The Packard Patrician is a 4-door sedan from Packard, built from 1951 to 1956, at the height of the post-war boom. Under the bonnet: 327 cuin Packard straight-eight. John Reinhart drew it.
Where it came from
The Packard Patrician is an automobile which was built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, from model years 1951 through 1956. During its six years in production, the Patrician was built in Packard's Detroit facilities on East Grand Boulevard.
The word "patrician" is Latin for a ruling class in Ancient Rome. It was the last "senior level" Packard until production ended in 1958. The Patrician was the last of the "senior Packards" and was briefly available as an extended length limousine for 1953 and 1954 called the Corporate Executive which found few buyers.
Under the skin
Power comes from 327 cuin Packard straight-eight. It shifts through a 2-speed Ultramatic automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 127.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Packard Custom Super Eight; assembly was at Packard Automotive Plant, Detroit, MI. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Cadillac Eldorado, the Chevrolet Bel Air — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Packard catalogue sit the Packard 160 and the Packard 180.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Packard Patrician has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.