56 SO WHAT DO WE HAVE? So what exactly is sitting in my garage? Several intriguing and entertaining possibilities exist. Is it… • A lost Packard show car? • A one-off ordered from Henney by a dealer for personal use? • A dealer-commissioned Monte Carlo convertible for publicity purposes? • Perhaps it was a prototype of a “halo” model which is designed to have a “halo effect” of making customers think more highly of the whole product line - even if they couldn’t afford the flagship car. Examples of such halo cars include the Studebaker Speedster, the ’53 Cadillac Eldorado, the ’57-’58 Eldorado Brougham, the ’56-’57 Continental, the ’53 Buick Skylark, the ’53 Oldsmobile Fiesta, the ’53 Kaiser Dragon, the ’54 Hudson Italia, the ’55 Chrysler 300, and so on. • Was the Monte Carlo a first postwar attempt at an automaker creating a new brand from their existing marque such as Imperial, Continental, Edsel and Valiant that followed later in time? • Or, was it the first postwar attempt of a Packard dealer modifying an existing car in their showroom to create a car that only they can offer to the public? This was something that was later done by at least one Packard dealer – Harry DuBois. In 1956, DuBois created the Packard “Esquire” using the Four Hundred as a basis for customization to a Caribbean-looking hardtop (and a few sedans), because he could not get enough Caribbeans to fill orders. • Maybe the simplest explanation will prevail. Perhaps the Monte Carlo convertible is a natural result of a proposal by Henney in which they first had a design (Arbib), then a mock-up in clay (Henney) and then finally a driving example to show what the car looked like and how it presented itself in person. We may never know the full story of the Monte Carlo convertible. In the next part of this story, we’ll talk about what we do know upon a thorough hands-on examination of the car as well as a more detailed history on the relationship between the Henney Motor Company and their newly hired designer, Richard Arbib. Tune in shortly for the final chapter of the Mysterious Packard Monte Carlo.
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