Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

In an idle moment I went surfing through the web and wound up on the Wikipedia's article on Packard. In the section dealing with the immediate post war years the relate a story of why the Senior Bodies of 1940 were not brought back after the war. It states that when the factory went over to full war production the body dies and tooling were literally left outside to the mercies of Detroit weather. Consequently, they were unusable. If I remember right Christopher was President of Packard by then or very close to it and given his "love" for the Seniors it sounds like something he'd order.

Has anyone else heard of this version?

Jim (Jim L. in OR), I can't confirm the whole story but at least the part that revolves around the storage location seems to be true.





1942-45 PACKARD FACTORY IN MOTHBALLS DURING THE WAR-B&W

Photo courtesy of the Detroit Public Library, National Automotive History Collection and used with permission.

Has anyone else heard of this version?

Sure, it's said commonly in many reference sources. But is it of any consequence or matter, the older style senior bodies wouldn't have been marketable after the war anyway - totally obsolete from a styling point of view and therefore just worth their weight as scrap metal.