Object Timeline

1952

  • Work on this object began.

2017

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Packard Concept Car

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Carl Evers and from the office of Packard Motor Car Company. It is dated 1952 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is graphite on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

These 1952 designs for Packard automobiles represent a possible effort by the American luxury automotive company to compete with its European competitors Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz. While Packard was one of America’s most luxurious automobiles, the company faced difficulty in modifying the distinctive vertical grill of their early 1930s automobiles to suit the horizontal car body designs popular after the late 1930s. Low production numbers of luxury automobiles meant limited profits to be gained from a redesign, so these vehicles were often the last to incorporate the latest design trends. Seeing that its competitors Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz had not yet modified their vertical grills to suit current trends, it is possible that Packard was striving to introduce a similarly dated but elegant design in order to compete for a similar market.

This object was donated by Alexandra Herzan and Paul Herzan. It is credited Gift of Alexandra and Paul Herzan.

Its dimensions are

Framed with 7129.10.2017, approx. H x W x D: 47.6 × 57.8 × 3.2 cm (18 3/4 × 22 3/4 × 1 1/4 in.)

It is signed

Signed in graphite, lower right: C. EVERS

Cite this object as

Drawing, Packard Concept Car; Designed by Carl Evers (American, b. Germany, 1907 - 2000); Office of Packard Motor Car Company; graphite on paper; Framed with 7129.10.2017, approx. H x W x D: 47.6 × 57.8 × 3.2 cm (18 3/4 × 22 3/4 × 1 1/4 in.); Gift of Alexandra and Paul Herzan; 2017-39-7

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108951105/ |title=Drawing, Packard Concept Car |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=26 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>