Editing Packard (section)

===Concept Packards===
[[File:Packard Predictor, SNM, 2011.JPG|thumb|right|1956 Predictor concept, at the [[Studebaker National Museum]]]]

During the 1950s, a number of "dream cars" were built by Packard in an attempt to keep the marque alive in the imaginations of the American car-buying public. Included in this category are the 1952 [[Packard Pan-American|Pan American]] that led to the production [[Packard Caribbean|Caribbean]] and the [[Packard Panther|Panther]] (also known as Daytona), based on a 1954 platform. Shortly after the introduction of the Caribbean, Packard showed a prototype hardtop called the [[Packard Balboa|Balboa]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNwDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hudson+and+Packard+Present+Their+Cars+of+the+Future&pg=PA97 |page=97 |title=Hudson and Packard Present Their Cars of the Future |magazine=Popular Mechanics |date=November 1953 |volume=100 |issue=5 |access-date=January 18, 2023 |via=Google Books |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605034013/https://books.google.com/books?id=JNwDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hudson+and+Packard+Present+Their+Cars+of+the+Future&pg=PA97 |url-status=live}}</ref> It featured a reverse-slanted rear window that could be lowered for ventilation, a feature introduced in a production car by [[Mercury (automobile)|Mercury]] in 1957 and still in production in 1966.

The [[Packard Request|Request]] was based on the 1955 Four Hundred hardtop, but featured a classic upright Packard fluted grille reminiscent of the prewar models. In addition, the 1957 engineering mule "Black Bess" was built to test new features for a future car. This car had a resemblance to the 1958 Edsel. It featured Packard's return to a vertical grill. This grill was very narrow with the familiar ox-yoke shape that was characteristic for Packard, and with front fenders with dual headlights resembling Chrysler products from that era. The engineering mule Black Bess was destroyed by the company shortly after the Packard plant was shuttered. Of the 10 Requests built, only four were sold off the showroom floor.

Dick Teague also designed the last Packard show car, the [[Packard Predictor|Predictor]]. This hardtop coupe's design followed the lines of the planned 1957 cars. It had many unusual features, among them a roof section that opened either by opening a door or activating a switch, well ahead of later T-tops. The car had seats that rotated out, allowing the passenger easy access, a feature later used on some Chrysler and GM products. The Predictor also had the opera windows, or portholes, found on concurrent Thunderbirds. Other novel ideas were overhead switches—these were in the production Avanti—and a dash design that followed the hood profile, centering dials in the center console area. This feature has only recently been used on production cars. The Predictor survives and is on display at the [[Studebaker National Museum]] section of the Center for History in [[South Bend, Indiana]].

====Astral====
One unusual prototype, the Studebaker-Packard Astral, was made in 1957 and first unveiled at the South Bend Art Centre on January 12, 1958, and then at the March 1958 Geneva Motor Show.<ref>''Automobile Quarterly''. Volume 31, no. 1, 1992, pages 14–29.</ref> It had a single gyroscopic balanced wheel and the publicity data suggested it could be [[nuclear propulsion#Cars|nuclear powered]] or have what the designers described as an ionic engine. No working prototype was ever made, nor was it likely that one was ever intended.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?DocID=1008&index=5 |title=1957 Studebaker-Packard, Astral, Form of Power: Atomic |publisher=Petersen Automotive Museum |year=2010 |access-date=June 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624003559/http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?DocID=1008&index=5 |archive-date=June 24, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cruising the Misfits of Motordom |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/04/cruising-the-misfits-of-motordom/ |magazine=Wired |date=April 9, 2009 |access-date=June 11, 2022}}</ref>

The Astral was designed by Edward E. Herrmann, Studebaker-Packard's director of interior design,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/472630/Herrmann-Edward.php |title=Edward Herrmann Obituary |website=obitsforlife.com |location=Fort CollinsS, Colorado |access-date=2016-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701073115/http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/472630/Herrmann-Edward.php |archive-date=2016-07-01}}</ref> as a project to give his team experience in working with glass-reinforced plastic. It was shown at Studebaker dealerships before being put into storage. Rediscovered 30 years later, the car was restored and put on display by the Studebaker museum.