The Packard Cavalier is an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

produced by the

Packard Motor Car Company Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Thr ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

during 1953 and 1954. Produced only as a four-door sedan, the Cavalier took the place of the

Packard 300 The Packard 300 is an automobile built and sold by the Packard, Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan for model years 1951 and 1952. The 300 represented the upper mid-range Packard model and provided better appointments than the Packard 2 ...

model that was fielded in 1951 and 1952 as Packard's mid-range priced vehicle.

1953

The 1953 Cavalier was easily identified from other Packards by its unique chrome side spear trim. Packard also created a Cavalier sub-series under which three other Packard models, marketed under various names were grouped: *

Packard Caribbean The Packard Caribbean is a full-sized luxury car that was made by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, during model years 1953 through 1956. Some of the Caribbean's styling was derived from the Pan American Packard show car of the ...

2-door

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

based on the

Packard Pan-American The Packard Pan-American is a concept car produced for the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan in 1952. Conceived as a moderate-performance two-seater by Hugh Ferry, president of Packard, it was built by Henney, which was responsible ...

show car featuring coachwork by Mitchell-Bentley of

Utica, Michigan Utica is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,757 at the 2010 census. History The city now known as Utica was platted by Joseph Stead in 1817, who preferred to call it "Harlow." Others referred to the cit ...

Packard Mayfair The name Mayfair was applied to the 1951-53 Packard 200 as a hardtop coupe nameplate built by the Packard Motor Corporation in an attempt to compete in this body style with Cadillac, Buick, and Imperial from Chrysler, whose hardtop sales were boom ...

which was based on the two-door Clipper Deluxe, but featuring higher interior luxury through fabrics and chrome trim. A convertible model, using Cavalier trim, was offered during the 1953 model year and was priced lower than the Caribbean.

1954

For 1954, the Cavalier was again offered as a four-door sedan only, but the range also lost its sub series, and the Caribbean was moved into the senior Packard line where it remained until Packard transferred manufacturing to South Bend in 1956. The 1954 Cavalier featured "slash" trim on the rear doors. It used the same wheelbase as the premium level Patrician series, but with the straight-eight engine as in the Clipper. This I8 with a four-barrel Carter carburetor was rated at . For the 1955 model year, the Cavalier name was retired and the line was absorbed into the

Packard Clipper The Packard Clipper is an automobile which was built by the Packard Motor Car Company (and by the later Studebaker-Packard Corporation) for model years 1941–1942, 1946–1947 and 1953–1957. For 1956 only, Clipper was classified as a stand-a ...

Custom series.

References

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...

Cars introduced in 1953 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles {{Classicpow-auto-stub