Feature Car Story

1955 400 Hardtop

Owned by Gene Stout

My black and white ’55 400 was sold new in October 1955 to a contractor in Depoe Bay, Ore., by Harms Motor Sales of Gresham, Ore. The car came from the factory in solid white, but was later two-toned in black and white. I have often wondered if it was the dealer who two-toned the car in order to sell it so late in the model year. It definitely looks flashier in black and white.

The car came with the optional “Orchid Cloth” interior featuring a knobby, floral-patterned “boucle” fabric accented with white leather trim and black imitation patent leather. It’s a very striking interior, typical of the lavish interiors on most Packard V8s. Even though I had to repair sections of the front seat, the back seat is completely original (thanks to clear-plastic seat covers, which I removed when I bought the car). 

I was a college student at the time I purchased the ’55 in 1972 from Ron Helton, a Renton hair stylist and early member of the Pacific Northwest Region of the Packards International Motor Car Club. The odometer showed only 58,000 miles at the time, and the car drove like new. I paid Ron his asking price of $650, which was moderately high but not unreasonable at the time. In the early 1970s, late-model Packards often sold for $75 to $100 in running, jalopy condition, but Ron’s ’55 was a very nice low-mileage car. 

In 1971, before I purchased the car, Ron allowed me to take it to KIRO-TV, which had offered to do a live TV spot on our newly formed Pacific Northwest Region. So I brought Ron’s ’55 and then-member Hugh Russell brought his two-tone blue 1941 180 sedan with dual sidemounts to the station’s new studios on Third Avenue in Seattle. The cars made quite a pair on the “Noon News” segment with Sandy Hill and Harry Wappler. It was particularly exciting to be on the air with Hill, a former Miss Washington who later became the first co-host of TV’s “Good Morning, America.” Hill has been described as the Katie Couric of her era. Hill loved the black and white ’55.