Re: '66 Packard Model Car

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2012/8/27 20:31:19

Sports/luxury and luxury coupes were definately where the action was throughout most of the 60s and 70s. Packard might have done just fine for AMC as a one model brand (well, throw in a convertible version too) based on Exner's vision. Sounds like AMC needed to pull a Packard circa 1933 and raid GM (or Ford, but not Chrylser!) for not only a production genious but a chief engineer, both of whom specialized in quality luxury cars.

Had Abernathy played things differently he might have been able to keep the product simple and the costs down for the AMC line and pay for a new Packard Victoria Coupe, which appeared in Esquire magazine less than two years after he took office. Why groom an AMC-badged car to be your luxury car when you can sell a Packard instead? AMC could ask at most maybe $5000 for a 1969 Ambassador. A Packard with many of the same mechanicals could fetch thousands more while only costing hundreds more to produce.