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Hi

By the August 1954 Detroit Listening Post, rumors were rife that the four way merger of the independents was imminent. The S-P merger and American Motors seemed to be perceived as a good situation for all involved.

Of course, we now know events the writer couldn't, namely the sudden death of George Mason very shortly. The writer likely wasn't privy to the animosity that soon developed between Nance and Romney.

Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

Steve

Yes Steve, I think it is one of the biggest "What If's".
Wes

It's unreal how a couple of non-interfacing personalities can change the course of history, isn't it?!?!? Chris

Kind of makes you think about the movie "It's A Wonderful Life".
Wes

I'm not sure if Mason really wanted Studebaker or not. Just like Packard, AMC would have found a lot of red ink on the Studebaker books.....

They surely would have found the red ink but I would think Studebakers existing installed base and dealers would have put AMCs to shame. For that reason alone Mason might have swallowed the short term negatives believing he could get the money losing things to his liking in a timely manner. With 4 car lines sharing parts and costs Stude's horrible problems might have been more manageable and it might have turned out to have been an attractive acquisition. Like the Nance and Romney rivalry I do seem to remember reading something about Mason not getting along with one or more Stude people and that was why Packard was to approach Stude.

I have seen some articles that one or more of the existing car lines would have been merged or dropped and there is the concept drawings of how the Packard-Clipper-Stude would have shared body parts. I think some of those proposals were fairly ugly and might not have been viable but was there anything done with any AMC models also in the mix? The two body processes were so different that it seems that any shared pieces would have required a pretty radical change for someone.

Popular Mechanics March of 1955 talks about the new 12 volt Ignition System.
Wes

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A little information about the big three and the little three, also Hudson and Packard working together.
Wes

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I don't understand how they can make those conclusions about a car ignition that starts on 12 volts and runs on six via the ballast resistor.

The biggest advantage is the smaller gauge wires in the 12 volt system that saves huge amounts of money. It's a higher pressure system. High voltage isn't always better. Old tube amplifiers, radios, and TV's ran on 275 volts. Nobody would want that in a pocket telephone.

As well the instrument clusters were kept at five volts.

Before the present electric car craze the talk was about going to a 48 volt system with all sorts of gadgets that would help drive up the number of distracted driving injuries and deaths.

Railroads were running on 32 volt systems during the steam era and we had 24 volt systems on military vehicles. Were the lights brighter? No, but the power jacks were 24 volt.

Made be a little helpful when starting an engine for the first time in a while.
Wes

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