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Defense contracts either ended or were steered away by Mr. Wilson's Defense Department,

It's ironic that Studebaker got their J-47 contract right. The terms of the contracts specified the vendors had to provide the buildings, but DoD would provide the equipment.

While Packard dropped $15M building Utica, and buying a plant on Mt Elliott in Detroit, Studebaker used the Chippewa Ave, South Bend plant it already owned, and leased a plant in Chicago. When Wilson pulled the plug, Studebaker was not out a ton of capital, like Packard was.

Also ironic, when the Eisenhower administration bailed out S-P, Curtiss-Wright took over both Utica and Chippewa Ave, and was given the defense contracts that Wilson would not give to S-P.

<i>Particularly the false efficiency claims of Ray Powers (Packard's Production Manager) for the move to Conner,</i>

What Powers was proposing looked reasonable on paper. Nance grasped the better efficiency of a 1 floor plant. Given the production rates of 54, it might have been reasonable. If Packard had moved in during the slow 54 model year, they would have had time to debottleneck the operation before the popular 55s hit the showrooms.

I wonder how much of the problem at Conner was due to inexperienced body people? Did Packard pick up ex Briggs people, or were the body shop staff all new hires or transfers from other Packard departments? Again, grabbing Willow Run not only would yield a body shop, Packard would have a shot at hiring the experienced Kaiser body shop staff.

Indeed, being an automotive Independent is a dangerous thing. Word has it that Aston Martin is actively seeking a house to live in and Mercedes Benz is the likely shelter for them. Now that FIAT and Chrysler have united, I suppose that the biggest outlier is BMW (and they have Rolls Royce and Mini inside their group), but I wouldn't be surprised by what lies in store for them in the next few years. Toyota already makes Subarus in their shared Indiana plant, so maybe they're engaged. Little Mazda is out there, alone now that Ford cut them loose. Let's hope that the bad guys don't shoot them while they're busy making some fine products.

The fact that Briggs made bodies for Chrysler, Hudson and Packard, the death of Walter really had an effect on lots of Michigan companies. I wonder what would have happened in 1940 if Packard management had persisted in making their own bodies at EGB? Shortly after the new Clipper was declared a sales success, Briggs wanted their fees recalculated. I suppose there was a Low Ball introductory offer, much like today's Internet service providers, where, once we've got you, then the price is likely to rise.
I suspect the real reason for Packard having a slide start was Charlie Wilson turning those Defense dollars back towards GM when Packard was so dependent on them.

Had George Mason lived another ten years and Nance and Romney buried their hatchets, Packard and Hudson might have kept the Detroit coffers filled a bit more so that the entire landscape would be different, today. Ah, speculation run wild!

<i>I believe Packard's offerings of the 120 and later 110 "junior" cars re-energized the company, brought middle-income buyers into its dealerships, and bolstered the company</i>

During the depression, cheap models helped everyone who offered them. Cadillac had LaSalle. A DeSoto was a cheap Chrysler. Studebaker finally crawled out of bankruptcy with the Champion.

The problem was, the cheap models degraded the brand. LaSalle was killed in 40. DeSoto died in 61. Studie let the Champion drag the entire line down until the only difference between a Champion, Commander and President by 56 was trim and engine.

Nance was aware of this and tried to break Clipper off as a stand alone brand by deleting the Packard nameplates, but the customers and dealers objected. That is where Studebaker could have had a role with Packard: providing a recognized nameplate for the Clipper platform, which, until the postwar years, was fully the equal of Buick or Olds, and leaving Packard to burnish it's reputation as a top line model.

Quote:

Dave, I think it is the other way around: Subaru was making Toyotas in their Indiana plant. That arrangement has ended and they only make Subarus there now. Could be mistaken, but that is the way I heard it.

(o{}o)

Steve:

I am sorry but I do not believe DeSoto, LaSalle, Mercury, and the 120 "degraded" Chrysler, Cadillac, Lincoln (Ford), and Packard. To say that a LaSalle or a 120 caused the public to look down on Cadillac and Packard is absurd. What would be the point of an automobile corporation except to survive and make a profit? These so-called degraded brands or models were fine cars in their own right certainly didn't dissuade buyers from buying them. LaSalle was dropped because its price and reputation infringed on Cadillac's turf and I do not think Chrysler was damaged by DeSoto's popularity. DeSoto was not responsible for Chrysler's abysmal performance in the 1950s anymore than the ghost of LaSalle drove buyers away from Cadillac's showrooms throughout the 1950s and '60s. Lousy cars caused the decline of Cadillac and Lincoln in the 1970s and early '80s, which led to the rise of Mercedes Benz and BMW as the new luxury offerings. But remember, even those brands have lower priced models or off-shoots like Smart and Mini.

What degraded Packard was its fleet sales of lower-priced models to taxi companies in the 1940s, along with bringing out model years that buyers did not find especially attractive. Packard's 120 model disappeared after 1941. The Clipper supplanted it and was very successful then and later when it was brought back in 1953. Clippers far outsold "senior" Packards in 1955 and 1956 before the plug was pulled. Packard ceased production of V-12s because the high cost of producing those cars, along with low sales.

The only thing that would have happened had Packard not offered the 120 and 110 would probably have been the demise of the company before 1942. It is wonderful to look back on those brands whose cars were never degraded by lower cost models: Locomobile, Duesenberg, Pearce, Pierce-Arrow, Stutz, and on and on. I am sure that the former employees of those companies could take heart knowing that those cars were never degraded as they stood in the unemployment lines.

One last point: Augie Duesenberg did not feel entirely comfortable building the highest priced cars in America. He did not see the production as a viable strategy for long-term existence, since he realized that there was a limited market for his cars and that once reached, sales would fall. Though he did not live to see it, he clearly understood Duesenberg's future would be fleeting.

The Indiana plant is a Subaru plant , it was a JV with Isuzu before Subaru "sold" capacity they didn't need (one line) to Toyota who needed it. Now that Subaru is growing at >20% in North America, they want the capacity after the contract is over. The BRZ/Scion coupe has worked out OK as a JV

Sure, JVs have been around since the beginning of the industry, but instead of current production cars, I'm talking about allowing close proximity of a competitor to the core of your advance product testing and development facility. At GM today, we don't even let all GM employees onto the Milford Proving Ground property, much less allow a competitor build adjacent to the site. We seem to have our hands full just flushing all the spy photographers out of nearby tall trees!

Well, keep up the good work preventing other car companies from spying on GM! I'd hate to see other car companies copying GMs styling cues!

... and you can take that any old way you want to.

I kid, and GM makes a good car, but I've always found their styling to be a bit 'vanilla' for me. Other than the new Cadillacs, like CTS which was on my short list a couple years back when I was looking to replace the BMW. And as a younger person, if you'd said 10 years ago that I'd be looking at a Cadillac (less than 40 years, anyway) then I'd think you were nuts.

I'm talking about allowing close proximity of a competitor to the core of your advance product testing and development facility.

I agree, it's not ideal, but Packard could have used the $15-$20M cash that Hydramatic might have paid for the Utica plant. The track wasn't secure anyway, and it was obsolete, it didn't even have a skidpad.

In the late 30s, before GM built the Milford facility, Packard leased it's track to Cadillac.

<i>We seem to have our hands full just flushing all the spy photographers out of nearby tall trees!</i>

When you drive eastbound on I-94, you can easily tell when you are passing the Chrysler proving grounds in Chelsea. The low fence that doesn't even keep deer off the freeway is replaced by a very tall, barb wire topped fence, with a clear kill zone on the other side, then thick forest.

Chrysler didn't have a proving ground until the Chelsea facility was built in 54. Hudson never had a proving ground at all.

Who knows, if Packard had sold the track to Hydramatic, along with the plant, then run it's test cars on streets more, instead of at the track, the flaws in the 55 Ultramatic might have shown up sooner and been corrected before production started.

Interesting... Had never heard that about Cadillac leasing the grounds from Packard. If they did, it wasn't because Milford was not finished. Milford pre-dated the PPG by three years, 1924 versus 1927. It's well-documented that Chrysler leased the PPG during WWII, but I hadn't seen mention of Cadillac.