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Guilty Pleasure: Packardbaker!

Murilee Martin

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Once pushed an Opel Manta 50 miles using a '63 Impala wagon with tires tied to the front bumper More

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1 909 views Feb 29, 2012

1957 Packard Clipper

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Have we really sunk so low as to pursue the twisted dream of Chevy Sprint Turbo ownership?

Of course! But sometimes one's Guilty Pleasure--the car you shouldn't want, but do want--can be a huge slab of classic American steel.

By "classic" we mean "old," because the weirdly restyled and Packard-badged Studebakers of the marque's final two model years have had more than a half-century to attract a large and devoted following… and you'll still find more rabid Hillman Minx fans than Packardbaker fans today.

After Packard bought Studebaker in 1953, it was clear that the non-Big Three American automakers were going to go down in flames if they didn't think of some new tricks fast. When no such tricks were forthcoming, the 1957 Packards ended up being just Studebaker Presidents with Packardized body lines.

The once-prestigious Packard name now means very little… but I still want a Packardbaker.