55-56 Clippers

[Pontiac59]

I ran across a place with about half a dozen 55/56 Clippers up in the back. They've been there so long a tree is kind of growing into the nose of one. The 56s have no taillights of course, but the 55's do (the small round fender-top ones). They all seem to have motors still. Of course they're all sedans. One of them might be savable, the others... well I saw one of these that the frame was rotted under the back door area, I wouldn't be surprised if these have the same problem.

Are they worth anyone's time, particular parts I should look for? Grilles that are intact worth rechroming? The only no-brainers I can think of are the '56 rear lights and maybe a standard transmission setup. I'd have to buy whole cars, so if I get into one I'd have to be able to sell at least $500 out of it (or sell it whole for that) to make it worthwhile.

I may go talk to a Packard guy I know who already has about 40 1950's models and see if he wants the whole lot of them. Guy who owns the place I found them at is making noise about scrapping the whole place out -

I should add this is the first place I've been to where they had an actual whole row of V8 Packards - both of the other two yards that had anything, each had one. There are a lot of them around though in upstate New York, maybe a disproportionate number - if I count car shows and junkyards I have seen about 75 different cars over the last 5 years, just 55/56.

[Guest AlK]

where abouts in upstate New York?????

[Pontiac59]

If I should get into them, they'll land at a friend's place outside of Utica -

[Pontiac59]

Nothing's worth going after on these cars? One looks like it might even be restorable, although they all have that too many doors problem.

[WCraigH]

The 1956 Clippers had 352CID engines, Torsion-Level and the new for 1956 Dana 44 rear axle assembly. All of these are retrofitable to 1955-56 Seniors. Some 1955-56 might have manual transmissions with O'drive which would be another possibility to replace the problematic Twin-Ultramatic. Front windshields fit all 1955-56 except for Caribbean. Power windows that [color:"red"] work can also be fitted to 1955-56 Juniors and Seniors with broken electric motors.

There's probably more that would be "worth it", if the price were right.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

i would be interested. BUT, as i understand it they are in NY. I'm near Nashville Tn. Just a little too much distance for me.

[Pontiac59]

Luckily I do know a guy who collects Packards that's local... I don't know if I will dive into these myself, but if it looks like the place is going to start scrapping bigtime, I'll try and arrange for him to get them.

You have 4 in a row on one side of the road and up on the other side one more, I think that one has a chance of being solid enough to restore.

Packard never made a '55-'56 2-door sedan, just hardtops. I wonder how hard it would be to adapt a set of doors and quarters from a '51-'54 coupe, seems like the body is more or less the same underneath the '55 restyle.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

the 55-56 front doors are very different at the CV glass due to the curved winshield. But the front doors would not have to be changed. if u want to make a 2dr sedan just weld up the rear doors of a sedan and change the front seat. Not my cup of tea but to each his own.

[Pontiac59]

I've seen that in cars like the late '30's Willys and early 50's Kaiser... looks goofy that way. Was I going to do it I'd want to lengthen the doors and make it look like a coupe instead of a hacked up sedan...

I suppose I could graft the top of the sedan front doors into the older coupe doors and make it work, probably a matter of comparing one to the other to see if it's worth the trouble.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

Anyone have a streight on side view of a 51-54 2wo dr sedan (erroneously popularized as "club coupe")??????. OR can verify that the doors of such a car are the same as the 4our door sedan in the same year.????? Or verify that they are NOT the same doors?????

[Constellation]

The Northern Zone will attempt to answer your questions. All Two Door Packards from 1951-56 share the same length dimensions and are longer than the front doors on all 4 Door sedans. The 51-52, 53-54 doors are not interchangeable as the top front corners are different with the 51-52 being rounded. As you all know the 55-56 were Dog Legged. The basic structure of the doors were identical from 51-56, however.

Packard axed the 2 Door Sedan Body Style for 1955 while retaining the Hard-Top for several reasons. The first being that they were not that popular to start with and had low production numbers. Secondly, Conner Ave couldn't be set up for anymore than it was doing in the Body Assy. Dept. This led to the third reason. The combined tooling costs and limited factory space precluded the 2 Door Sedan from being built as it was not worth the trouble. Forthly, Packard management wanted a Sportier image for the 55's. The 2 Door Sedan didn't make the cut given that even the 53-54 Clipper Sportsters with their fancy trimed interiors didn't ingnite any Great interest in a 2 Door Sedan Body Style.

Its too bad. I like 2 Door Sedans. I consider them actually superior to a Hard Top.

Bob

[Guest BigKev]

Pontiac59 are those cars still there? I am look for those tail lights from the 55 as they also fit the 54 Clipper that I have that got vandalized. Do you have any contacts I could talk to about them?

-Kev

[Guest Albert]

Kanters has the 54-55 clipper taillight lenses for $100us each maybe max merrit may also have them.