Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Please don't forget also that there was very little going on at East Grand at the start of 55 production--engines, transmissions and (pretty sure) rear axles were being produced in Utica. Castings had long since been outsourced to eliminate the perpetual headache of the Packard foundry. Since bodies were already being made at Connor and there was no chance of moving body building back to EGB (Nance had already had that studied back in 52 or 3), there was very little happening to keep the lights on and the power plant lit at EGB.

I'll make two further points in favor of Connor: eventually they did get quality under control, so it was not impossible even though the learning curve was steep. I am sure a lot of existing expertise vaporized when control of Connor was passed. Second I notice that model for model the 55s have a lot more content than the corresponding 54 models especially in the realms of trim and detailing. The fact that this was accomplished without massive price increases, and the fact that Packard division made a small profit in 55 tells me that overhead costs were much lower there.

Quoting from the minutes of the Packard Board of Directors Meeting on April 10, 1940, a discussion on what was referred to as the "Packard-Briggs program," $3,000,000 was authorized...

"to secure the assistance of the Briggs company in designing a new line of automobiles for our 20th Series cars. The agreement provides that the Briggs Manufacturing Company will do the design work, make sketches, provide a quarter-scale model and furnish us with engineering services for a period of one year at a total cost of $11,088. It is understood that this new car is to be of an advanced design which will place us in an excellent competitive position with popular medium-priced cars. The body and chassis sheet metal engineering, die and tool designing and production will probably be performed by the Briggs company, and the chassis engineering, tool designing and production by our own organization."

This new car was introduced in 1941, and was named "Clipper."

Briggs designed and engineered the Clipper for $11088? Wow what a deal. No wonder they outsourced their body work.

Hi

Basically, the decision to move final assembly in with body building came down to Walter Grant's projected cost saving that supported Ray Power pushing the idea. Nance was continually desperate for cost savings wherever they could be found. The problem of high unit cost versus competitive market prices dogged Packard in the latter period, much of it due to Briggs periodically increasing body prices. The cost benefits promised by the initial Clipper deal quickly disappeared when Briggs realized Packard was at their mercy.

A synopsis of what Robert Neal wrote on pages 117-118 in Packard 1951-1954 , Grant projected savings at various production levels contrasting body only versus body with final assembly combined at Connor. Plant capacity was 100K bodies/yr without additional space, projected saving if body only at 80K units were $8.25M/yr; if body only at 40K units were $2.0M/yr; breakeven was 30K units/yr.

Clincher was if both body and final assembly were 80K units, the savings would be $12M/yr; even at 30K units, it would be $1.4M/yr. This sold the Board of Directors on it, Nance withdrew the initial Connor purchase offer to Chrysler, returned with a $7.875M offer, Colbert countered with the $8,750M price. Neither was affordable for Packard, the lease negotiations began then.

As background, Chrysler paid $35M for all Briggs U.S. body operations, was also in the midst of a crisis as Mopar sales were plummeting due to frumpy, stale styling etc. 'Tex' Colbert was in an effort to raise $100M for a completely new 1955 product line. Not that that was a excuse for squeezing Packard hard for all he could get for Connor, but it might have been a factor.

Steve