Packard Clipper - What Might Have Been

What Might Have Been

Had Studebaker-Packard's creditors not cut off the flow of money to the company in early 1956, James Nance and his underlings had some plans for their three lines of cars for 1957 and beyond. However, as time and money slipped away, these plans died without coming to fruition.

As planned, Studebaker and Clipper cars would have been built around a shared chassis and inner body structure, but both cars would have had distinctly different outer styling. Photos exist of a proposed Clipper with tailfins, a flat roofline, crisply drawn lower body features and even slight fins over the headlamps that extended back, flowing seamlessly into the tops of the long front fenders.

All in all, the proposed look was thoroughly modern and would certainly have made an interesting contrast when compared to the bulky, rounded 1957–58 Oldsmobile against which it would have competed. One is led to wonder, however, how the proposed car would have fared in the market given the "Eisenhower recession" that began in late 1957 and extended through much of 1958, when so many other established marques such as Oldsmobile, Buick and DeSoto had a tough time selling cars.