented.
Yep, multi-dealership owner (VW, Mazda, Nissan, Honda, Toyota) Carl Schneider is the gentleman who found the drawings at a Retromobile and had the car built. Channelled 3″ with 14″ added between dash to font axle. Standard Packard 8 engine is also moved back 14″ with Muncie 5 speed custom fitted. Collectible Automobile April 2002 ran a piece on his three cars.
Lovely.
A slightly different interpretation I saw in Vero Beach FL over christmas…
And another angle…
I’ll venture a guess that the bulge in the hood indicates that the Packard straight 8 has been replaced?
It might, as used to be in Uruguay….by a Perkins 4.203 diesel engine!!!!
Very handsome Packard!
Looks like a 1952-1955 R-Type Bentley Continental.
I remember reading about this. These custom Packard builds were the subject of a major feature in Collectible Automobile April 2002, which gives full details of all the body changes involved.
Just got out my copy. Based on a genuine Pininfarina sketch obtained at Retromobile in 1996, this one was sectioned three inches, with 14 inches added between the dash and axle, and five inches of front overhang removed. Not so obvious is the reshaping of the rear fenders to flow with the fastback roofline. The engine is also moved back 14 inches, and the transmission is a Muncie five-speed.
Built for Carl Schneider, Portugal also created a woody wagon and a retractable-hardtop two seater. Other custom Packards. based on prewar chassis, were planned.
I also remember reading the article in Collectible Automobile, as mentioned by Pete.
I’m not sure who owns them now, but this design in particular is stunning!
Just proves the old adage I just made up:
“You want a beautiful car? Just get an Italian from the ’50s to design it.”
Aparently I’m that guy. I like pretty much all the parts of this design, but for me it just doesn’t work as a whole.
It all works for me, except the grille. Too heavy looking. I’m not designer enough to know what I want there, but I know what’s there ain’t it…
I remember seeing this car at the La Jolla Concours a few years back. It is a big car, and leaves quite an impression! I recall something being not-quite-right, perhaps the wheels and the gear shift lever set some small alarm bells ringing.
This car was definitely sectioned, like the original Lincoln Continental. That was one problem with the first real postwar Packard body, which was really the last because it was continued in highly disguised form up to the last real Packard in 1956 – the body was really tall. The base of the windows must have been two or three inches higher than in any Ford or GM sedan. Compare to a normal production model:
I like a lot of the Farina and Ghia reinterpretations of American cars, but this one isn’t doing it for me. The front and rear halves of the car are too discordant. Adding length to the hood and then mating it to a fastback rear makes the rear look stubby (note, I have the same issue with the 1980-85 Cadillac Seville). From the rear, I am seeing too much Henry J in that fastback.
I have to say that that interior was a surprise, and not just for the stick shift. Not entirely successfully, it seems to be trying to recreate a premium European interior, with a very Alfa gearlever.
But where do the green dash top and wood effect come from?
Beautiful car. I remember Paul N saying in an article somewhere not too long ago (could have been on the ’68 Ltd?) in that fastback styling tends to look awkward on big cars. This is one of the few designs that I think it doesn’t look awkward, because the back slope from a side view is pretty much on par with the other American designs of the period, but the back view reveals the slope–as well as some forward thinking fins. It’s a little less restrained than Exner’s ’55 Chrysler 300 (a benchmark of mine for 50’s styling—Euro styling through an American filter), but in some ways kind of predicts the wildness of the later 50’s styling, maybe ’56 type styling……a bit less restrained than the ’55s, but not quite as wild as the ’57’s.
Also (it won’t let me edit), the soft, curved lines of this design and the long hood/ short deck design really seems to fit the personal luxury coupe trend that would eventually take hold. It’s not quite as sporty looking as a Corvette or T-Bird, but it definetely has a sporty, muscular look to it, with the prestige and status that you’d expect out of something from Packard or a higher end car. I’m thinking that Packard just didn’t really have the monetary resources to push the personal luxury thing at that point, which was something that both GM and Ford were starting to develop, and that Packard just stuck with the tried and true with the cars that they were known for.
As “Old Pete” noted, this car was built by Peter Portugal of Eureka, CA for Carl Schneider:
https://56packardman.com/2017/08/15/gear-head-tuesday-peter-portugals-packards/