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26-664: Coinciding with a change in design regulations and the downsizing of Cadillac sedans, the Commercial Chassis was phased out as a distinct product line. The professional car basis would be continued by the Series 75 and successor flagship Cadillac sedans to current production. The Cadillac Commercial Chassis is a variant of the GM D-body specifically developed for professional car use; most applications included funeral coaches (hearses), ambulances , and combination cars . In contrast to

52-411: A "cheapening" of the once-exclusive luxury marque), using the same bodies with hoods and front fenders of different length to meet their respective chassis. Thus the 160 and 180 got identical bodies. However, the 180s featured finer interior detailing with the best fabrics, leather, and carpeting available. Packard used a special woolen ceiling in these cars only which was sewn longitudinally. Packard built

78-463: A change from a wagon-type body to a modular box. While construction of funeral coaches remained unaffected, a low demand for new vehicles coincided with their long service life. For 1977, Cadillac downsized its full-size sedan lines, including the D-body chassis; the Series 75 became offered solely as a limousine; the Commercial Chassis followed suit in downsizing. The professional car industry underwent

104-578: A few special bodies on Packard-basis, beginning in 1937. He tried to sell Packard on the idea of Darrin-bodied cars being offered directly by Packard, and finally got his way after parking one if his creations outside the Packard dealers' annual conference. For the 1940 model year, three Darrin bodystyles were available: the closed four-door Sport Sedan, the four-door Convertible Sedan, and the two-door Convertible Victoria. About 100 Packard Darrins were built until 1942, when production of private cars ended because of

130-534: A period of struggle, as multiple firms either closed their doors or were reorganized (such as Superior , Miller-Meteor and Hess & Eisenhardt ). The final ambulances of the D-body Commercial Chassis were built in 1979. Following the discontinuation of the Cadillac Commercial chassis, the construction of coachbuilt professional cars has remained the same; a rolling chassis is bodied aft of

156-589: A special long wheelbase commercial chassis and sometimes, though rarely, on modified passenger car chassis, for use as a hearse , flower car , service car , ambulance , limousines or for a combination of purposes (e.g. combination hearse-ambulances, sedan-ambulances or invalid coaches). The term is mostly used in the United States. Until the 1980s, there were many coachbuilders in the United States that produced professional cars. The cars were built on long-wheelbase versions of American full-size chassis, such as

182-494: Is using the XT5 and XT6 SUV chassis for hearses, starting in 2020. The Cadillac Commercial Chassis is perhaps most famous as the basis for the Ecto-1 in the 1984 film Ghostbusters and its sequels, Ghostbusters II (1989), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). Professional car A professional car is loosely defined as a vehicle based on

208-534: The ZIS-110 . James Ward found no supporting evidence in the Packard archives of such a transfer. Also, the ZIS-110 shares no sheet metal with any Packard, despite the fact that its external decor elements were intentionally designed to heavily resemble pre-war Packards, favoured by Stalin after he had received a '38 Super Eight convertible sedan as gift from Franklin D. Roosevelt . Designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin had made

234-502: The 1931–1976 Cadillac Commercial Chassis , 1937–1954 Packard 180 and 1965–1975 Oldsmobile 98 . Since the 1970s, ambulances began to provide increasing levels of on-scene care , which required more equipment to be transported and therefore larger vehicles. It was no longer feasible for ambulances to be based on passenger car chassis, therefore the use of professional cars as ambulances declined. The downsizing of American full-size passenger cars to smaller chassis from 1977 also reduced

260-505: The Cadillac 75 (a factory-built limousine), the Commercial Chassis was designed with a heavier-duty frame; to improve access to the rear cargo area, the rear frame rails were positioned lower than a standard D-body. Produced by Cadillac as an "incomplete vehicle", the rolling chassis was fitted with no bodywork aft of the dashboard. While fitted with all road controls and front body trim (and air conditioning, if specified), all bodywork from

286-587: The Packard 120A 156" wheelbase chassis with the smaller 288 cubic inch engine although there were also 160 and 180 versions available. Packard offered exclusive coachwork beginning in 1937 with the LeBaron Cabriolet body series L-394 for US$ 4,850 ($ 102,793 in 2023 dollars ) and the LeBaron Town car body series L-395 for US$ 4,990 ($ 105,760 in 2023 dollars ). In 1938 through 1942 Rollston and Brunn & Company offered several custom coachwork options to

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312-543: The Popular Clipper name was used on all Packard models, and the top level car was named the Custom Super Clipper, essentially using the same prewar technology with minor appearance updates. The brightwork used minimally was stainless steel instead of chrome, and interior fabrics were wool upholstery, broadcloth or leather as the buyer selected. Until an all new model could be introduced, the Custom Super Clipper used

338-432: The chassis used a 156-inch wheelbase, with the 1971-1976 chassis reaching a 157.5-inch length. The powertrain was shared with the Series 75 through its entire production. In the early 1970s, federal design regulations forced a shift of the donor chassis from commercial car chassis to cutaway van chassis (and light trucks). Along with wider and taller interiors, design requirements for ambulance bodies effectively forced

364-623: The conventional 3-speed manual transmission. Packard's own automatic transmission , the Ultramatic , would not be ready until 1949. The final 180s rolled off the Packard assembly line in February 1942, as production restrictions of World War II brought a halt to civilian automobile production. There have been allegations that dies for both Junior and Senior models were sold to the Soviet Union during World War II, and production continued until 1959 as

390-406: The dashboard rearward was completed by coachbuilders using the chassis as a basis for a completed vehicle; to aid body fabrication, front door shells and rear quarter panels were shipped to the coachbuilders (separate from the chassis). Before World War II, the Commercial Chassis used the longest wheelbase of any GM sedan-based vehicle, ranging up to 165 inches in 1940. During the 1950s and 1960s,

416-682: The dashboard. On an official basis, Cadillac has produced "incomplete"-bodied versions of several of its unibody-chassis product lines, including the DeVille, DTS, XTS, and CT6. Additionally, the Cadillac Escalade ESV (based on the Chevrolet Suburban ) is used for funeral-coach applications. With the closure of the Oshawa assembly plant and subsequent demise of the Cadillac XTS platform, Cadillac

442-485: The exclusive list. There were minor styling changes in the 1941 and 1942 models (19th and 20th series), the most notable of which were the moving of the headlamps into the fenders. Also for the first time, running boards could be deleted with a rocker panel put in their place to cover the chassis, and two-tone paint schemes were available. New for 1941 was the Electromatic Drive , a vacuum-operated clutch system for

468-637: The feasibility of professional cars. Packard 180 The Packard Custom Super Eight One-Eighty was introduced for the 1940 model year (18th series) by the Packard Motor Car Company to replace the discontinued Packard Twelve as their top-of-the-line luxury model. The car was derived from the Packard Super Eight One-Sixty with which it shared the complete running gear including the in-line eight-cylinder , 356-cubic-inch (5,830 cc) engine that developed 180 horsepower . It

494-554: The most expensive Model 2250 listed for $ 4,668 ($ 63,696 in 2023 dollars ) for the limousine, putting it in competition with the Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special, Lincoln Continental and Chrysler Imperial Crown. An all-new streamlined appearance, commonly called ponton , was offered by Packard, and the Series 22 Custom Super Eight replaced the Custom Super Clipper and was the top-level trim package sedan, limousine and convertible. The "free-flow" slab-sided appearance

520-520: The partition in its Limousines in a way that there was no hint of it when the partition glass was lowered, allowing the owner to use the car by himself as a sedan (thus the designation "Sedan Limousine" by Packard). In 1940, Packard made air conditioning an option. It was developed by the Henney Motor Company , with whom Packard had a long-standing business connection. Air conditioning had been used on Henney-bodied ambulances as early as 1938. It

546-463: The standard Clipper passenger compartment body with front fender and hood extensions to accommodate the longer wheelbase, and the model identification was inscribed below the front door vent window. Optional equipment included a heater, AM-radio, rear wheel fender skirts, Electromagnetic Clutch, full-wheel covers and white sidewall discs that complemented the 15" wheels. A total of 1,472 Custom Super Clippers were manufactured for 1946, 5,690 for 1947 with

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572-536: The war. This was much fewer than planned. Building even this number of cars would have overstretched Darrin's Hollywood workshops so they were built by American Central Manufacturing - one of the last remnants of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg conglomerate - in Connersville ("Little Detroit") Indiana instead. Darrin would travel back and forth between California and Indiana supervising construction. This work

598-573: Was advertised as the most powerful eight-cylinder engine offered by any automobile manufacturer in 1940. (By contrast, the Cadillac Series 70 346 cubic inch V-8 developed 150 hp). It was complemented and gradually replaced by the more modern looking and mid-level Packard Clipper in 1941 and integrated into the Super Eight after the war. Packards of all series (110, 120, 160, 180) shared similar body styling in 1940 (which some later said led to

624-537: Was shared with all Packards and senior trim levels could be distinguished with an egg-crate grille, and horizontal bars below the traditional "ox-yoke" grille that wrapped around to the front wheel opening. The overall appearance was distinctive, with Packard winning several awards for the design, including the "Fashion Car of the Year" from the New York Fashion Academy . The "Winged Goddess" cormorant hood ornament

650-567: Was shifted to Sayers & Scovill in Cincinnati (the company became Hess & Eisenhardt in 1942) to let ACM concentrate on building Jeep bodies. Between 59 and 72 Packard Darrins were built in 1940, of which 44 (or 48) were One-Eighties and the remainder One-Twenties . For the 1941 and 1942 model years the four-door Darrins were discontinued, leaving only the Convertible Victoria. When production returned for civilian use October 1945,

676-465: Was the first time that air conditioning was available on a stock automobile. The Packard 180 was also the first car to have power windows . In an exclusive agreement with Packard from 1937 until Henney's demise in 1954, Henney provided bodies for Packards's ambulances , hearses and flower cars , and they often provided special custom bodywork for passenger cars. The pre-World War II Henney models usually had 160-180 trim but were actually constructed on

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