Packard Patrician Touring Sedan – 5452 (1954)

USA

The Packard Patrician Touring Sedan – 5452 (1954) has an inline 8-cylinder 5880 cm3 212 bhp engine, RWD (rear-wheel drive), 2-speed automatic gearbox with Ultramatic Drive kit and a wheelbase of 3226 mm.

For model years 1953 and 1954, the “Patrician” continued to represent Packard’s highest trim level sedans and rode on the 127″ chassis. The Patrician also was used for the basis of the custom bodied Henney passenger models, including the 149″ wheelbase 8 passenger Packard Executive Sedans and Limousines, the difference being that the latter had a partition window between the front and rear compartments. During these years the “Patrician” received annual trim changes and improvements associated with model-year change-overs in the 1950s.

The Henney professional cars (hearse, ambulance, flower car, service car) built on the 156″ wheelbase commercial chassis generally used “Patrician” like trim except for 1954, which used Cavalier-like trim, and was offered in a hardtop bodystyle called the Packard Pacific.

Since the professional cars were fully coachbuilt bodies (not conversions) built on Packard’s separate commercial chassis, their trim level had little to do with the “Patrician” except for the general appearance. The Henney Junior, a short-wheelbase hearse or ambulance was built on the standard Cavalier-Patrician chasses (but with stronger, heavy-duty rear suspension) but had the 5-main bearing Cavalier engine rather than the 9-main bearing engine of the “Patrician”.

A staggered (or step-down) type sweep spear molding, connected by ribbed diagonal chrome ornaments, was used on Patrician models and the Henney-built eight-passenger sedans and limousines. Also on these models, chrome bumper strips appeared on the rocker sills. The Packard Patrician had round medallions on the rear roof pillar.

Optional Equiptment

Power steering ($177.50). Power brakes ($43). Four-Way power seat ($75). Windshield washer ($16.75). Sun visor ($31.50). Spotlight ($28.50). Pelican hood ornament ($13.45). Curb signals ($1.75). Hydraulic windows ($153). Standard radio ($102). Three-way tuning radio with electric antenna ($132). Ultramatic ($199). Heater/defroster ($79.50). White sidewall tires ($32.50 exchange). Backing lights ($13). Rear seat speaker ($16.80). Solex glass ($45.20). Molding mirror ($5.10). continental tire carrier ($270). Overdrive ($110). Ultramatic drive was standard in the Caribbean and Patrician, optional on other models at extra cost.

Photo: JOHN LLOYD from Concrete, Washington, United States [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Packard (1954)

The Pacific and Mayfair were distinguished by high levels of interior trim: for instance, leather upholstery was provided, and the cars’ interior headliners were ornamented with chrome strips intended to suggest a convertible top. The cars were also given innovative exterior color schemes; most were given two-tone paint jobs (for example: “Carnation” (white) and “Amethyst” (lavender)), which were considered fashionable at the time.

1,189 Pacific hardtops were built before production concluded for the 1954 model year. Starting in 1955, Packard renamed its senior hardtop the Four Hundred.