Re: Confidential Information for Cadillac Retail Salesmen

Posted by 58L8134 On 2013/9/16 13:23:39

Hi

Thanks for posting this, it's instructive to see how even a make so well entrenched and dominant as Cadillac was by then would still bother to make comparison arguments to persuade prospects.

As much as we like the Patrician, one has to realistically admit it comes off as less modern and less of a bargain in that time. Pile on top the second-to-none resale value retention of Cadillacs and every Packard dealer was really up against it, to say nothing about how Buick and Olds were eatting his lunch too.

This also points up how critical the model year 1954 was for Packard to field significantly restyled, updated and upgraded lines. Management had to know if they analyzed the competition correctly that Olds, Buick and Cadillac were overdue for a new body for '54. GM was, for the most part, settling into a three year body cycle by then, the '50-'53 stretching it a bit.

Nance should have started immediately when he arrived in May 1952 on a crash program to heavily restyle and modify the existing Contour models into lines that would compete more affectively with those new GM offerings. A new body was out of the question since there wasn't sufficient time between summer '52 and fall '53 to do a proper styling, engineering and tooling job for timely introduction. And when it came to engine, he should have done whatever necessary to light a hot fire under Engineering to get that new V8 engine ready for '54!

Steve

Regarding the '54 Chrysler New York Deluxe, it was the optimum choice as a road car.....only if one could have ordered them with stick shift and overdrive.