Re: Packard Seniors 1940-56

Posted by Steve203 On 2015/5/9 17:56:19

<i>Am trying to imagine what would have become of Packard in the early Twenties had these folks been running it. "Our only viable car is the new Six so let's keep making it in shorty short wheelbase form and make a 5 inch longer body for our new top-of-line flagship, also powered by the Six."</i>

Chrysler was run by beancounters through the 60s and 70s. Did not do anything new and different. If they weren't making enough profit, they just used cheaper materials and allowed sloppier production tolerances. I'm amazed the Omnirizon made it to production, instead of a truncated, stripper Duster based knockoff of the Gremlin. Iacocca perked the place up a bit with the minivan, a concept his crew reportedly brought form Ford, and the ragtop LeBaron, but the company soon slid back to the cheap and conventional. Best thing Iacocca did was buy AMC to get Jeep. FCA now sells more Jeeps than any other brand.

The company I worked for in the late 70s was on it's second generation of management after the founders died. Their bread and butter product, end face mechanical seals for API and ANSI pumps, was little changed from it's product of 40 years earlier, and it's advertising pitch was "a perfectly acceptable solution". It's younger competitors were innovating circles around it, offering better performance at lower cost. The company's response was to hire cheaper machinists and keep using decades old machine tools to keep costs down. That company was bought out in 94, the headquarters was moved to Houston, and the old management was not invited to make the move.

That is probably the trend throughout corporations. After the founders, the people with vision, pass from the scene, they are replaced by people increasingly disinterested in the products and more interested in staying in their comfort zone.