Re: Postwar LWB Market Production

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2016/2/28 20:16:49

Steve - perhaps another reason the '55-56 Imperial was so expensive was that the planners conservatively assumed Imperial's traditional low sales, conceding that the Imperial name, no matter how good the car, would be incapable of generating sales approaching Cadillac. Had the standard and lwb Imperials really taken off in these years we may well have seen a lwb '57 made in-house and priced closer to Cadillac, rather than a super-expensive, super low-volume limo sourced from Ghia.

Speaking of which, one wonders what Cadillac thought of that ultra-expensive '57 Ghia Imperial lwb being priced near its new Eldorado Brougham and even exceeding it the following year (the nerve!). We know the Eldo B was a big money loser and Cadillac probably turned to Italy in '59 for the same reason, but only to make its odd-ball flagship for two more years. Caddy limos continued to be made in-house.

Which brings us back to Packard. Realistically it was the only name that could have run with Cadillac in this segment in these years, Lincoln floundering with smaller, non-descript, near-luxury cars. When Nance arrived he had lots of options. Caddy's all-new 1950 limo initially had its roof welded together in sections using standard sedan roof and insert. Only later, maybe in '51 or '52, did the roof come from one dedicated stamping. This suggests that Packard could have done the same, not only with roofs but doors too, using a combo of stock stampings and inserts. It apparently didn't make financial sense for deep-pocketed Cadillac but would have been the perfect solution for small Packard. To do so, Nance would have needed to gain control of Conner as soon as possible so that he could set up off-line operations next to the line. With all, he could have started making waves in the market with interesting new models as early as 1953. There was plenty of room in the plant and had Nance done this, final assembly probably would have stayed at EGB in the succeeding years.