Re: Packard & Hudson proximity

Posted by Tim Wile On 2013/2/12 10:39:54

I always thought it would have been interesting if Chrysler and Packard could have done a deal whereby Packard would step in as Chrysler's luxury brand instead of Chrysler trying to upgrade the Imperial to compete with Cadillac and Lincoln. Chrysler was also the only one intersted in Allison's torsion bar suspension system after Packard bit the dust in 1956 (for all practical intents and purposes). Imperial was introduced several times as a separate marque but never quite took hold.

Packard would have had a V-8 available upon merger and/or acquisition and the proximity would have been similar to that with Hudson. The other advantage would be that when Chrysler acquired Briggs in '54, the body business would not have shifted entirely to Packard and the Connor Ave plant would have been in-house.

Since we're wandering down the road of possibilities here, what does the group think about what would have been the result had Packard and Chrysler struck a deal in '54 rather than Packard's disasterious acquisition of Studebaker.