Re: Clippers at the Motor Muster.

Posted by 58L8134 On 2015/6/25 8:17:07

Hi

Looking at the '57 Plymouth and Ford, Continental Mark II and '60 Mercury chassis frames, it become clear that if the designers hoped to get the lowness yet maintain a reasonably comfortable seating position and adequate floorwells, they'd better have the full cooperation of the chassis engineers! Exner got the lowness but the seating position and footwells are compromised by a frame that doesn't quite comply with the overall design objective. Forming technology either wasn't up to the task or recalcitrant engineers refused to go that extra mile by sticking with the old configuration.

Stepping back to the unhappy spring of 1956, by the time Nance shopped the Packard-Clipper Division to Ford, Packard's prestige and quality reputation was probably even more depleted than Lincoln by several degrees if sales numbers and resale values are an indication. Still, at least a thread of prestige reputation persisted and small cadre of loyal (diehard) owners. Breech, McNamera and the Duece correctly deduced they would pick up some of those folks whether they had Packard and Clipper in their fold or not.

But, taking the tack that the Duece et al preceived enough assets and market value to add Packard-Clipper to the portfolio, how might Packard been integrated? In mid-'56, the engineering and styling for the all-new '57 Packards and Clippers was largely complete. Clipper wasn't of much use unless it would be marketed in place of Edsel. But the BoF Predictor-styled Packards were well along and architecturally the same as the unibody-to-be '58 Lincolns- Continentals then only partly developed, the '59 Mercury program as well. Had the better sense of Harley Copp's arguments against the large unibodies won the Duece over, the Packard developments might have become the basis for a full line of BoF '59 Mercurys, Lincolns and Packards. Only the infamous McN hubris and MacPherson's power could have pushed Lincoln into participating at Wixom to fill out numbers regardless of how poorly it served the final product mix. Unibody complexity also limited the flexibility in body style selection, i.e. no 60 Specials and LWB counterparts without multiplied expense versus lower volumes.

While the four-seat Thunderbird became a bull's eye hit, the Continental Mark II was badly miss-handled. Concurrent to Nance's offer, the Ford's ultimate vanity project, the Mark II was turning into a major market failure after a strong start in the latter months of 1955. Demand was rapidly satisfied after the early adapters bought but too few others followed suit. When the order backlog evaporated, so did the exclusivity and dealer discounting began; things that hastened the Mark II's demise. The price probed the far upper limit of the prestige segment, found out there weren't enough people there to support a $10K model. The Eldorado Biarritz and Sevilles garnered about 4000 sales in good years at their $7,500 price range; the realistic upper limit if models were based on volume lines. The $7K-$8K range held enough potential to support lengthened unibody Thunderbird-based Continental Mark personal luxury models.

How Packard fit into the make prestige/price step structure would have been a sticky issue, which make stood at the top of the structure: Lincoln or Packard?. The family themselves might have balked at Packard above Lincoln, the memory of dear Edsel and his beloved Lincoln still strong after only a dozen years since his passing. Although Ford went public that year, the family still had major say over all important decisions, even products ones. Of Edsel's Lincolns, the Continental was the truest expression of his refined good taste, the car to be an enduring tribute. The Ford and Macauley families were also friends socially, so there may been some reserve of kindly outlook to keep Packard alive. Lincoln would still be preferred as their volume contender against Cadillac. Continental Marks would occupy their personal ultra-luxury choice spot. A Packard slotted above volume-luxury Lincoln, be based on its platform, become the FoMoCo opposition to the Cadillac 60 Special and Imperial LeBaron premium sedan segment. How long would Packard live in this small slice of the market? Perhaps to the middle-late 1970's when the market changed drastically again.

Your comments?
Steve