Re: 8.75 vs 2.1

Posted by 58L8134 On 2014/11/17 18:23:58

Hi Steve203

The idea for Packard to sell Utica and the J-47 contract to C-W before the defense contracts were reduced is a good one....in hindsight. Though, I'd hard to imagine the board going for it at the time. Packard had become so dependent upon the cash flow and whatever profit generated by defense work for most of a decade by that point, they'd have viewed it as giving future profitable business.

A Packard-Hudson tie-up seemed to have more benefits than the principals at the time could see. The body plant was the big inducement, plus an established medium-priced make in Hudson rather than pushing Clipper. Separating Packard from a medium-priced line to enhance its prestige would have been much easier if that other car had another make name. In recent decades, we saw Acura, Lexus and Infiniti come to market for just that reason.

Steve