This ad would've made all the difference --

Posted by su8overdrive On 2012/5/9 15:32:07

The below was posted amongst the Recent Photos sidebar of this very site. We've read so many times over the years how the junior cars bled the Packard name white, despite BMW and Mercedes today having no trouble selling Taurus/Camry-competing 3-Series and C-Class cars.

And, if we've learnt anything from Rolls-Royce, which various esteemed British motoring journalists have themselves dismissed as "....a great confidence trick" and "a triumph of craftsmanship over engineering," upscale advertising is everything.

Perception is everything.

After all, from 1935-on, when most of R-R's business was aero engines, automobiles more of a boutique sideline, all Rolls-Royce/Bentleys, other than the handful of troublesome Phantom III V-12s, trace their engine to the original junior "Small Horsepower" 20 of 1922, itself based on the current Buick Six, only in the words of one English motoring writer, "....not so good."

And, of course, after the war, R-R and their Bentley clones were largely assembled cars, with bodies by Pressed Steel, who whacked out bodies for half the UK motor industry, even lowly Austin, just as Briggs supplied Packard, Chrysler, Ford.
R-R/Bentley increasingly used GM components; HydraMatic, Delco ignition parts, etc.

With that in mind, look at this smart ad for the lowly 1938 Packard Six. My meager computer abilities prevent my attaching the ad you see to the right of this forum here. Perhaps one of you tech-savvy souls might manage that.

If only domestic ads for this car had been as crisp, upscale, Packard might've danced along as Packard, not the also-ran they became from 1948-on:

1938 PACKARD-ENGLAND ADVERT-B&W
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