Even as sales tumbled, Packard forged ahead in 1955 with a number of important engineering advances.

Four Hundred 

In 1955, Packard was at a crossroads. And all these decades later, that leaves us with a seeming paradox. Sales were in steep decline, from 100,000+ cars in 1951 to barely 31,000 in 1954. As sales tumbled, the dealer network was shrinking as well, from nearly 4,000 at its peak to only 1,200 in 1954, losing 500 locations in 1953 alone.

Yet despite these setbacks, the engineering staff stormed ahead with impressive new advances on multiple fronts in 1955:  the most sophisticated suspension system in the Motor City, Torsion-Level Ride, and a new overhead-valve V8 as good as any in the business. Following the lead of Nash and Pontiac the year before, Packard also introduced a modern, integrated air-conditioning system that year. Packard’s Ultramatic automatic transmission was reengineered as the Twin Ultramatic, a significant improvement. And there was crisp new styling, too, though it was still based on John Reinhart’s 1951 body shell.

Clipper Super Panama

Meanwhile: Walking away from a plan to join Nash and Hudson in American Motors, president James J. Nance approved a deal to merge Packard and Studebaker in October of 1954, forming the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. But in truth, Packard had in effect purchased Studebaker through a stock transaction, through Studebaker was the larger company.

Patrician 

Nance then forged ahead with a full lineup of Packard-built cars as production commenced on January 17, 1955. The entry-level Packard Clipper with 122-in wheelbase came in two trim levels, Clipper and Clipper Custom. The Clipper was available as a four-door Deluxe Sedan, a four-door Super Sedan, and a Super Panama Hardtop Coupe. The fancier Clipper Custom was also offered as a Sedan, but here the two-door hardtop was called the Constellation. One year later, the Clipper would be spun off as a separate brand.

Caribbean 

The big Packards for ’55, all on a 127-in wheelbase, were the four-door Patrician Sedan, the Four Hundred Hardtop Coupe, and the flashy Caribbean Convertible. The only convertible offered by Packard in ’55, the Caribbean sold for $5,932, a good $2,000 more than a Patrician or Four Hundred. With four doors, the Patrician was by far the most popular of the senior Packards with more than 9,000 produced.

Clipper Deluxe Sedan 

Along with declining sales, Packard faced another headache in 1955. Its longtime body supplier, Briggs, had been purchased by Chrysler, forcing the company to lease  the Briggs Conner Avenue plant where Packard bodies were produced. Then the unfortunate decision was made to move final assembly from East Grand Boulevard to Conner Avenue, which proved to be totally unsuitable. Production capacity and quality both suffered, as a separate repair line had to be set up a mile down the street to make cars suitable for delivery.

Packard’s sales rallied somewhat to 55,000 cars in 1955, even with a short eight-month production schedule. But the volume was still nowhere close to sustainable. The Buick-priced Clipper ($2,500-$3,000) outsold the senior Packards by a mile to claim two-thirds of the total, surely encouraging the move to spin off Clipper as a stand-alone brand in ’56. That would prove to be the final year for Detroit-built Packards. There was a Packard in 1957, but it was a facelifted Studebaker President rebadged as a Packard Clipper.

Packard Conner Avenue