Packard Forum Index » Studebaker Built Packards (1957 - 58)

Maybe someone told him that Studebaker had no Cost Accounting Procedure - thus - no idea how much it cost them to build a car or price it?

Thanks for your thoughts Jim.

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Following the short quotation from new member Bill (57pack) leads us to a deadly habit.

caption: Nash president George Mason with his ever-present cigar. His chain smoking of cigars caused him to contract pneumonia, leading to his death before completing the planned merger with Packard and Studebaker.


[source:http://bayphoto.blogspot.de/2012/07/packards-predictor-show-car.html]

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It was a genuine shame that so fine a man as Mason did not take better care of himself. He weighed more than 300 pounds and obviously did not exercise, but these should not take anything away from what a great man that he was. He got his start in the auto industry working for Walter Chrysler. When Charlie Nash was seeking a successor, Chrysler recommended Mason to his old friend. These were three honest, honorable men, unlike, apparently, the boys from Studebaker who pulled a fast one on Nance.

I am perplexed at why Packard would have gone ahead with a deal of this enormity without first having a clear picture of Studebaker's actual financial condition. It strikes me as similar to reaching an agreement to purchase a house only find there are numerous liens on it that the witless buyer will have to pay, on top of the asking price! One would think that a man with James Nance's experience would have thought about that before he signed on the bottom line.

I do not believe that by the 1950s it would have made that much of difference if Mason had survived and cobbled together an American Motors consisting of Nash. Studebaker, Hudson, and Packard. By the late 1940s it was clear that the Big Three were moving out in front of the independents in a huge way, leaving the independents with diminishing markets, cash, resources, and advertising. Remember the early 1990s? There were literally hundreds of Internet providers. Now there are only a handful who dominate the market. The marketplace is the proof of survival of the fittest.

Craig (MrBumble), thanks for your input. I've found an alternative article on the subject, titled "What great alliance", published eight years ago, which will probably arouse your interest.


[picture source: www.allpar.com]

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What a dramatic pictorial juxtaposition. Thanks Guscha. You find the most interesting items on the world wide web.

Cheers to you sir!

Guscha:

Great find about the "Grand Alliance." You really come up with some interesting and thoughtful topics and I appreciate them.

No one would ever say that James Nance was not self-serving. He was not a "car" man like George Mason, George Romney, and others who had cut their teeth on fenders, so to speak. Nance left a lot of people at Packard very angry and upset, not the least of whom were the Packard dealers. His idea to separate Clipper from Packard created consternation instead of cooperation, since Clippers were the best selling line of Packards. As a result, Packard was literally forced to add the small "Packard" logo to the trunks of most Clippers leaving the dealerships.

Packard owners and dealers were also not pleased with the merger of Packard and Studebaker. I think if a deal like that went down today, the kahunas of Packard would be thrown out. Studebakers had nothing in common with Packards and the Packardbakers that were assembled with leftover parts did not make anyone happy.

Mason made valiant efforts to lose weight. In the pictures above, he is noticeably thinner, and older with gray hair, in the first picture. The second picture appears to be several years earlier, and shows him to be at least 50 pounds heavier.

I remember an article from the early fifties that said, this man who looks like he eats seven course dinners, usually dines on salads and lettuce leaves.

As for exercise he was an avid fisherman and owned hundreds of acres along the Au Sable River when he died. He left the property to the Boy Scouts of America, along with $25000 "to pay for the fish I took out". They don't make men like that anymore.

PS Neither Mason nor Romney were car men. Mason was a very talented executive who had a good position at Frigidaire and was not interested in the auto business. When Charles Nash offered him the CEO position at Nash, he turned it down. Nash had to buy Frigidaire in order to get Mason to work for him.

Nash said there were 3 things that impressed him about Mason's work at Frigidaire. He took over a bankrupt company and turned it into a success, which was an accomplishment in itself, but a) he did it in the midst of the worst depression America had ever seen and b) he didn't fire anybody. The same management team that ran the firm into bankruptcy without Mason, made a smashing success with Mason at the helm.

Romney had no feel for the car business and soon left to go into politics.