1952 Packard 200 Deluxe

The 1951 model year saw Packard introduce an all-new "junior" model to complement the "senior" 300 and 400 model lines. Less expensive than the longer and more luxurious senior Packards, the new Packard 200 rode on a shorter 122-inch wheelbase.

Just to let you know that you weren't getting the full luxury experience of a senior Packard, in addition to the shorter wheelbase, you had smaller vertical taillights and no graceful swan hood ornament. You could, however, order all sorts of luxury options on your 200, like carpeting, a heater, a radio, and tinted window glass.

In 1952, Packard added a Deluxe model to the 200 sedan lineup. The one above is a 1952 Packard 200 Deluxe Touring Sedan in Argentine Gray. While it got the extra chrome teeth in the grille and the chrome jet intake doodads on the side that aped the more luxurious senior Packards, the small non-wraparound rear window still let you know you were sitting in the Packard Motor Car Company's cheap seats, almost like a plebeian forced to drive an Oldsmobile or something.

The base 200 Deluxe Touring Sedan started at $2,675 in '52, a bit over $31k in today's dollars, several hundred more than the Olds 88, and going wild with the options list could add up fast. Under the hood was the Thunderbolt flathead straight-eight engine, displacing 288 cubic inches and rated at 135 SAE gross horsepower. For another $45 a buyer could opt for the 327 cubic inch version of the Thunderbolt, which bumped output to 150 horsepower. Coughing up another $189 could get you the Ultramatic transmission, the one that came standard on the Patrician 400.

The 200 only lasted for two model years, 1951-52, before Packard shuffled model designations again and the revived Clipper nameplate was used for the cheaper cars... "cheaper", of course, being relative. Packard meant cheaper like Oldsmobile, not like the Pontiacs and Dodges driven by the rabble across the tracks.

These photos were taken probably a decade or so ago... 2014? 2016? I was standing in the parking lot of a Kroger that is long closed now and I have no idea what the photos were taken with. Just looking at them I'd guess either my first or second smartphones, an LG Optimus V or a Samsung Galaxy SII.