Displaying Packard's new style for 1955, Dick Teague convinced Packard president James Nance that their newest show car should pay tribute to the classic vertical grille. Creative Industries did the modification on the third 1955 Four Hundred to come off the assembly line, and the car debuted at the 1955 Chicago Automobile show. Teague remembered he named the car 'The Request' as we wanted to reinstate the Packard radiator grille.
After the 1955 car show season and a tour of dealerships, the car returned to Detroit. When Packard closed its doors in the Motor City in 1956, the car was driven out of the factory and disappeared for nearly 20 years. It finally turned up in Washington State - it had been sitting in a field after being involved in an accident. Major repairs were done to the front end and the Request reappeared at the Packard Club convention in Oakland, CA, in 1983.
The current owner acquired the car and found more work needed to be done. The front suspension was beefed up to support the added weight of the unique hood and front bumper (which weigh 1,040 pounds alone) and the original interior was recreated. New exterior paint recreates the original ivory and copper tones.
