Description

1953 Packard Mayfair Hardtop Coupe – The 1951-1953 Packard Mayfair was the Packard auto company’s offering in the quickly growing hardtop market of the immediate postwar era. Along with the all-steel station wagon, hardtop designs grabbed upwards of a third of domestic output by mid-decade. The hardtop stole the show with its pizzazz, however, causing automakers to jump on the bandwagon. Some hardtops looked like deft, ground-up designs; others looked like what they were: two-door sedans with hastily contrived pillarless side windows. The 1951-1953 Packard Mayfair was among the later arrivals, and product-wise wasn’t truly satisfactory because of compromises. Packard built it on the junior short-wheelbase chassis, and attempted to sell it (and the concurrent convertible) as a prestige line. Thus it came with a “250” designation, senior-style grille teeth, 327-cid engine, full wheel covers, and pelican hood ornament. None of this disguised the fact that at $3,200 to $3,400, the Packard Mayfair competed more with Buick, Chrysler, and Mercury than with Cadillac, Imperial, and Lincoln. It thus failed to buck up Packard’s sagging luxury image, and added little to sales of middle-priced Packards. None of which meant the 1951-1953 Packard Mayfair wasn’t a very nice car in its own right. All of the above deluxe components combined with the pillarless windowline did make for a sporty, upmarket Packard. “Mayfair” seemed an appropriate name, too, conjuring up images of a fashionable district in London, or a famous London coachbuilder. And the smoothly integrated styling avoided the “cobbled” look of such hastily contrived rivals as the Hudson Hollywood and DeSoto Sportsman. Highlights of this beautiful example include; 327ci Flat 8 (180hp), Auto, Signal Seeking AM Radio, Power Antenna, Recent Tune Up, Orchard Green, 15″ Wire Wheel Covers, Coker White Walls, 1 of only 5,150 Produced!