ABANDONED PACKARD CONCEPT CAR: Fully Customized 1956 Packard 400 Tribute to the 1955 Packard Request

When the 1955 Packard Request came out, Dr. Mortimer Bloom of West Orange, New Jersey tried to buy it. He persisted for months and when he couldn’t buy it from Packard, he commissioned Valley Auto Body in South Orange, New Jersey to build one for him (South Orange is near Newark, New Jersey).

Mortimer Bloom owned a textile mill in Putnam, Connecticut called Putnam Mills. He also owned a farm in Putnam, Connecticut called Tall Trees. Mortimer or “Morty” bought a brand new 1956 Packard 400 specifically for this purpose. Over a year later, he took delivery of the finished Packard Custom built in the style of the 1955 Packard Request in late 1957.

After enjoying the car for many years, the eccentric owner sold it to Fred and Dan Kanter , who remain well known Packard collectors. Fred drove it from Bloom’s home to Kanter’s home, parked it, and never drove it again. The title came with the car in Dan Kanter’s name and dated 2/14/1968: they owned it for 55 years. You can read more about Fred and Dan Kanter in a Hemmings article here: https://www.hemmings.com/stories/arti...

Some notable changes to the car include the following:

1955 Chrysler Imperial side molding from front of car, over wheel wells to rear of car
Modified front end using 1958 Chevy bumpers (left and right front side)
1938 Packard V12 grille
Custom leadwork / bodywork to fit grille to front of car
De-chromed side of car and most of trunk
Dyed black over blue leather interior
Hydraulic/screw lift installed to lift very heavy hood.
Although it has 1956 front fenders and roof, the taillights are from 1955

Time will tell if our team will dive into the restoration of this unique Packard or if we'll send it on to focus on some of our other many projects. Stay tuned!
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