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A Brief History of this 1953 Packard Clipper

Owner: Mr. Kevin Williams

Purchased April 2012

Kevin sent what he knows about the car, most of which was passed on verbally. As many of you will understand the original paperwork often gets lost in the midst of time.

The car was commissioned in 1953 for an English client and was exported straight to England from the factory as a right-hand driver. It was then exported back to The States where it was used for some film work. Sadly the films it is in are unknown but if anyone spots or knows of a 53 Packard Clipper featuring in a film let us know.

According to Bonhams Auctioneers of Oxford the owner of a large collection of classic cars sold off some of his vehicles to raise money. The auction and a write up of it is featured in Classic American magazine (no. 253 MAY 2012) and you can see the car in one of the pictures in the article. It was successfully sold as a project car.

Kevin bought it as a non-runner and over the last 3 years has restored her to running. He has attempted to keep the vehicle as original as possible as far as is practicable.

Quick Vote – Beautiful Buick or Posh Packard?

More About The 1953 Packard Clipper Deluxe

America’s Most Exciting Car! Packard. Ask The Man Who Owns One!

After the years of wartime austerity, it was the decade of convenience and dynamic obsolescence and the design revolution driven by Harley Earl of General Motors was picking up momentum. 1953 was the year that Marilyn Monroe graced the pages of Playboy and Elvis Presley swaggered into Sun Studios. Packard was being led by new CEO James Nance a marketing guru recruited from Hotpoint. He was to vanguard a challenge against the big luxury marques such as Cadillac. He introduced the low production Packard Caribbean convertible and ultimately headed up Fords’ Mercury, Edsel and Lincoln division before getting the boot for the poor Edsel sales in 59.

The Clipper, the mid-range automobile in the 53 lineup, replaced the series 200 and was presented as an alternative to the Buicks and Chryslers that competed in the same price bracket.

The Packards of 1953 used the same body design, engine and transmission as before, but there were upgrades in horsepower.

The jet hood ornament returned along with a newly designed grille and some neat design changes to the exterior trim including a new molding that extended along the rear fender. Also notable is the subtle fins which Packard dubbed as “fishtails”.

IMPORTANT: The details below are for a ‘standard’ vehicle and are not representative of the car shown which may have had options added when purchased.

History

Standard Equipment

Competitors

Measurements Clipper introduced in 1953



Bodystyle 51-54



Predecessor Series 200



Cars produced 26,037 427 cubic inch, Thunderbolt, 8 Cylinder, 4 barrels



Broadcloth interior



Hood ornament



Full length side molding



Rear fender tip moldings – fishtails



Stainless front fender, door and beltline molding



Front and rear window surround moldings



Turn signals



Rear fender skirts



Wheel trim rings



Electric clock



Glove box light Buick Super



Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight



Chrysler Windsor Deluxe



DeSoto Firedome



Hudson Hornet



Kaiser Manhattan



Nash Ambassador Wheelbase 122.0in



Length 213.1in



Width 77.8in



Height 62.8in



Legroom (front) 43.8in



Legroom (rear) 41.5in



Fuel capacity (gals) 20.0

Period Advertising

On the quayside, a clipper I assume cruising past. An idyllic picture of how your life could be driving a Clipper! I’m sold.

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“Flickr – DVS1mn – 51 Packard 300 ^ 52 Buick Special (11)” by Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA – 51 Packard 300 & 52 Buick Special. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons