Re: 1935 - Turning Point and What-Ifs

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2015/9/3 16:11:41

Your thoughts are always appreciated, Steve.

Great point about the width especially for the front seat passengers. The '33 Silver Arrow show car was there to be studied, at least in general terms. Packard wasn't about to go to straight-through fenders but there was no mistaking what a wider I/P could do for front seat comfort and actual and perceived space. And then there was the Airflow, which would have possibly launched in time to inform Packard's cowl width strategy.

Absolutely the Seniors need not have shared styling details. For the grill, the One Twenty's narrowish opening might not have even provided enough cooling air for large engines. I can visualize the '38 Senior grill and front fender appearance on these would-be '35 Seniors.

Your oft-mentioned $1,750 sweet spot and Cadillac's opportunistic moves to capture it are key, as you said. And we could easily extend this discussion to what Packard should have done for 1938 or 39 to stay apace with GM and the Sixty Special. Looking at it broadly, when one adds the capital Packard spent on the '35 One Twenty, 12th Series Seniors, '37 110, '37 138-CD, 15th Series Seniors, 16th Series Seniors and '38 Six and Eight and measures this against where they came out at decades end versus Cadillac, which had caught them and were fast pulling away, one has to conclude that although Packard saved themselves, they didn't accomplish a whole lot more other than keep pace with the main of the industry. They certainly didn't reaffirm their dominance of the luxury market as they could have.

Packard's problem wasn't lack of capital. Or scale. It was how the company spent its money. Of course, it's easy to look back and critique. But critique we must, if only to understand today's times and the turmoil that many OEMs face. It seems GM voluntarily put itself through a lot of pain in the Thirties, pushing itself to the point of major discomfort as it tried to re-imagine the automobile. Edsel Ford and Chrysler both showed up to play this game too. And yes, so did Packard with its FWD experiment, '32 Light Eight and '32-34 styling exercises. Then for some reason, it took its helmet off and headed for the locker room. Seems from 1935 on it didn't make the connection between saving itself and re-imagining the automobile. GM did, and let Cadillac lead the way.