Re: One Story Assembly Plant What If?

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2014/5/15 7:11:33

This has been a fascinating and informative exercise that shows the interest and knowledge of forum members who share a passion for these cars. Having read the details of the Ward book and the ever so interesting Kimes compendium, the inadequacies of the Conner Street plant was a big contributor to the demise of the Detroit-era of Packard. Production capacity fell to only 25% of the EGB plant and the quality of the first few months of 55 products suffered dramatically. Any efficiencies caused by local body assembly was cancelled out by trucking and supply deficiencies. That drop in supply of the new V-8 cars, just when the public wanted them, was quickly followed by the quality problems and recalls, making the once interested buyers turn away. All told, an excellent product was beset by quality, supply and very bad timing.

Poor Mr. Nance gets too much blame for what happened during his watch, IMHO. Both the Ward and Kimes books make that clear. Packard died because of factors far beyond their control (the Korean conflict ended, Defense contracts either ended or were steered away by Mr. Wilson's Defense Department, people like George Mason and Walter Briggs died and with them a different possible series of legacies, and the crushing blow of overproduction and underpricing of GM and Ford in their sales battles).

But surely some of the death was also caused by Packard brains.
Particularly the false efficiency claims of Ray Powers (Packard's Production Manager) for the move to Conner, the animousity between Nance and Romney, and that uncertainty as to who owned or controlled the body-making equipment that could have been moved back to EGB. Finally, the lack of accounting due diligence in the Studebaker merger was the final financial nail in the S-P coffin. A perfect storm and a fine company died.

Had Mason lived to see a Big Four combination of Packard, Hudson (both using the EGB facility for the high end cars), Nash (staying in Kenosha for Ramblers in the middle), and Studebaker for low priced cars and trucks, the brand might have lasted another 10-20 years longer. But that's really optimistic hindsight.

In 20-30 years, our grandchildren might be speculating over "who made Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Plymouth?". Right now, I force myself to not say "Hewlett" when I am asked by a young person about my Packard. It would be too easy to do, but so wrong to obscure a tragedy of the death spiral of a company we love to have loved.