Re: Ok, I'm calling your bluff. Show me how Packards were "better".

Posted by Mahoning63 On 2012/7/4 16:41:34

This is all good stuff. su9od you pot-stirrer, great comments, very thought provoking! Ditto everybody else. Jim L... "ask the man who flies one"... what a fabulous idea, such powerful imagery it would have evoked.

Too bad about the politics, so senseless and hope the new generations cool it. As for Alvan Macauley, a real conundrum. I study Packard, Pierce and the like not only out of love of the cars but to be a better car person. How can one make inroads into tomorrow's industry if one is clueless about yesteryear? With Alvan it's a tough call. He fathered the Packards that ruled the Twenties and culminated in the exceptional '37 Seniors. But he also sired the Packards that fumbled beginning in '38. I read a contemporary story written around '35-37 that quoted him as saying that pontoon fenders did nothing for aerodynamics. His comments seemed to carry bit of a 'tude. In other words, he didn't like pontoons. This might be why the '37 Seniors were some of the last hold-outs of the traditional style. I respect his taste in this and so many other matters of technology content, design, sales/service and general business leadership. But read what Steve said about him and Gubitz, how their genius ran only so deep. They knew how to do a great Twenties to mid-Thirties luxury car. They didn't know much about what to do as a follow-up. The '38 Senior front fenders look like Packard took an air pump to the '37s. That's not how to do good design! Cadillac did front pontoons better in these years. Nor were 127 inch wheelbases the makings of a proper Senior. For the new 3-box torpedo sedan wave sweeping the industry, coupled with wider bodies for 6-pass seating, such a wheelbase resulted in a plump stubby car. The C-bodies and 60 Special fall into this group and so does the Clipper. A 127 inch wheelbase in 1938-47 meant Junior all the way and it didn't matter how great the motor or interior was or how oddly long the designers tried to stick the hood's beak forward.

We get back to Packard excellence. For the Seniors they did this in part by moving the front axle forward 5 - 10 inches and stuffing a big motor underhood. In 1938 they reversed course out of cheapness and/or the industry trend of motor-forward, and ended up with Junior proportions. Check that. Senior-lite Twelves in 1938-9, then high quality Junior Super 8s from 1940 on.

Let's understand and celebrate the excellence and also applaud the affordable models that let more folks experience Packard. "Once upon a time there was a company that represented America at its best..." A must read.