Orphan of the Day, 02-21, 1956 Mercury Montclair

[8E45E]

Craig

[bob40]

I usually dont go for 4 doors but that is one I would own.

[BobPalma]

4-Door pillarless hardtops, like this Montclair: It was interesting to see how various designers and engineers worked together to deal with the reality that they often couldn't get a window to go all the way back to the rearmost edge of the door and still roll down all the way for a true "hardtop" look.

On this Montclair, for example, we have the stainless-steel band continuing from the roof into the back ends of the rear doors to hide the portion of the window (or non-window!) that can't "go" all the way down to the rearmost edge of the door.

A couple days ago, Craig posted the 1956 Plymouth Belvedere. It approached the problem with a small, complicated separate rear window that went down somewhat independently of the larger rear window in the door. BP

[8E45E]

Yep, its odd why Packard never offered a 4-door hardtop for 1956. Given the tall beltline, there was plenty of room in the doors for the rear window to disappear without a lot of extra engineering or tooling. Unlike Studebaker's reverse curve roofline, Packard's roofline would have easily lent itself to a pillarless design.

Craig

[BobPalma]

Yep, its odd why Packard never offered a 4-door hardtop for 1956. Given the tall beltline, there was plenty of room in the doors for the rear window to disappear without a lot of extra engineering or tooling. Unlike Studebaker's reverse curve roofline, Packard's roofline would have easily lent itself to a pillarless design. Craig

Good point / question, Craig.

Pure speculation on my part, but my opinion would be that Packard was having so much trouble manufacturing their own bodies after Chrysler bought Budd and forced Packard out in late 1954, that they had little time or money to work up and build what would have been a fairly complicated new endeavor for them.

Their hands were full and their fortunes were dwindling, having to change the whole cowl assembly, a complicated piece, to accommodate the "required" new wrap-around windshield. BP

[8E45E]

Their hands were full and their fortunes were dwindling, having to change the whole cowl assembly, a complicated piece, to accommodate the "required" new wrap-around windshield.

Packard already had a wrap-around windshield for 1955, so that wouldn't have been an issue.

One can tell Chrysler's four door hardtops were done on a shoe-string budget as they kept the same roofline, but made do with that complicated two-piece rear window on the doors.

Craig

[BobPalma]

Packard already had a wrap-around windshield for 1955, so that wouldn't have been an issue. Craig

I didn't mean for either year specifically, Craig. If they were to have a 4-door hardtop for 1956, they would have had to be working on it around the same time as the 1955 wrap-around windshield...and they barely had time or money for that!

With all the disasters and mounting problems during the 1955 model year production, they were in such deep do-do it was all they could do to get as many 1955 problems corrected for 1956 as possible, much less work on anything as dramatically new as a 4-door hardtop.

If Chrysler was doing it on a shoestring budget, Studebaker-Packard didn't have enough money for one lace! <GGG> BP

[Bill Pressler]

The front fender of this '56 Merc reminds me of a '55-56 Packard/Clipper.

[studegary]

I owned a red and white 1956 Mercury Montclair two door hardtop. Mine was unusual in that it was white with red on the roof and the area under the windows. When I traded it in, the dealer painted the lower section red to make it look like all of the other 1956s. I liked it better the way that Mercury made it. It was factory paint, but I have never seen another two-toned that way.

This four door hardtop Phaeton model reminds me of something (of course). In about the 1970s, a friend that had a heating oil business owned a restored 1951 Champion sedan. He told me that there was a phaeton out in the back barn at his business. I went there to check it out, expecting to find a 1930s car. It turned out to be a 1956 Mercury Phaeton model. The last that I knew, it was still in the barn. The friend sold the business and retired to Florida.

[JimsLeadCommander]

I didn't mean for either year specifically, Craig. If they were to have a 4-door hardtop for 1956, they would have had to be working on it around the same time as the 1955 wrap-around windshield...and they barely had time or money for that!

With all the disasters and mounting problems during the 1955 model year production, they were in such deep do-do it was all they could do to get as many 1955 problems corrected for 1956 as possible, much less work on anything as dramatically new as a 4-door hardtop.

If Chrysler was doing it on a shoestring budget, Studebaker-Packard didn't have enough money for one lace! <GGG> BP

Aren't Design and Engineering two seperate departments? Oh sure, there would be limited engineering in the window area but, I would think the Design dept would be more of a player in that area.