A car styling question

This one may be hard to answer...

I've seen pictures of the proposed '57 Packard, which did not get built because of the Stude merger.

What would have happened had the merger not gone ahead? Would the OTL '57 design have seen production for '58? Would it be a sales disaster equal to the Edsel? (I have a sense the Edsel lifted the horse collar grille from Packard.)

If OTL's '57 had not been built, what might the styling have looked like, instead?
 
Tone down the grille, lose the fins, nice suspension, practical size.

BMW-2002-Turbo-729x486-2230ba801863120f.jpg
 
My dad bought a new 56 Buick Special 2 door hard top which I received when he bought a Cutlass. I remember parking next to a Packard Caribbean and having no doubt about why Packard left the binness. Compared to my slim trim 5,000 lb Buick, the Packard was an obscene boat. Mind you, the 57 Buick was almost as bad. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
 
Tone down the grille, lose the fins, nice suspension, practical size.

Practical size? I wouldn't want to ride in the back seat of any 2002. :D

Cars of that era are certainly large, but they're also surprisingly light given their bulk. That Carribean you noted was 4500 pounds, or about the same as a modern Mercedes W222 S-class. I used to drive one of those ultra-rare US-spec VW Phaetons. They didn't look that big, but weighed something like 5400 pounds.
 
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If the first automotive tail fins were inspired by (1940s vintage) Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane, then 1950s vintage "horse collar) grills were inspired by the single jet intake on the North American F-86 Sabre fighter (Korean War).
 
This 56 Buick seems identical to mine. The pair of bumber stumps athwart the grille are styled after the nose of an F-86 Sabre, but their construction was fashioned after tank glacis. The hood ornament was a stylized aircraft with pointy nose and swept wing.

1956-buick-special.jpg
 
Would it be a sales disaster equal to the Edsel? (I have a sense the Edsel lifted the horse collar grille from Packard.)

Edsel had everything new, transmission, axles, engines, controls(power everything)

So had bugs galore, plus the styling hit and name. Took years to work it out, but when done, that tech was pretty much unchanged till Ford went away from full sized ladder frame platforms in the '80s

Packards had the tech already worked out.
 
marathag said:
So had bugs galore, plus the styling hit and name. Took years to work it out, but when done, that tech was pretty much unchanged till Ford went away from full sized ladder frame platforms in the '80s

Packards had the tech already worked out.
Still butt ugly, tho.:eek: You'd think it would be a flop but not a bomb?

Either way, what if Packard's styling department comes to their senses? What about something nearer the '58 Cad? Or, if you're willing to accept some industrial espionage,:p how about something close to this? Or this? (Say, the latter with a Packard V12?:cool:)
 
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