Packard Clipper

The Packard Clipper was a series of automobiles built by the Packard Motor Car Company, and later by Studebaker-Packard, across several separate runs: model years 1941 and 1942, 1946 and 1947, and 1953 to 1957. It took its name from the clipper sailing ship. The first Clipper arrived in April 1941 as a mid-year entry, offered only as a four-door sedan, and it broke sharply from Packard's conservative styling with a modern full-envelope body while keeping the radiator shape and red hexagon trim that identified the marque. It was aimed at the upper-medium price field against Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler and Lincoln rivals. Wartime production halts cut its first run short, and by 1953 the name returned for Packard's lowest-priced lineup. For 1956 Clipper was treated as a separate marque, and after the Detroit factory closed the name survived only on a 1957 model built in South Bend, Indiana.