Re: What SINGLE factor MOST contributed to the demise of Packard?
Posted by Steve203 On 2015/2/28 14:08:06
The details of why are in Mr. Neal's last book. I'd post it but I don't want to be a spoiler for those still reading it.
So warn others not to read your post. Spill the beans!
Their best production year was 1950: 320,884 units. It must have been organized chaos using that factory to knock out so many cars.
The worst year for production havoc was 53, because the "Lowey coupe" was an entirely different body which shared no stampings with the sedan models. iirc, that conveyor system cost them on the order of $600,000
seems if that might have been a better approach than eventually having far-flung operations.
According to several accounts, Packard management had been brainwashed that they "needed" a single story plant, in spite of Dodge Main, Chrysler on Jefferson and Cadillac on Clark St, all as old as EGB, humming away until the early 80s.
My suspicion is that it was Packard hubris again that lead to building Utica, as if they expected to get jet engine contracts forever. Then moving the engine and transmission lines to Utica to make use of the space. The film on youtube about the V8 just says E Grand wasn't suitable, but doesn't say why. It shows Ray Powers saying Utica is "almost ideal". Moving the existing transmission and rear axle lines to Utica cost a few million dollars, and added the cost of trucking the parts back to Detroit.
Looking at the late 40s DTE aerials, you can see that the residential neighborhood next to building 84 was pretty sparse. It looks like half of the houses had already been torn down. A while back I was playing around with a photo cut and paste program, and imagined if building 22 had been built fronting on E Grand, where the new car storage lot was in later years. Then imagined what it would look like in 52, with the neighborhood bought up and 84/22 expanded to fill the space.
Attach file:
(55.75 KB)
(53.61 KB)
So warn others not to read your post. Spill the beans!
Their best production year was 1950: 320,884 units. It must have been organized chaos using that factory to knock out so many cars.
The worst year for production havoc was 53, because the "Lowey coupe" was an entirely different body which shared no stampings with the sedan models. iirc, that conveyor system cost them on the order of $600,000
seems if that might have been a better approach than eventually having far-flung operations.
According to several accounts, Packard management had been brainwashed that they "needed" a single story plant, in spite of Dodge Main, Chrysler on Jefferson and Cadillac on Clark St, all as old as EGB, humming away until the early 80s.
My suspicion is that it was Packard hubris again that lead to building Utica, as if they expected to get jet engine contracts forever. Then moving the engine and transmission lines to Utica to make use of the space. The film on youtube about the V8 just says E Grand wasn't suitable, but doesn't say why. It shows Ray Powers saying Utica is "almost ideal". Moving the existing transmission and rear axle lines to Utica cost a few million dollars, and added the cost of trucking the parts back to Detroit.
Looking at the late 40s DTE aerials, you can see that the residential neighborhood next to building 84 was pretty sparse. It looks like half of the houses had already been torn down. A while back I was playing around with a photo cut and paste program, and imagined if building 22 had been built fronting on E Grand, where the new car storage lot was in later years. Then imagined what it would look like in 52, with the neighborhood bought up and 84/22 expanded to fill the space.
Attach file:
(55.75 KB)
(53.61 KB)
This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=158319