Also see: Packard Patrician

Packard Patrician

The Packard Patrician was an automobile built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, from model years 1951 through the 1954, and by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, during model years 1955 and 1956...

The Packard Four Hundred was an automobile built by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation

Studebaker-Packard Corporation

The Studebaker-Packard Corporation was the entity created by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, in 1954.Packard acquired Studebaker in the transaction...

 of South Bend, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana

The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...

 during model years 1955 and 1956. During its two years in production, the Four Hundred was built in Packard’s Detroit facilities, and considered part of Packard's senior model range.

Between 1951 and the time the final Detroit-built Packard rolled off the line in 1956, Packard’s marketing strategy and model naming convention was in a constant state of flux as the automaker struggled to redefine itself as a producer of luxury automobiles, and separate itself from its volume selling Packard models which it designated the Packard Clipper

Packard Clipper

The Packard Clipper was initially a single model of the Packard Motor Car Company introduced in April, 1941, midyear, much as was the 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang and other new departures. It was manufactured between 1942 and 1947, from the six and junior eight, to the Super-8, where it cost more than...

. As a result, Packard fielded several models which existed for a single year during this period.

In 1951 and 1952 the automaker attempted to use a numeric naming structure that designated Packard’s junior models as Packard 200

Packard 200

The Packard 200 was an automobile model produced by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan during model years 1951 and 1952. Models in the 200 designation represented the least expensive Packard model range, on the firm's shortest wheelbase, and least powerful 8-cylinder in-line...

 and Packard 250

Packard 200

The Packard 200 was an automobile model produced by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan during model years 1951 and 1952. Models in the 200 designation represented the least expensive Packard model range, on the firm's shortest wheelbase, and least powerful 8-cylinder in-line...

 and its senior vehicles as the Packard 300

Packard 300

The Packard 300 was an automobile built and sold by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan for model years 1951 and 1952. The 300 represented the upper mid-range Packard model, providing better appointments than the Packard 200 or the Packard 250 models...

, and bearing the highest trim level available, the Packard Patrician 400

Packard Patrician

The Packard Patrician was an automobile built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, from model years 1951 through the 1954, and by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, during model years 1955 and 1956...

. The Patrician 400 replaced the previous model year’s Custom 8 model range.

The 400 model name was dropped from the Partician model range at the beginning of the 1953 model range, however the Patrician

Packard Patrician

The Packard Patrician was an automobile built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, from model years 1951 through the 1954, and by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, during model years 1955 and 1956...

 name continued to occupy the premium trim level Packard from 1953 through 1956.

1955 and 1956

For 1955 the Four Hundred name was re-employed by Packard and assigned to the automaker's senior model range two-door hardtop. Visual cues that helped to easily identify the 400 included a full color band along the lower portion of the car topped by a partial color band that truncated along the rear edge of the front doors. "The Four Hundred" in gold anodized script adorned the band between the front wheel well and door edge.

Changes to the 1956 Four Hundred followed those changes to the entire senior Packard line as it attempted to further distance itself from the Clipper

Clipper (automobile)

Clipper was a stand-alone make of automobile produced by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation in 1955–1956 for the 1956 model year only. Clipper was aimed at the middle price field of American automobiles which included Dodge, Oldsmobile, and Mercury....

, which was now its own marque in 1956.

Senior Packards received a new grille texture and multi-tone paint schemes. The cars also received an altered headlight housing, with a slightly longer hood stretching over the headlight, as well as a more distinctive egg-crate grille over 1955. All '56 senior Packards moved the Packard crest to the front of the hood, leaving the "circle-V" emblem in the grille looking somewhat bare.

In 1956, Studebaker-Packard’s financial position deteriorated to the point where the automaker could no longer afford the luxury of maintaining two distinct makes of cars produced in two distinct facilities. For 1957 Studebaker-Packard fielded a single model range, the Clipper. By the end of the 1958 model year the Packard name ceased as an automotive brand in the United States.

Production totals for 1955 came to 7,206 units for the Packard Four Hundred, and 3,224 units for 1956.