Re: Packard & Hudson proximity

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2013/2/12 15:15:29

Agree that such a deal would have solved all the problems mentioned. Also agree that striking said deal would have been a challenge for all the reasons stated plus one: Packard would have almost certainly had to give up its independence and let Chrysler run the show. That was not something on the Board's or Nance's mind in 1954. But let's say it happened. The '57 Imperials may well have been Packards instead, with appropriate changes to the front appearance. Perhaps full torsion level would have been offered too. Most certainly Chrysler's '57 quality problems would have come as standard equipment. Ex would have likely dialed in both brilliance and bizarreness to the Packard line over the next 5 years, then Engel would have squared them up, then bloated them out in '69. Seems the history is fairly clear that Chrysler mgmt wasn't up to the task in those years.

Am starting to conclude that Packard might have been able to save itself in early 1956 after all. Not with the expensive "'57 Program" or a Lincoln body shell but with a careful clean-up of the design it already had. Same goes for Studebaker, which also needed to pull out of the tailspin in '57 for the company to survive. I keep going back to two historical facts, the first being what Gordon Buehrig said about good design being largely a matter of proportion and second, Packard selling lots of Seniors in '37 not because they had the most up to date stylig but becausee they were refined. To make a classic saleable luxury car in '57 for the old guard and some new, Packard may have only needed a few things: new front fenders, hood and traditional Packard or Predictor grill with hidden headlamps, a Predictor-style roof but rounded a bit more, and an uplifted and more squared decklid. For luxury car proportions they needed to use the long deck 400/Caribbean for the sedan and move the front axle out probably 7 inches for a new sedan wheelbase of 139 inches. Coupe would sit on 134 inch wheelbase. And the sedan's body insert between front and rear door had to go, instead trimming the coupe's front door to get a longer sedan door outer and working in frameless door windows all around. Meanwhile, Studebaker needed to ditch the tall bodies and make a 4 dr hardtop based on the Hawk and do some other clean-up but leave the front fenders, hood and grill alone. No Clipper, sell loaded Studebakers instead. Hope to survive '57 and '58 then do something big for '59.
Just a thought.