Re: SP merger

Posted by Steve203 On 2015/2/26 17:30:29

One of the Studebaker books I have read, I think it was the one about Harold Churchill, discussed that issue.

At the time of the closing of Detroit operations, the entire Nance crew was on the way out and long time Studebaker engineer Churchill became President, there were discussions about moving the Packard tooling to South Bend, which had plenty of surplus capacity, and continuing production.

The Studebaker body plant, which had been built in the mid 20s, was narrow, and six stories tall. The Packard bodies were some 6-8" wider than the Studebaker bodies, and the paint booths and ovens would have needed to be widened to accommodate the Packard bodies. This would have cost into the millions.

What the book did not go into was the powertrain. S-P had lost the use of the Utica plant to C-W, so at the minimum, the V8 line would have to have been reinstalled in South Bend, then either adopt a Borg Warner trans to it, or pay millions more to move the Ultramatic line to South Bend as well.

What S-P ended up doing, tarting up a President and calling it a Clipper, was the only thing a broke company could do, and keep the Packard name alive in the event that there was an opportunity down the line to make "real" Packards again.