Re: Convertibles

Posted by Charles Neuhaus On 2013/3/13 16:06:58

In 1955 I was in the graduating class of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. The graduation speaker was Paul Hoffman, Board Chairman of Studebaker-Packard and recently Chief of the Marshall Plan. In a small meeting with Mr. Hoffman I asked him , "Why didn't Studebaker build a convertible on the Loewy coupe chassis?" He replied that they had make a big mistake in that they underestimated the coupe's popularity, He added that when the board realized its error the engineers claimed that the first Loewy convertible could not be built until the 1955 model. The board felt that was too late. Hoffman then said, "That was their second mistake!"