Quote:
Steve203 wrote:
Leeedy, add to your list nearly every US Navy combat ship smaller than a carrier uses gas turbins.
But with all the money and talent put into automotive gas turbines, none of the companies that made that investment was able to make a business case to put them into production.
wrt Packard experimenting with fuel injection, they were not alone. AMC also experimented with the Bendix "Electrojector" system in the late 50s. Chrysler actually got a few Electrojector equipped cars sold, but soon retrofitted those cars with conventional carburetors because the EFI was so underdeveloped and unreliable at that time.
My focus on the "what if" threads is what could Packard have done, with the resources at hand, on it's own, without a handout from the government or other well heeled entity, to get itself past 1956.
We know how the Studebaker thing turned out
We have established that a purchase of Willow Run, as you suggest, would have broken them faster.
Best things I can come up with are the merger with Hudson as Barit offered, and diversification into truck engines, either on their own or by aquisition, but I don't know who in the industry at that time would have been small enough for Packard to aquire (Hercules in Canton, Ohio?)
My list was never, ever, ever meant to be all inclusive. OMG! I'm just jotting notes out of memory in a forum here.
Also never said Packard was alone in developing fuel injection for 1957. I would have to be insane or having some severe alzheimer's to think or say that! Especially since I was one of the first people invited IN DETROIT to see the new 1957 Pontiac Bonneville WITH fuel injection (by the way, one of the first public showings was at the Detroit Auto SHow, held at the Detroit Artillery Armory on West 8-Mile Road... and I can even tell you that the Bonneville was up on a turntable and if I recall correctly, it was white with a blue stripe. Either way, I was there too). And Chevrolet also had F.I. in 1957. I know all these things but did not think I had to list them all.
The reasons why gas turbines never "made it to production" ought to be obvious, but apparently they are not. This is sad. And people sat there like fatted cattle when the cars were excluded from racing! And now we're wondering why they didn't get into production? Wow. Perhaps you've heard of Tucker. That didn't make real production either-of course they did make 50 cars. That magic number again.
And who says that given Packard's expertise in jet engines that they could not have done as well as or better than Chrysler's team did with gas turbines? Who is to say that Packard could have never made a production version turbine? We don't know because they were never allowed to get that far. It's called vision... and that is what-to me-
"what-ifs" are all about.
I can tell you that there is a very popular car running around the streets today. I suggested something for it that I was originally told was IMPOSSIBLE. But I got one designed, made and into production. First there is the "what-if"... then there is there is the vision... and THEN, if the planets align and the finance and willingness are there... it may just happen for real. This is how movies get made every day. Look at George Lucas' story. And THIS is how cars-really interesting cars-used to get made. Once upon a time. It may be a distant memory for the car biz... but it actually worked...for a while.
Anyway, I also did not realize the title of the thread was "What If Packard
Could Have Done With Resources At Hand".... I just thought it was
"What Ifs"...
So from here on out, I'll just remain silent on the topic. Thank you.
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