Cadillac Inside: 1981 Bayliff Packard

What you’re looking at isn’t just a Cadillac in a fake mustache, it’s the product of Budd Bayliff’s peculiar quest to resurrect the Packard name long after the real company had folded. Bayliff was an Ohio-based coachbuilder who, starting in the late 1960s, began grafting neo-classical styling cues onto contemporary American cars—think upright grilles, cathedral taillights, and chrome ornaments meant to evoke the glory days of Packard. His “continuation” Packards were never officially connected to the original company (by then long dead), but he sold them to people who wanted something that looked like prestige without actually being prestige. This “Bayliff Packard” began life as a Cadillac Sedan DeVille, but after Bayliff and his crew were done, it left the shop with a vaguely Packard-like nose, extra chrome bracing that resembles orthodontia, and badging that was equal parts fantasy and delusion. Underneath, of course, it’s still pure GM smog-choked V8, Cadillac frame, and blue velour that screams “bank VP starter pack.” Today, it’s less a luxury sedan and more a curiosity: a rolling reminder that sometimes “reviving a storied marque” means bolting a new grille onto a perfectly good Cadillac. Find this 1981 Bayliff Packard offered for $7,500 in Boonton, NJ via Packbook Marketliff. Tip from Cory.

From the seller:

1981 Bayliff Packard 4 door
$7,500
Listed 4 days ago in Boonton, NJ
Seller’s description
1981 Bayliff Packard. (Based on a 1981 Cadillac Sedan Deville) Runs and drives. Title

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