Re: The Old Motor: Packard Pan American article
Posted by 58L8134 On 2019/1/8 11:20:32
While The Old Motor article pales in comparison to Leeedy's comprehensive and in depth examination of the Pan American's history in the current The Cormorant, the one image included is of particular interest.
This photo of the body jigs and fixture platform shows how they built their bodies, in this case one of the lwb sedans or limousines. Unlike later practices by other specialty coachbuilders where a standard assembled body shell was cut and length stretched to insert the necessary addition parts, Henney built the works up completely from stampings supplied by Packard as a kit as well as those they created in-house.
Very labor-intensive and costly, part of the reason the '53-'54 lwb models weren't price competitive with those from Cadillac. Only the Chrysler Crown Imperials were on the same price level and returned the same miniscule sales numbers.
Steve
Photo credit: The Old Motor
Added 1-9-2019
Another The Old Motor feature on the Pan Americans appearing a dealerships, this including nice photos of the John Ramp, Inc. Indianapolis 1953 Grand Opening:http://theoldmotor.com/?p=173511
Attach file:
(204.65 KB)
This photo of the body jigs and fixture platform shows how they built their bodies, in this case one of the lwb sedans or limousines. Unlike later practices by other specialty coachbuilders where a standard assembled body shell was cut and length stretched to insert the necessary addition parts, Henney built the works up completely from stampings supplied by Packard as a kit as well as those they created in-house.
Very labor-intensive and costly, part of the reason the '53-'54 lwb models weren't price competitive with those from Cadillac. Only the Chrysler Crown Imperials were on the same price level and returned the same miniscule sales numbers.
Steve
Photo credit: The Old Motor
Added 1-9-2019
Another The Old Motor feature on the Pan Americans appearing a dealerships, this including nice photos of the John Ramp, Inc. Indianapolis 1953 Grand Opening:http://theoldmotor.com/?p=173511
Attach file:
(204.65 KB)
This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=208535