Mahoning63 wrote: Excellent work, Leon! Absolutely fascinating. Your recounting of the first International Motorsports Show and build up to the big "Mystery Sport Car" reveal had me on edge of seat! Thank you for your incredible contribution, and thanks to anyone who helped you with the research and editing, of which am guessing might include Stuart?
Had so many questions as I read. For sure was wondering if there was any info on cost to build the Second series. Same as #1 or was Henney able to find efficiencies? Could the cost to produce a small run been reduced in some meaningful way had certain design changes been made and all work done at standard pay with no overtime?
Henney comes out looking very good. Seems Packard never figured out how to fully leverage that company's unique and incredible talents in the early 50s. Am left wondering if somewhere between the style-first Pan American and utilitarian Executive Sedan/Corporation Limousine there were opportunities in the $7,000 - $10,000 range to do low volume exciting vehicles that would have put Packard out in front of Cadillac. On related note found your comments about Nance's attitude towards Packard's designs of that era noteworthy. I think Reinhart emerges as one of the true masters, but apparently the subtlety of his Contour design and how to build on it was lost on Nance.
Paul
Hello Paul. Thanks much for the very kind words. I am glad you found the TPC article enjoyable. It is not something that was a joint project. For instance the chart in the center spread is something I made up from scratch. No one ever did that one before-at least not like it is done here. It is a matter of a lifetime of collecting, saving, talking with people, chasing down stories, chasing down cars, studying the cars I saw and taking photos. And weeding out truth from myth. For instance, online internet and magazine articles and auction company histories will tell you that Pan Am #6 was Pan Am #1 and that it never had a top. None of that is true at all. Can't tell you how many times I chased all over the country and into Europe on the trail of a "Pan American" that turned out to be a Caribbean...some beat to a pulp or wildly customized. Of course it took me many years to write what you read. I imagine that some thought it would never be done.
But likewise, almost any historical article is a bit of a collaboration by nature. All of which is why I credit and thank so many people who provided photos and information and leads. And again, of course Stuart is editor and-as always-does an incredible job. The club (and Packard fans in general) is(are) wildly lucky to have him at the helm of TPC.His skill, passion, enthusiasm and energy are boundless. But the editing was not to re-write me, rather it was to condense and corral what I wrote into a size that would fit in The Packard Cormorant magazine. Even as it is, he had to get special permission to add more pages to this issue. But Stuart did a masterful job in laying out the piece and making it all look so beautiful. He also took some of the recent color pics. In the end probably 20-30% of the text had to be cut and I had lots and lots more photos-most of which that have never been published had to be left out. But we only had so much room.
As for Packard and their ability to make money off of hand-built specialty cars made by outsiders, the crux of the matter to ever make such stuff work is in the sometimes magical concept of "economies of scale." Having worked on the OEM level in the automotive business I can tell you-no matter what you are building-there have to be enough buyers out there in car land to assure you can make enough of whatever it is. This, to get the retail price down to a profitable amount and still be exciting and attractive to buyers. This-even today is still the magic formula. But the romance and passion of all this old school car biz is slowly being lost.
In fact it is worse with most car companies now being run by people more oriented in Wall Street finance and wanting to pay out huge dividends to stockholders...with little to no romance or emotion being involved. Which is why most cars today either look like frowning potatoes or grinning jelly beans and you have to get up close on one to read the name to know which brand is which.
Companies are now turning their noses up at anything that doesn't generate huge sales and outrageous profits (for instance trucks vs. cars). All of which is why car companies don't want to bother with making cars anymore when trucks and SUVs generate far more profit per unit. This is despite that many cars still being good sellers and profitable. it's becoming all about profits and those old passions and biz models are less and less relevant to those running things.
In Packard's case, Jim Nance had far too many issues to resolve when he first arrived to focus too much energy on making money with Henney. Had things continued as he wanted (and dare I say in the right direction) whatever Henney was doing would have been handled by Creative Industries of Detroit-which was closer, better equipped and more wide-ranging. Creative could do everything from engineering to fabrication to metallurgies to specialized welding to new technologies. And Nance already had several of his designers camped out there anyway. Had the 1957 real Packards have been built as planned, you would have seen a very different enterprise for Packard and the way it interacted with outside suppliers/coachbuilders.
As for Nance appreciating Reinhart's work, I'm sure he did, but not those tail lights. He couldn't stand them and they had been (excuse the pun) hanging around for 4 long years. And when viewing this situation one must always keep in mind that this was the 1950s. Back then something brand-new was expected by the American car buyer and the industry-every 365 days! Car designs that were over a year old were considered ancient. A 4-year-old car tail light was worse than a 4-year-old computer is today! Obsolete and over-baked-no matter how good or artful it may have been. That's what Jim was reacting to. Besides, Reinhart was long gone by then.
Anyway, thanks again for your kind comments and appreciation.
Great article. Only able to read it now after receiving the magazine once it crossed the Pacific!
Ahhh. Well, sorry for the wait, but thanks for the compliment! Glad to know you are enjoying the Pan American history in The Packard Cormorant magazine. There are quite a few years tied up in this one!
