55 LET’S DIG IN! In the ensuing years, I was able to dig into the research of the Monte Carlo and locate three individuals who had shared their knowledge on the story of the Packard Monte Carlo: George Hamlin, Leon Dixon and Robert Neal – each is a Packard Historian and expert in the Packard marque. The reference for their articles appears at the end of this story. Here are the main points about what they had to share about the Monte Carlo: • The Monte Carlo hardtop was the first project that Richard Arbib completed for Packard. It resulted in both a mock-up (hardtop Monte Carlo) and a running, driving convertible (Monte Carlo Super 8 convertible) • Both Monte Carlos were based on 22 nd series Packards that were late in production. • The hardtop coupe mock-up used a Custom 8 convertible with a 127-inch wheelbase. • The convertible used a Super 8 convertible chassis with a 120-inch wheelbase. • This was a mid-year 1949 project for Henney, so the look for both Monte Carlos was designed to incorporate the 23 rd Series Packards which would be available in the latter half of 1949 and the full 1950 year. It appears that Henney wanted to show what was possible in the last one-and-one-half years that the 22nd-23rd styling would be available to the public. • The creation of the mock-up and the convertible tested the waters with the new Henney owner (Charles Russell Feldmann bought Henney in 1946) and the new Packard president (Hugh Ferry was promoted to Packard President in 1949). • The Monte Carlo project was successful in terms of showcasing the creativity of Henney’s new designer Richard Arbib and proved that Henney could take on additional work beyond their professional cars. The collaboration ultimately led to the creation of two sets of Packard show cars among Henney, Arbib and Packard: The Pan American in 1952 and the Monte Carlo in 1953. • One author, Leon Dixon, felt that the introduction of the Monte Carlo as an “image” or “halo” car might have helped restore Packard’s place in the upper hierarchy of luxury cars. It might have also been marketed as a separate line in a sports / luxury vein. • The consensus from authors who have researched the 1949 Monte Carlos is that the new model might have worked if presented to Packard in June 1947. However, by June 1949 when it was presented, it was too close to the new Packard models which would introduce an entirely new body style in 1951. • After the project ended, Henney gave the Monte Carlo convertible to a local dealer in Freeport, Illinois to use for publicity purposes. The ownership history of the convertible after it was given to the dealer is unknown until 1988 when the car was discovered.
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