Re: Senior & Junior

Posted by Dave Kenney On 2007/12/10 13:14:16

Owen, I guess these questions have been debated since the 1930's. I recall as a boy in the early 50's being told by my grandfather, a Packard owner, that the worst decision Packard made was to call the 120 a Packard and make it look like the "Senior" cars. On the other hand had they chosen a different name, ala LaSalle, and had they not included the Packard look would the 120 have sold well enough to save the company from extinction? Other makers had brought out lower priced companion brands to try to survive the Depression years and were not a success. Remember the Erskine, Viking, Marquette or Roosevelt? The Lasalle was brought out in 1927 so it had a good head start as a brand even before the 1929 Crash and in any event never exceeded the production volume of the Packard Juniors. One source I researched quotes 1937 production of the LaSalle as 32000 units while the "Junior" Packards production was 115,500 units. Was it the Packard name, look and cachet that brought the buyers? I suspect so.