97 Collectible Automobile: October 1992 “Richard Arbib: Specialty Designer” By George L. Hamlin Background Nearly twenty years after Hamlin’s first article about Arbib and Packards, he wrote a more comprehensive article about Richard Arbib and his lifelong work – including more detail about the 1949 Monte Carlo. This article focused on Richard Arbib’s life as an automobile designer. Again, Richard Arbib was alive at the time of development and publication to help contribute to this article. Excerpt From Article “The current Packard line was a tough design to customize. This was during “the bathtub era,” and the manufacturers – save Studebaker – were trying to out-round each other. The championship of this competition went to Nash, but Packard wasn’t far behind. That type of design is so unified that it defies facelifting. Nevertheless, Arbib tried. He came up with several proposals based on the ’49 Packard, the most memorable being The Monte Carlo – an early hardtop. There was also a proposed Coupe de Ville, which was never built. The Monte Carlo had an imaginative rear window, and its styling minimized the extremes of the bathtub look with its greenhouse, raised rear fenders, and a long off-color side panel similar in concept to what Packard used in 1956. Packard wasn’t particularly interested in pursuing such ideas, if only because the bathtub design would be replaced for 1951. So Henney and Arbib began to concentrate on the new Packard.”
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