Re: What SINGLE factor MOST contributed to the demise of Packard?

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2015/2/24 13:21:20

203- good point about buying Studebaker with cash, would have been a major hurdle unless the selling price was rock bottom.

Thinking about the architects of the Grand Plan, seems to me that if these guys really had a burning desire to make a great car and had a vision for what that car needed to be and understood that teaming with another big car company would greatly help them afford it, overtures of a very direct and emphatic nature would have been made long before all that money was spent separately developing all those cars between 1950-55.

For example, Mason would have said to himself in 1949 the moment he caught wind of Packard's plan to redesign for 1951: "That's it! My big opportunity to get in sync with Packard. I don't care how I do it, just know the next Nash ABSOLUTELY WILL RIDE on the next Packard platform. And I'll see if Packard has any interest in Nash's making a little car to sell in Packard showrooms based on my Rambler."

Or Ferry after it was clear the day the 1950 Cadillacs were revealed, which may well have coincided with the day he found out that Nash was going to redesign for 1952: "Oh oh, the cars we have in clay don't come out for another year and already they look out of date compared to Cadillac. I need to convince Mason to either let Packard in on Nash's redesign or convince him to climb aboard on Packard's next redesign. And the cars need to be even better looking than the O-B-C C-bodies, which means I need to short cycle the '51s and go for major redesign in '53. And I need to throw Mason a bone by offering him our V8."

Or Nance in 1952 would have looked at both Packard and Nash's current product and realized that BOTH needed redesigned ASAP, and barged into Mason's office screaming: "I don't care how we do it, let's just make sure we do it right and do it big for '55. Lower, wider, faster, sexier. And I want you to make Packard a Depression-proof little car based on your Rambler!"

And Mason and Nance all through the early '50s would have towel-whipped Barit every time they saw him in the DAC steam room: "Listen Ed, you better get those crab cars and your little crab _ss in gear or there ain't gonna be no Hudson in a few years. You're either with us or against us!"