Re: Why no Packard in a "Packard"?

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2012/4/8 20:34:55

Guy - you make a good point about the similar 289/374 engine weights. Also, the '56 Golden Hawk did in fact sell in higher volumes than the '56 Sky Hawk despite its higher price, suggesting that the Packard engine in the Hawk was a winning combo in the public's eye. Score two for your idea. You might need around ten to make this work but let's forget score keeping and just plow ahead and have some fun.

First, just to be clear on what you are suggesting, were the engines that you say "existed" a part of the service pool that OEMs are required to provide for 20 yrs, or were these additional units? If additional, how many are we talking about?

Onward to the '57 woulda-coulda's. If our goal is to explore how the Packard flame might have been kept burning, and if raiding all or part of the service stock was an option (I don't think this was was until years later when Studebaker went out of business), I say let's let it rip and really mine this.

Let's assume that a portion of the service supply was somehow deemed "available", maybe to the tune of a few hundred units per year for 57/58. Let's further assume that this supply included equal numbers of parts for EVERY PART on the '56 Packard series. Let's also for the moment park the question of what to do for 1959 and beyond. S-P could have done a Golden Hawk like you have suggested, assuming the Twin Ultramatic was available in equal limited quantities as the V8. I think it would have been fine as a product but would have still looked like a Studebaker. Why not try to leverage the parts bin even more?

Here's an example. S-P contracts with Derham to hand build a series of custom cars based on the '56 parts. The result is a low slung 4-door hardtop to take on the '57/58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, at a similar or higher price ($13,000+). What would such a car look like? Here's one thought: maximize the usage of existing parts to minimize hand fabrication and ensure the car looks like an evolved Packard rather than something completely off the wall. Section the body several inches, get rid of the body insert between the front and rear doors (move the rear doors forward a few inches), convert the rear doors to reverse opening if need be, use the Four Hundred's pillerless roof, rear quarters and 127" wheelbase, use the grill as is but lower the headlights like Henney did with the Pan American, and allow the exterior paint and interior trim to be anything the customer wants. Finally, and most importantly, make as much hay as possible by advertising the car extensively, thus keeping Packard alive in the public's eye.