49 • Changing trim level from 22 nd to 23rd series Packard. Effectively making it look like a 1950 Packard. • A series of 4 horizonal chrome trim pieces installed from front to rear of car. • Two tone paint • Front wheel well opening lowered by 4 or more inches to make the car look closer to the ground than it was. • Addition of a hardtop • Packard insignias above each front wheel well opening • Larger than normal Packard insignia on front grille • Modification to front of body to include foglights and shrouds around the front bumperettes • Lowered front Packard grille and changed the upper shape of the grille opening. This involved bringing the hood farther down to meet the lowered grille too – about 3 inches. • Modifications to rear of car removing the Packard name, adding fins to the rear fenders that housed taillights, and creating shrouds for two of the bumperettes in a similar fashion to those at the front of the car. Robert Neal went on to share that no mention of the car had been found in Packard archival material, and assumed it must have been shown to them as a proposal and rejected. “It was certainly a stunning car,” Neal commented. But it was most likely too close to the upcoming new styling change which would occur in 1951. I contacted others about what I had found which was apparently an undocumented Packard Monte Carlo – if in name alone. One of these folks, Alden Jewell (automotive researcher, historian and literature collector) provided another short article on the 1949 Packard Monte Carlo. This one appeared in the Spring 1975 issue of the Packard Cormorant, and reiterated much of the information that was in the later Robert Neal Packard book. So where do you go when information seems non -existent in researching an undocumented car? That’s what we’ll discuss in the next article. 1949 Packard Monte Carlo Hardtop: George Hamlin Collection
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