Re: Ex-Packard Designers

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2014/7/18 21:28:25

Seems to me that the only car makers who were making more than very minor changes to their 49s and 50s cars were the senior brands of General Motors. It takes a sharp eye to tell the year of either a 49-50 Ford or Chevy, but bigger things were happening with Olds, Buick and Cadillac. Meanwhile, although Ford was busy correcting some mechanical shortcomings that had shown up in the 49s, people had to look closely at the door handles and parking lights to tell one from another. Same with Chevy, although Mr. Earl allowed Chevy to have a new mid-1950 Bel Air hardtop (Pontiac, too) just to keep up with the more expensive cousins. In 1949 Packard, Nash and Hudson were still selling the mostly unchanged bodies that were brand new and fresh the year before. Chrysler Corporation, too. So, was the AMA satisfied by those very small changes? Suppose they were. It might take the foreign invasions of VWs, Renaults and Simcas to cause America to reflect on planned obsolescence.

Packard's efforts in the early Thirties to sell people on the wisdom of buying a second-hand car that still looks somewhat like a new model probably helped dealers move both new and used Packards. But by 1951, Americans were ready for new and exciting every year. Until the Beetle changed that a bit later with "Keep it clean and shiny and people will think it's new." With more chrome and bigger tail lights, that 1950 Packard might be just different enough to abide by the supposed American Auto Manufacturer's dictate. If that were still true today, Corvette would not have gotten 8-9 years out of their C-6 body styles.