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Mahoning63 wrote:
I don't' know if this Wilson guy blatantly set about to torpedo Packard. Or less seriously, if he simply wanted to greedily line the pockets of GM, and Packard just got in the way.
Could it have primarily been a simple risk analysis that the military did? Maybe they concluded that Packard in the early 50s was not looking competitive on the auto front and therefore was a higher risk for defense work.
Line the pockets of GM-- probably correct. Wilson sold the government on something called "single sourcing." Not much question about what that single source would be. (see Kimes)
Risk analysis? Not likely. Politics much more likely. The defense department knew Packard's capabilities. Long before the Utica plant was built Packard showed how much materiel they could manufacture and how well. If a Packard man had got the job in Ike's admiinistration, things would've almost certainly been much different.
Nobody mentioned yet how Lexus ate the Germans' lunch in the luxury market for a long while. The cache of which luxury brand is desirable waxes and wanes. No reason Packard couldn't have gained that position again as a specialty luxury brand, but nobody really knew what "niche marketing" was back then.
I agree with an earlier post that, regardless of the what-if's of survival, I'm glad Packard went out when they did. When it comes to automobiles, it really solidified their mystique. Especially with the promise shown in the V8s.
But I believe the Packard Automobile brand is still available on e-bay, if anyone's interested in making their dream come true!
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