In mid-1951, Packard joined the pillarless two-door hardtop club with a sporty and stylish new model called the Mayfair.
1951 Mayfair with dealer-installed H-W Continental kit
The date was March 16, 1951. Nearly seven months after the launch of its regular 1951 product line, the Packard Motor Car Company introduced the 250 Series in two body styles, a convertible and a two-door hardtop. Here the East Grand Boulevard carmaker was playing catchup with the style leader of the Motor City at the time, General Motors, which introduced its first pillarless hardtops in 1949. Meanwhile, the 250 was a new hybrid series that combined the junior 200 Series platform (122-in wheelbase) with the larger 327 cubic-inch straight eight otherwise found in the 300 Series.
Pre-production Mayfair with four bottle openers
To add prestige and pizzaz to the 250 Series, both Mayfair and Convertible, Packard fitted the grille and hood pelican from the senior Packards, along with the three “jet louver” trim gadgets on each rear quarter panel from the flagship Patrician. (Later to be nicknamed “seashells” or “bottle openers” by collector car enthusiasts.) To lend the pillarless body greater rigidity and reduce shakes and rattles, the Mayfair shared the heavier frame of the Convertible, standard industry procedure for hardtops at the time.
The Mayfair followed GM hardtop practice for the roof structure with a triangular C-pillar and a three-piece, wraparound backlite. The interior appointments mirrored the industry trend as well, with upgraded interior appointments including two-tone upholstery fabrics in cloth, vinyl, and leather, and bright-metal simulated top bows across the headliner. While Packard’s electro-hydraulic power windows weren’t standard on the Mayfair, for an extra $155 buyers could acquire the handy feature, which allowed all four side windows to be quickly lowered from the driver’s seat to show off the hardtop’s open-air greenhouse.
1952 Mayfair
For the 1951 launch, the Mayfair was priced at $3,234, just above the Buick Roadmaster Riviera hardtop but $600 below the Cadillac de Ville. On paper at least, power was competitive with the GM V8s with 150 hp for the manual transmission and 155 hp with Ultramatic. The Mayfair was continued with only minor trim changes for 1952, and sales were modest: around 1,200 in ’51 and not quite 4,000 in ’52.
For 1953, the 250 Series designation was dropped as Packard realigned its product lines into Packard and Clipper, but the Mayfair was continued, still on a 122-in wheelbase. Also in ’53, the seashells in the rear quarter panels were eliminated; now there was a straight, stepped bright metal strip that ran the length of the body. In 1954 the Mayfair was discontinued but hardtops carried on, with the names Panama for the Clipper and Pacific for the senior Packard.
1953 Mayfair 
Lmfao! Packard, Buick and Maserati “bottle openers”
Thank you Uncle Bill I cried laughing…
Some (presumably early) ’53 Mayfairs have bottle openers, too. As far as I know, nobody has put a date on that.
Where the name came from seems unclear as well, but one thing is noteworthy – nearly all the postwar model names that came out of Packard Motor Car Company start with P M or C: Clipper, Patrician, Mayfair, Caribbean, Panama, Constellation. Even some show cars – Pan American and Predictor, but others were exempt – Monte Carlo, Balboa. Exceptions: Sportster, but that was a Clipper Sportster, Four Hundred, but that started in ’51 with the Patrician 400, and (late ’56) Executive, but Studebaker-Packard was running the show at that point.
Oh, and that lovely green one at the top is a ’52, too. Subtle ID points: Packard crest in the grille, horizontal cormorant wings, dimples in the wheel covers, longer moulding on the door (this is hard to tell on 2drs, but compare vs the B/W pre-production shot, bottle openers have a pointed leading shape – they’re pressed stainless vs. the die-cast round leading shape ones on the ’51s). That script above the filler door may be early ’52, too – you don’t see it in the other shot and I don’t recall ever seeing one with it. Three openers also suggests early ’52, too. They seem to have gone to four later in production – you get the impression that there was disagreement at E Grand Blvd on whether three or four was better.
What then do you make of the illustration of the beige 1951? It has dimpled wheel covers and pointy bottle openers like a 1952 but side molding like a 1953.
I may have an unscientific reason why they didn’t sell well and ending in Packards demise. Decades ago, after recently getting married my now ex wanted a second car. We went to a used car lot, and I am a Buick fan but looking for a bargain, I stopped at a 1953 Packard and was just checking it out. OMG when my ex saw that she said, no way in hell would I ever be seen driving that, it looks like a catfish. I moved on quickly. lol