This shot posted at the Cohort by T. Minor grabbed me before I realized where it was shot, thanks to the rather disparate shapes and colors of these two cars. But finding them side-by-side in Austria is the icing on the Packard’s colorful cake.
Chrysler minivans aren’t unusual in Austria at all, actually, since they were assembled there for years by Steyr-Magna. Who knows when the ’56 Packard Patrician sedan found its way to Austria; I didn’t see it when I lived there! But that’s not saying much. More than likely it’s a relatively recent immigrant.
Wow, the spitting image of the 56 Patrician sedan I wrote up several years ago. I have never seen mine since the day I shot the pictures, so I wonder if it could be the same one after an overseas sale?
In 56 the 400 was a 2 door hardtop and the Patrician was the sedan.
On a closer look this car lacks the chrome visors atop the four door windows, so probably not the same car.
The ’55 and ’56 Packards were pretty nice looking cars and compared well to anything else in the luxury class. Too bad the company was so far gone by then that nothing would have helped.
If Chrysler had bought the whole Packard company in 1954 when they took over Packard’s body supplier Briggs, Packard might have survived and these two would have been siblings…
I agree. If Chrysler had bought Packard and kept its stand alone dealers I suspect the whole thing might have come out better than the Imperial gambit.
Could not agree more.
A “Hundred Million Dollar Look” Packard would have been beautiful and worthy of the name, no doubt. A “Forward Look” Packard worries me but it would have been dynamic and ALIVE as only Exner could make it. More importantly, the brand would live to fight another day. Chrysler should have made this move in the ‘40s.
Let’s not forget Packard’s 1956 Predictor concept car (CC here). A Forward Look Packard could have been pretty exciting.
Fun, but I’ll have the Packard please. It looks a great example of 50s America to me.
With more imagination, Packard could have switched from cars to planes in ’54. They had plenty of experience with piston and jet engines for defense. Combine that with luxury interior skills, and Packard could have beat Lear to the corporate jet market.
Surely this car must have been one of the main inspirations for the Bulgemobile!
I was thinking maybe this…