"Nobody's ever made a car that looked like a fish before. We'll be the first!" And so the Packard brand, which once rivaled Cadillac, came to a close...a really ugly close. The bolt-on fiberglass nose was at best horrible. Angled rear fins, covered in gold Mylar, unnecessary and tacky.

I made up the opening quote about the fish. But Packard in 1958 actually used this one: "...Packard cars are the most original on the American road."

Underneath all the originality it was simply a Studebaker Hawk, and its creation the product of a disastrous merger that would doom both brands.

Studebaker would limp along for another few years, but 1958 was the last gasp for Packard. This was the only year for the Packard Hawk. Just 588 came off the Studebaker assembly line in South Bend IN.

This one is preserved in the growing collection of Packards at Afton Station, a former D-X (later DX) gas station in Afton OK.