A few years on, I had grown to love the great "Packard" marque. Inevitably, the 1941 Clipper model came up. Many say it was the "final straw" that broke Packard's luxury back (NEWSFLASH: It wasn't! Far. FAR, more stupid things did...). Something bugged me about the lines of the first Clippers though. I couldn't place my finger on it, until one day, walking down 3rd Avenue South, in Renton, I saw it... A well-done, retro-modified, Chrysler PT Cruiser. Then it hit me like a freight train on Houser Way: The PT Cruiser, is the Clipper of Chrysler! Just take a look below.
(1947 Packard Clipper shown. Photo by Wikipedia User
(2006 to 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser shown. Photo is "Public Domain")
Ever since "Plymouth" went the way of Adam and Eve out of Eden (it has long been jokingly said that "God is a Plymouth driver" because of Genesis 3:24 and to a lesser extent, Jeremiah 32:37. I'll leave you all to look that one up yourselves!), Chrysler has devolved to this pile of cliches, even worse than ever before. They rely on a dismal and uninspired line-up, and hope to draw in people with their new "Pacifica Hybrid" minivans to go on sale next month, and the hallowed "300" name for "Ghetto Bentley" sedans. Here's a bright idea FIAT-Chrysler: Put your big muscle into a gentleman's suit! Make a "True" Chrysler, and take your big o'l Dodge Challenger, and make it into a "300 Coupe," with proper Luxury and Performance, like the original 1957 Chrysler 300-C (a car much hallowed as one of the progenitors of the "Muscle Car age"!), and while you're at it, consider some factory convertible variants, and sell your "Hellcats" as high-end crate engines? Some AMC guys out there, would LOVE to put a "Hellcat" into an AMX, Javelin, Matador, Ambassador, or heck, even a Gremlin, Packer, or Hornet hulk! I'd love to see a Hellcat, put into a Hudson Hornet "Hollywood Hardtop" from 1953 or 1954 personally, and see it conquer the "La Carrera Pan American," just once (Sorry Studebaker-fans; with all the racked-up wins by Studes, they might as well rename it "La Carrera Studebaker!" And I love Studes.).
All of these "Cliche Problems" and the reliance of Jeep and Ram sales to support FCA, and the "Crossover Craze" that makes me ill, has led to the neglect of the American Motorists. We the consumers are being corralled into a mess where we must fit a mould and be happy with it. NO. Like "Field of Dreams," "...If you build it, they will come!" Chrysler, like Packard, used to be "Engineering Greatness." Now, Packard's gone (with no one solid "scapegoat" to blame), and soon, FCA may be gone too, with Jeep left to soldier on, like an "International Harvester" or "REO" or "Diamond T," with the scary possibility of the "Willys Aero" or "Willys Americar" name coming back, as a (GASP!), a rebadged Suzuki, Mitsubishi, or (DOUBLE-GASP!!), a Chinese Car (THE HORROR!!!).
Back on the comparison, it was shocking, that these two cars, decades a part, were literally fulfillment of similar roles, of premium, mass market cars. and it's undeniable, their styling is almost identical (maybe a better comparison, would be the Packard Station Sedan and Convertible Victoria models of 1948 through 1950, with Clipper panels, instead of being "Pregnant Elephants"). As I walked down the street, I lamented the fact that Packard was gone, long before my time- yes, but gone none the less. I lamented that the sibling rivalry of the "Leland Kids" (Cadillac and Lincoln were both founded by the same man- Henry M. Leland), was nothing more than a joke today. And I lamented, that Walter P. Chrysler's hard work, reinventing the "Good Maxwell" cars in his own image, will vanish in years to come... Oh how I wish they built the Atlantic and the Imperial of 2006, like I wish Packard had said "Cost Be Damned! Let's build some 'Rolls-Royce' expensive luxury cars again!" earlier than 1953, when the Caribbean came out, and Cadillac came out with the Eldorado...
A big mistake Chrysler made was trying to establish Imperial as a stand alone luxury nameplate alongside Cadillac and Lincoln, where it was already identified with the Chrysler line. By 1955 they owned the LeBaron name...they should have gone with that.
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