Re: We haven't had a good "What If?" for a while, so.....

Posted by Ross On 2012/4/8 20:10:47

That was excellent, Steve. Thanks.

A few years ago at Warren they had the big '37 exposition and I was stunned by number of different models and bodies available. Even forgetting the custom stuff the tooling expense had to have been phenomenal. Just a few years later Packard and others could scarcely tool a full lineup--for example no Clipper convertibles and just a 2 and 4 door sedan.

A little later yet and Packard spent a huge sum of money just to rebody the clipper into the 22nd series. 11 million was it? And that with enough carryover parts that the slogan should have been "First by far with a prewar car".

I have not been able to reckon how such a drastic change in tooling and production capability happened in the space of ten years. Would love to hear some insider comments.