The last Packard that never was …
I love automotive history mainly to see why certain cars were designed. Some fantastic cars never saw production like this week’s spot, the 1956 Packard Predictor.
The Packard name is long gone but in the early 20th century was America’s most prestigious luxury car brand, but by the 1950s it was in rough financial shape. There was an effort to merge with Nash, Hudson, and Studebaker but that never happened. Packard did manage to hook up with Studebaker who was in even worse financial shape. They gave it one last shot with the Predictor show car.
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Enter Dick Teague, head of styling at Packard. Yup, the same Dick Teague who later went to American Motors. Rumors were circulating about Packard’s impending demise and to demonstrate that the brand was still a viable, forward-thinking company, they wanted a show car that could excite dealers, potential buyers, and, most importantly, bankers who might extend the company some badly needed credit. Originally named the Projector, Teague’s boss, William Schmidt, in a magazine article said, “The Packard Projector is a portrait of styling philosophy. While futuristic in the sense that it features many advanced styling and engineering innovations, the Packard Projector is not a ‘dream’ car. Many of its features are on present Packard models, and those not of the present are in every case practical and under serious study for production models.”
But just before its big debut at the Chicago Auto Show in 1956, for some unknown reason, the name was changed to Predictor. Teague wanted to call it the Javelin, a name he would go on to use at AMC. Fabrication was farmed out to Turin’s Carrozzeria Ghia, which also was responsible for building many of Chrysler’s concept cars in the 1950s. The car looked unlike anything Packard had built and was a huge hit at the show.
OK, where should I start describing this car? What stands out most about this car?
Also big in the 1950s was the use of chrome in luxury cars. Predictor had massive chrome-plated bumpers and a wide brush-finished aluminum or stainless-steel belt circles the front two-thirds of the car. “This car proves that chrome is not a must for making an automobile look attractive, that beauty can be sculptured in steel,” Schmidt hyped.
Unlike other concept cars, this one has a sad ending because just four months after The Predictor debuted in Chicago, Packard production ended, and two months later, Curtiss-Wright started the process of selling off Packard assets.
But while many concept cars end up in a crusher or stuck in the back part of a dark, damp, and dusty warehouse, the Predictor was saved and restored to its original glory for visitors to see at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, IN. I happened to be on a trip with blogging partner Mark Savage and we made it a point to stop in and see the cars and vehicles displayed and imagine what could have been. It’s an amazing place to visit.
RELATED Spot: Another concept car at the museum, the Studebaker Sceptre
Thanks for stopping by and checking out this spot. Come back next Friday for another one of my discoveries along with some of its history. Have a great weekend.
It’s hard to choose which feature stands out the most. While
on June 15, 1956
The Predictor could have ended up as scrap metal, but fortunately for automotive history, the concept car was given to the city of South Bend as Studebaker was going out of the car business, eventually passing into the collection of that city’s Studebaker National Museum.
The Packard Predictor may have predicted the long, low lines of many ’60s cars, but it never really had a chance to change Packard’s fortune. Packard’s eventual demise was pretty much baked into the Studebaker-Packard cake. Thousands of car companies have failed over the past 120 years. Most went down without much of a trace, but the Packard Predictor gives us a tantalizing clue about what might have happened had America’s preeminent luxury car brand survived.
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