Re: What would a traditional Packard "Senior" have looked like in 1951?
Posted by Mahoning63 On 2017/8/5 8:00:09
"I have to disagree with concept of that 1954 Packard advertisement. No wonder James Nance hated Packard advertising! That photo shows some creepy older guy squiring an attractive younger lady with a four-door sedan in the forefront. These were not the people Packard should have been trying to appeal to. By the early 1950s the advertising industry generally tried to appeal to young families or carefree driving in convertibles. Nance was correct when he said that the ad agency handling the Packard account had dropped the ball and that what was appearing in magazines and newspapers was pathetic. By 1954 a Packard was no longer a status symbol."
That's a great point. A more youthful and sporting nature were the future. Ironically, Packard ads in the Twenties and Thirties sometimes communicated just that and Pierce-Arrow long played in that space.
I have no sympathy for Nance, though. He needed look no further than the mirror for 1954's problems. If we take May, 1952 - his arrival - as starting point, where he inherited Ferry's half-baked showroom that sold fairly well against Buick, Olds and others in the $2500 price range but completely flopped in the $3200 Buick and $3600 Cadillac range, and inexcusably abstained from the $4200 Sixty Special range, what could he have done?
I think it's pretty simple and this isn't just hindsight, if internal and external complaints of the day are any indication. Instead of firing old hands and replacing them with Hotpoint kitchen help, then wasting a year having the busy bodies cook up hundreds of charts and graphs, Nance should have posed a simple question to the existing Packard team: "How can we turn things around against Cadillac, affordably and in short order?"
Engineering would have suggested all the things they eventually delivered - V8, reworked Ultramatic, innovative new suspension, power steering, integrated A/C. Marketing would have suggested that Packard's upper range distance itself from the lower range, which Nance would have liked. Manufacturing would have said bring body production in house to get the quality up and costs down. And finally, Design would have weighed in, in typical oblivious fashion:
"Mr. Nance, we need an all-new car with a fresh, modern appearance that is longer, lower and wider."
"Yeah, and I need my receding hairline to grow back! Come on guys, tell me something I can afford and have ready for 1954."
Here's where Design would have needed to think hard. What was more important, fresh appearance or better proportions? They could only have one. The first would have led to the '55 design they eventually delivered. The second?
Let's fantasize that Nance chose Door #2 and the team hustled to put out a 1954 Pacific line that included a 132 wb (I shortened the hood extension from 6 to 5 inches because it looked better) sedan with hardtop roof style and 1.5 inches sectioned from body, and a 127 hardtop coupe and convertible with 5 inch shorter body than sedan. Maybe the program would have involved lots of new tooling, or maybe simply 5 inch extensions added to fenders, hood, deck and roof, and panels sectioned in the body shop. The sporting new line would have necessarily been priced in the Sixty Special range.
For advertising, "Pacific" and sleek new lines would have targeted west coast's new rather than Patrician's east coast old money. For imagery I think the attractive model in evening gown was still in order, though less stuffy and pretentious and more like Grace Kelly - light hearted and whimsical.
The 1954 Pacific brochure did just fine with the backdrop imagery and words. It was Nance who didn't deliver the car.
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That's a great point. A more youthful and sporting nature were the future. Ironically, Packard ads in the Twenties and Thirties sometimes communicated just that and Pierce-Arrow long played in that space.
I have no sympathy for Nance, though. He needed look no further than the mirror for 1954's problems. If we take May, 1952 - his arrival - as starting point, where he inherited Ferry's half-baked showroom that sold fairly well against Buick, Olds and others in the $2500 price range but completely flopped in the $3200 Buick and $3600 Cadillac range, and inexcusably abstained from the $4200 Sixty Special range, what could he have done?
I think it's pretty simple and this isn't just hindsight, if internal and external complaints of the day are any indication. Instead of firing old hands and replacing them with Hotpoint kitchen help, then wasting a year having the busy bodies cook up hundreds of charts and graphs, Nance should have posed a simple question to the existing Packard team: "How can we turn things around against Cadillac, affordably and in short order?"
Engineering would have suggested all the things they eventually delivered - V8, reworked Ultramatic, innovative new suspension, power steering, integrated A/C. Marketing would have suggested that Packard's upper range distance itself from the lower range, which Nance would have liked. Manufacturing would have said bring body production in house to get the quality up and costs down. And finally, Design would have weighed in, in typical oblivious fashion:
"Mr. Nance, we need an all-new car with a fresh, modern appearance that is longer, lower and wider."
"Yeah, and I need my receding hairline to grow back! Come on guys, tell me something I can afford and have ready for 1954."
Here's where Design would have needed to think hard. What was more important, fresh appearance or better proportions? They could only have one. The first would have led to the '55 design they eventually delivered. The second?
Let's fantasize that Nance chose Door #2 and the team hustled to put out a 1954 Pacific line that included a 132 wb (I shortened the hood extension from 6 to 5 inches because it looked better) sedan with hardtop roof style and 1.5 inches sectioned from body, and a 127 hardtop coupe and convertible with 5 inch shorter body than sedan. Maybe the program would have involved lots of new tooling, or maybe simply 5 inch extensions added to fenders, hood, deck and roof, and panels sectioned in the body shop. The sporting new line would have necessarily been priced in the Sixty Special range.
For advertising, "Pacific" and sleek new lines would have targeted west coast's new rather than Patrician's east coast old money. For imagery I think the attractive model in evening gown was still in order, though less stuffy and pretentious and more like Grace Kelly - light hearted and whimsical.
The 1954 Pacific brochure did just fine with the backdrop imagery and words. It was Nance who didn't deliver the car.
Attach file:
(159.17 KB)
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