Packard Clipper History

The Packard Clipper was introduced in April 1941 with a strikingly modern, aerodynamic 'envelope' body styled with input from Howard 'Dutch' Darrin. It sold well despite its late-season launch, and the smooth Clipper shape became the basis for Packard's bodies after wartime production resumed in 1946.

The Clipper name was used through the early 1950s as Packard's lower-priced line, a positioning that critics felt diluted the senior marque. In 1956, in a final reorganization under Studebaker-Packard, Clipper was spun off as a separate make to protect the Packard name's prestige — but dealer resistance and the company's collapse doomed the experiment, and the Clipper name was retired after 1957.