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Location: Lower Mainland BC | Maybe "Ex" did some freelancing?
1958 Studebaker President Starlight coupe
1957 Chrysler Windsor
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| Studebakers and packards were s**te... down right thieves and went out of business rightly so.
The 58 Packard stole the back of the Desoto... Ford stole the front. Did they hire 8 year olds with crayons to design a car? Don't get me wrong this stuff wasn't easy and must have taken hundreds of tries to get a car right but cmon your making a fricking automobile? That's like every kids dream right?
Seriously these people sucked... your trying to put out a product and you simply "steal" the other guys last year model? or get a sneak peak and steal it? This had to be a huge problem at GM/Chrysler who were the leaders. Ford was just a thief and last year rippoff artist also.
this was the amateur Desoto by Packard in 58... Id be embarrassed to own a Packard or Studebaker from the 50's... oh and throw most fords in there also except the mid 55-56 stuff  and some Lincolns.
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Expert 5K+
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Location: Lower Mainland BC | mikes2nd - 2017-05-17 12:06 AM
Studebakers and packards were s**te... down right thieves and went out of business rightly so.
The 58 Packard stole the back of the Desoto... Ford stole the front.
I think Packard stole the front too.
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Location: Ponder, TX | It was a different time. Major styling changes took place every year or two and designs were borrowed as smaller companies tried to keep up with trends. And it wasn't just the small companies. Chevrolet was so desperate to get fins in '57 that they copied the '56 Plymouth shape almost exactly, though that bit of styling piracy is seldom mentioned. Russia was especially guilty of copying US designs as their cars looked like Packards.
No need to be unique today. Just shape it like a watermelon, trim it differently and paint it one of six shades of gray.
Edited by GaryS 2017-05-17 3:45 AM
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Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | i wonder how many design thieves were setup with with bad designs . in the end though , can anyone really say who stole what and when -------------------------------------------------------later |
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Location: Parts Unknown | I am not a brand-loyal guy. I like aesthetic design (styling), and THEN mechanical
design. But when it comes to certain time periods, I am more into the overall historical
overview of those times, and understanding how a particular item came to be, what
historical part if played, etc.
Packard was nothing but a rebadged Studebaker after 1956, and Studebaker was
using a playbook strategy that had worked for them twice before ... the old Henry
Ford Model T play of building/selling cheap cars to sell large volume. The only difference
was that by the late 50's, they HAD TO add fins and bling to BE in the market.
I find the scale to be off on a car like this .... too small to carry off the graceful appeal
that DeSoto got on thier larger canvas. But it is still interesting. And not ugly. I find
cars like the 58 Chevy and Ford to be offensively ugly. Rolled under lines and totally
disconnected trim themes on a bulky, bulbous body on the Chevy, and Ford just took
a square box and put trim on it to suggest it had some body shape. Just look at say ...
a 1960 Buick for an example of sculpted tin, and then look at that Ford again. You'll
know exactly what I mean.
All in all, I love seeing these off-brand cars, just because I am sick of seeing the same
cars over and over and over again. Would I want to own one ? No. Are they fun to see ?
You bet !
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Location: NY & VT | ASHAMED to own a Studebaker or Packard from the '50s??? You must be kidding... I'd be proud to own these:
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Location: NY & VT | FYI: The '53 Starlight Coupe is considered by a goodly number of car designers worldwide to be THE most beautiful postwar US car. A truly timeless design.
The '58 Packardbaker coupe was clearly a crib from the FL, but as they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. At least they chose well.
Edited by firedome 2017-05-17 12:52 PM
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Location: NorCal |
C'mon guys, forget this brand loyalty and acknowledge that the "big fins" arrived at the same time in several brands. Studebaker could just as easily claim Mopar stole the fins from them. |
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Location: Ocala, Florida | The "Packardbakers" were great cars and were a mash of many great designs. I would be proud to own one, they are such a cool example of 1950s excess and extremely rare as well. As for rebadging, to be fair they are as much a rebadged Studebaker as a Chrysler is a rebadged DeSoto. |
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Location: The Mile High City | See sewer discussion on Volvos  |
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| 51-52 packards are okay. Hah either Packard or Lincoln or Chrysler got the drop on someone in 1956.... Somewhere someone knows who stole the 55 (fender over headlight) from whom(Plymouth, Lincoln/Merc, Packard) all got the jump. sorry the whole golden hawk starlight body is awkward... hah the best looking car? the rear of that Studebaker is fugly... the front is okay
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| what came first the citroen or the studbaker? The exner team designed the 52 starlight. I don't like the backend but its okay.
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Location: Branson, MO | Citroen came to fruition long before the Aztek so you'd think Pontiac would have learned their lesson long before introducing the the Aztek - but didn't. They both put the "U" in UGLY!
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Location: Fairfax, Minnesota | firedome - 2017-05-17 11:46 AM ASHAMED to own a Studebaker or Packard from the '50s??? You must be kidding... I'd be proud to own these: I agree. |
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Location: Fleetwood, Pa | Is it any wonder that a lot of longtime members are leaving this forum??? Did this turn into a BMW or a Corvette forum???
Edited by sidesho_bob1961 2017-05-18 6:07 AM
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| huh?
yeah I was being a little harsh : ) but they were stealing a lot.
But that is a nice Packard and Studebaker. |
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Location: Auburndale Florida | That trim is similar to the yellow part of the tailfin of Dory "Palette Surgeonfish" which I noticed some time ago.
Edited by ChristineFury 2017-05-28 6:15 PM
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Location: So. Cal | The real ripoff is on the '56 Plymouth backend. The '57 Chevy backend doesn't even seem to try to hide that fact. But then again, the front of the '55 Plymouth looks a lot like a '55 Packard. And the front turn signal pods of a '58 Dodge look a lot like a '56 Buick, and the side trim of a '58 Edsel looks a lot like a '57 Windsor, and the front of a '59 Chrysler looks far too similar to '58 GM products etc. etc. etc. Where will this ever end??? |
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Location: Parts Unknown | I vote with my garage space. Only have so much. Gotta be picky.
Many the late 50's cars have something interesting about them to
pique a person into liking them enough to want to own one. Some
defy even my nostalgic "blanket" interest and I would not want one
parked anywhere near my line of sight.
Just ranking the acceptable prospects cuts the field by 95%.
I dig these end-run Packardbakers. I'd take one HANDS DOWN over
ANY 59 Mopar ! But in the end, garage space overrules and I have a
full shop with the 58 DeSoto, 58 Plymouth, 66 Coronet, and 25 TT. I
am happy to let others keep those other cars in THEIR garages and
enjoy them from afar.
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Location: Vancouver, BC |
The original Starlight with the four-piece curved rear window actually dates back to 1945 when Exner was working for Loewy. Exner was fired by Loewy after he found our Exner was working on a second model car for Engineering Chief Roy Cole at a styling studio set up in Exner's basement. AND was being paid by BOTH Loewy and Studebaker at the same time. Exner continued to collect a pay cheque from Studebaker until Roy Cole retired in 1949. Exner then found work elsewhere, at Chrysler.
The later 1953 coupe models were done by Bob Bourke under Loewy, four years after Exner left Studebaker and eight years after Exner departed Loewy & Associates.
The Citroen came later, around in 1955, designed by Flamino Bertoni.
So the Studebaker came first, but is a completely different design. However, the Citroen is an engineering marvel. |
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Location: Vancouver, BC |
The "fender over the headlamp" appeared in 1955 on the Mercury, Packard and Plymouth. Amazing that three makes, in four different car markets (Packard had the medum-priced Clipper as well as the luxury Patrician), adopted the same styling theme in the same year.
Another theme was the 1957 Chrysler grille. The 1957 Studebaker had a grille remarkably similar. And Studebaker would use it again in 1958.
I have a soft spot for the 1956-58 Studebakers and Packards. I like the 1957 Packard Clippers - a Studebaker President sedan with 1956 Clipper taillights and a Packard grille complete with dagmars. But a 1958 Studebaker President hardtop would be the best. Love the two toning with the fins. The Golden Hawk has a similar theme while the lower priced Champions, Commanders and Silver Hawks all share a simpler third theme.
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Was this car influenced by the Forward Look?
