Re: Are 57 and 58 Packards really Packards

Posted by Predictor On 2009/9/11 20:53:11

Firstly, the assembly lines in South Bend were in fact way too narrow for a leviathan like a Packard to be built on.

Secondly, S-P was hemorrhaging money nearly as fast as the Federal Reserve is printing nowadays...they literally couldn't afford to keep the Detroit/Utica AND South Bend operations going, it HAD to be one or the other. Once again the bean counters screwed us all by only considering sales (or production capacity) rather than profitability nor potential future viability.

Studebaker had basically two different automagic transmixers, both by Borg-Warner. The early 3 band (Automatic Drive) and the later Flight-O-Matic which many people believe to be a two speed but is actually a 3 speed. Normally it had 2nd gear start unless the gas pedal is floored, but I digress...there was a heavy duty water cooled (radiator cooler) version (Power-Flight) which relied on a vacuum modulator instead of throttle valve linkage that was used in trucks and the more powerful cars like the Avanti etc. This could've been up to the task of handling the higher torque and weight of a Packard.

One other thing, the Automatic Drive units had lock up torque perverters, something not widely known.