Re: Packard designers: the Coming and Going of

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2014/10/14 12:53:23

Thanks for the updated information on Bill Schmidt. Then he had a hand in those fabulous 1949-51 Lincoln Cosmopolitans that were based on the Mercury substructure. And then, on the 52-55 Lincolns that were the most expensive Mercuries that you could buy. I wonder if Schmidt left Ford when he got the word that his 55 Lincoln would not get the new wrap-around windshield body that virtually every other car maker had that year. But the 56 Lincolns more than made up for it in my mind's eye.

I also wonder what it was that lured him to Packard in mid-1955 cycle? Surely by then, the writing was beginning to appear on the financial walls of Detroit. Was it the combination of Schmidt and Teague that convinced Packard management to do all that they did to make some costly styling changes to the do-or-die 1956 Packards and Clippers? No bean counters, today, would have approved the changes that they made in tooling, let alone differences in other parts of the cars like aluminum castings for the 56 Ultramatics.

I'll have to get the Holls book for my library. Thanks for the citation. It's people like Dick Teague whose career at GM, Packard, AMC and Chrysler, that makes this subject fascinating for me. His work spanned the post-war Cadillacs,1951 Packards, through the Jeep Cherokee to the Dodge Neon. Was it Bill Schmidt who encouraged Teague to never say never and do more with less as the corporate walls were falling around them?