Everything about Packard totally explained
Packard was a
United States-based brand of luxury
automobile built by the
Packard Motor Car Company of
Detroit, Michigan, and later by the
Studebaker-Packard Corporation of
South Bend, Indiana. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899 and the brand went off the market in
1958. Packard automobiles are highly sought after by collectors today, and the
marque enjoys an active collectors club system.
Packards were advertised with the slogan
"Ask the Man Who Owns One."
1899–1929
Packard was founded by James Ward Packard (
Lehigh University Class of 1884), William Doud Packard and his partner, George Lewis Weiss, in the city of
Warren, Ohio. James Ward believed that they could build a better horseless carriage than the
Winton cars owned by Weiss (an important Winton stockholder), and James Ward, himself a mechanical engineer, had some ideas how to improve on the designs of current automobiles. By 1899, they were building vehicles. The company, which they called the Ohio Automobile Company, quickly introduced a number of innovations in its designs, including the modern steering wheel, and years later, the first production 12-cylinder engine.
While the
Cole 30 and
Colt Runabout were
US$1500, the high-volume
Oldsmobile Runabout went for US$650,
Western's Gale Model A roadster was US$500, and the
Black went as low as $375, the Packards concentrated on cars with prices starting at $2,600. Packard automobiles developed a following not only in the United States, but also abroad, with many heads of state owning them.
In need of more capital, the Packard brothers would find it when
Henry Bourne Joy, a member of one of
Detroit's oldest and wealthiest families, bought a Packard. Impressed by its reliability, he visited the Packards and soon enlisted a group of investors that included his brother-in-law,
Truman Handy Newberry. On October 2, 1902, Ohio Automobile Company became
Packard Motor Car Company, with James as president. Packard moved its automobile operation to Detroit soon after, and Joy became general manager and later chairman of the board. One of the original Packards is still located at the Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio on Mahoning Avenue. The original is located at Lehigh University in Packard Lab.
The Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit was designed by
Albert Kahn, and included the first use of reinforced concrete for industrial construction in Detroit. When opened in 1903, it was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world, and its skilled craftsmen practiced over eighty trades. Though it hasn't been used for automobile production for many years, the plant still stands to this day; most of it's in serious disrepair after decades of neglect.
The 3.5 million ft
2 (325,000 m²) plant covered over 35 acres (142,000 m²) and straddled East Grand Boulevard. It was later subdivided by eighty-seven different companies. Kahn also designed The
Packard Proving Grounds at
Utica, Michigan.
Throughout the nineteen-tens and twenties, Packard-built vehicles consistently were among the elite in luxury automobiles. The company was commonly referred to as being one of the "Three P's" of American motordom royalty, along with
Pierce-Arrow of
Buffalo, New York and
Peerless of
Cleveland, Ohio.
Packard, however, didn't just build luxury cars. In 1912, a Packard truck, carrying a three-ton load, drove from
New York City to
San Francisco between
8 July and
24 August. The same year, Packard had Service Depots in 104 cities.
1930–1946
Jesse Vincent) was introduced for 1932 and renamed the Packard Twelve for the remainder of its run (through 1939). For one year only, 1932, Packard tried fielding an upper-medium-priced car called the Light Eight.
As an independent automaker, Packard didn't have the luxury of a larger corporate structure absorbing its losses, as Cadillac did with GM and Lincoln with Ford. However, Packard did have a better cash position than other independent luxury marques. Peerless fell under receivership in 1929 and ceased production in 1932; by 1938,
Franklin,
Marmon,
Ruxton,
Stearns-Knight,
Stutz,
Duesenberg, and
Pierce-Arrow had all closed.
Packard also had one other advantage that some other luxury automakers did not: a single production line. By maintaining a single line and interchangeability between models, Packard was able to keep its costs down. Packard didn't change cars as often as other manufacturers did at the time. Rather than introducing new models annually, Packard began using its own "Series" formula for differentiating its model changeovers in 1923. New model series didn't debut on a strictly annual basis, with some series lasting nearly two years, and others lasting as short a time as seven months. In the long run, though, Packard did average approximately one new series per year. By 1930, Packard automobiles were considered part of the Seventh Series. By 1942, Packard was in its Twentieth Series. There never was a Thirteenth Series.
To address the Depression, Packard started producing more affordable cars in the medium-price range. In 1935, it introduced its first sub-$1,000 car, the
Packard 120. Car production more than tripled that year and doubled again in 1936. In order to produce the 120, Packard built and equipped an entirely separate factory. By 1936, Packard's labor force was divided nearly evenly between the high-priced "Senior" lines (Twelve, Super Eight, and Eight) and the medium-priced "Junior" models, although more than ten times more Juniors were produced than Seniors. This was because the 120 models were built using thoroughly modern mass production techniques, while the Senior Packards used a great deal more hand labor and traditional craftsmanship. The Junior models were very fine cars; they were just not in the same quality league as the Seniors. Although Packard most certainly couldn't have survived the Depression without the highly successful Junior models, the Juniors did have the effect of diminishing the Senior models' stellar and exclusive image among those few who could still afford an expensive luxury car. Adding insult to injury, the 120 models were more modern in basic design than the Senior models. For example, the 1935 Packard 120 featured independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes, both features that wouldn't appear on the Senior Packards until 1937.
1937–1942
Prior to 1937, Packard was still the premier luxury automobile, even though the lion's share of cars being built were the
120 and
Super Eight model ranges. Hoping to catch still more of the market, Packard decided to issue the
Packard 115C in 1937, which was powered by Packard's first six-cylinder engine since the Fifth Series cars in 1928. While the move to introduce the Six was at once brilliant—the car arrived just in time for the 1938 recession—it also tagged Packards as something less exclusive than they'd been in the public's mind, and in the long run, the Six hurt Packard's reputation of building some of America's finest luxury cars. The Six, designated "110" in 1940–41, continued for three years after the war, with many serving as taxicabs.
During
World War II, Packard again built airplane engines, licensing the
Merlin engine from
Rolls-Royce as the V1650, which powered the famous
P-51 Mustang fighter, ironically known as the "Cadillac of the Skies" by GIs in WWII. It was one of the fastest piston-powered fighters ever and could fly higher than any of its contemporaries, allowing pilots a greater degree of survivability in combat situations. They also built 1350-, 1400-, and 1500-hp V-12 marine engines for American
PT boats (each boat used three) and some of Britain's patrol boats.
1946–1956
By the end of World War II, Packard was in excellent financial condition but suffered from a shortage of raw materials needed to manufacture automobiles again. The firm introduced its first postwar body in
1948, prior to its competition from the major firms (
Cadillac,
Lincoln, and
Chrysler). However, the design chosen was of the "bathtub" style, predicted during the war as the destined future of automobiles. Although the postwar Packards sold well, the ability to distinguish expensive models from lower-priced models disappeared as all Packards became virtually alike.
By the time the firm was able to restyle again for 1951, the postwar seller's market was coming to an end—and again, the design failed to resonate with the public at large. Conceived as the antithesis of the bulbous postwar models, the motoring press derisively named the new design "high pockets."
Packard president
James J. Nance was also struggling with what he felt was the only way to re-establish Packard as a luxury car brand, which was to divorce the lower-priced models from the luxury models. To do this, Nance applied the model name Clipper to the least expensive Packards, starting in 1953. Ultimately, Nance planned to spin Clipper off as its own automotive brand, targeting Oldsmobile and Mercury, while a target date of 1956 was set for the new automotive brand.
Nash Motors president
George W. Mason approached Packard about a merger for the first time in the late
1940s, believing that the days for independent car manufacturers were numbered. Packard's board of directors, believing Mason to be incorrect, was reluctant to merge. The year
1953 brought the return of the buyer's market, and
1954 was again a down year for Packard; still, Packard's directors delayed.
Meanwhile, Mason found a more receptive audience at
Hudson, and the two companies merged to form
American Motors Corporation on
May 1,
1954. This left Packard, whose directors had finally seen the light, seeking a merger partner. After briefly considering joining the merged
Kaiser-
Willys organization (which was formed solely to take the two struggling firms out of the U.S. auto business in order to concentrate on
Jeeps) and seeing no possibilities there, Packard's directors settled on
Studebaker.
On
October 1,
1954, Packard purchased
Studebaker, creating the
Studebaker-Packard Corporation. Initially, Packard's executive team had hoped Studebaker's larger network of dealers would help increase sales. At first, Nance believed that Studebaker's volume could sustain the companies; however, Nance and other Packard officials discovered that Studebaker's finances were more dire than previously believed, primarily because no one took the time to actually study them in depth prior to the sale.
Packard's up-again and down-again sales continued, with a profitable year in 1955, thanks to the introduction of Packard's first V-8 engines that model year—although a complete retooling for the 1955 models resulted in products so poorly made that hundreds of cars had to be repaired by dealers before they could be sold to the public. This set the stage for a disastrous 1956, which saw production drop to its lowest levels since World War I.
1956 saw the launch of
Clipper as a stand-alone marque as well as the launch of the
Packard Executive, Packard's new mid-level car priced to compete against Chrysler and Buick. The Packard Executive was essentially a Clipper with the senior Packard front clip and interior. However, Packard dealers began to complain that consumers weren't buying Clippers because the cars weren't Packards. At first, Nance refused to rebadge the Clipper as a Packard, but the dealers pushed back. In the end, Nance begrudgingly agreed to start badging the Clippers with the "Packard" script.
Packard had been selling engines and transmissions to American Motors for installation in 1955 and '56 Nashes and Hudsons, but a parts dispute with American Motors Chairman
George Romney ended this arrangement in April of 1956. The company severely in debt, its creditors ordered the old Packard plants to close on August 15, 1956, and Nance left the company, which then entered into a contractual management agreement with aircraft maker
Curtiss-Wright.
1957–1958: "Packardbakers"
In 1957 and 1958, a Studebaker President-based car bearing the
Packard Clipper nameplate appeared on the market, but sales were slow. These
badge engineered Studebakers were derisively referred to as
Packardbakers by the press and consumers and failed to sell in sufficient numbers to keep the
marque afloat.
While the 1957 Packard Clipper was less Packard than it was a very good Studebaker, the cars sold in limited numbers, which was attributed to Packard dealers dropping the franchises and consumers fearful of buying a car that could soon be an orphaned make. Of note: former Packard designer
Richard A. Teague, seeing the new "Packardbaker" for the first time, commented that seeing his beautiful Packard taillights "...on that tired old Studebaker body, was enough to make a maggot vomit!"
The 1958 models bowed with no series name, simply as "Packard." In addition to the knowledge that these cars were the last gasp by what had been thirty years before the biggest-selling luxury car in the United States, their annual makeover on a budget usually set aside for a door-handle design at General Motors was awkward.
The end
Studebaker-Packard pulled the Packard nameplate from the marketplace in 1959 to focus instead on its compact
Lark.
In the Early 1960s, Studebaker-Packard was approached by French car maker
Facel-Vega about the possibility of rebadging the company's
Facel-Vega Excellence sedan as a "Packard" for sale in North America.
Daimler-Benz, which was under a distribution agreement with Studebaker-Packard, threatened to pull out of the 1958 marketing agreement, which would have cost Studebaker-Packard more in revenue than they could have made from the badge-engineered Packard.
Packard engines
Packard's engineering staff designed reliable, well-made engines. Packard offered a twelve-cylinder engine—the "Twin Six"—as well as a low-compression straight eight, but never a sixteen-cylinder engine. After WWII, they were one of the last U.S. firms to produce a high-compression V-8 engine, the "352," named for its 352 in³ (5.8 L) displacement. In-house designed and built, their "Ultramatic" automatic transmission featured a lockup torque converter with four speed overdrive operation. Packard's last major development was the "Torsion-Level"
suspension, an electronically controlled four-wheel torsion-bar suspension that balanced the car's height front to rear and side to side, having electric motors to compensate each spring independently. Contemporary American competitors had serious difficulties with this type of suspension idea, trying to accomplish the same with air bag springs, but eventually letting the option lapse from consumer perceptions.
Packard also made large aeronautical engines. See the articles on the
Merlin engine and
PT Boats for its contributions to the Allied victory in
World War II
Attempted Packard Resurrection
Sometime around the late 1990s, Roy Gullickson purchased the Packard trademark and name, and began to publicize a resurrection of the Packard as a thoroughly modern, V12-powered luxury sedan that would fully compete with the likes of Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and perhaps even Bentley. Gullickson set up a
Web site
to promote his project, and built a prototype featuring an overhead valve, fuel-injected 525 cubic-inch V12 engine. The prototype was shown at the
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2003. The styling of the prototype resembles the 1980s Cadillac Seville, along with styling cues from the late-1940s "bathtub" Packards.
Despite public interest in the car, plans for the automobile have not emerged, and its continued existence (or planned production) is undocumented, although Gullickson is rumored to be short of the funds needed to get his car into production. As of May 10, 2007 the company website is still in existence and notes that the company is for sale.
Packard automobile models
Body styles/misc. by tradename
Packard Clipper Constellation
Packard Super Panama
Ultramatic, Packard's self-developed automatic transmission (1949–1956)
Gallery
Image:Packard 626 4-Door Sedan 1929.jpg|Packard Sixth Series 626 Eight 4-Door Sedan, 1929
Image:Packard 726 4-Door Sedan 1930.jpg|Packard Seventh Series 726 Standard Eight 4-Door Sedan, 1930
Image:Packard Roadster 1930.jpg|Packard Roadster, 1930
Image:Packard Convertible Coupe 1930.jpg|Packard Seventh Series 733 Standard Eight Convertible Coupé, 1930
Image:Packard 733 Coupe 1930.jpg|Packard Seventh Series 733 Standard Eight Coupé, 1930
Image:Packard 733 Limousine 1930.jpg|Packard Seventh Series 733 Standard Eight Limousine, 1930
Image:Packard 833 Convertible Coupe 1931.jpg|Packard Eighth Series 833 Standard Eight Convertible Coupé, 1931
Image:Packard 833 Coupe 1931.jpg|Packard Eighth Series 833 Standard Eight Coupé, 1931
Image:Packard 4-Door Sedan 193X 2.jpg|Packard 4-Door Sedan
Image:Packard Limousine 193X.jpg|Packard Twelfth Series Limousine, 1935
Image:Packard 115-C Convertible Coupe 1937.jpg|Packard Fifteenth Series Six 115-C 1089 Convertible Coupé, 1937
Image:Packard Six 115C 1082 4-Dörrars Touring Sedan 1937.jpg|Packard Fifteenth Series Six 115-C 1082 4-Door Touring Sedan, 1937
Image:Packard Six 1600 Coupe 1938.jpg|Packard Sixteenth Series Six 1600 Coupé, 1938
Image:Packard Coupe 2.jpg|Packard Sixteenth Series Six 1600 Coupé, 1938
Image:Packard Club Opera Coupe 1938.jpg|Packard Sixteenth Series Six 1600 1185 Club Coupé, 1938
Image:Packard Six 1600 Touring Sedan 1938.jpg|Packard Sixteenth Series Six 1600 1182 4-Door Touring Sedan, 1938
Image:Packard 1700 Six 1282 Touring Sedan 1939 2.jpg|Packard Seventeenth Series Six 1700 1282 4-Door Touring Sedan, 1939
Image:Packard 1700 Six 1282 Touring Sedan 1939.jpg|Packard Seventeenth Series Six 1700 1282 4-Door Touring Sedan, 1939
Image:Packard 1700 Six Touring Sedan 1939 2.jpg|Packard Seventeenth Series Six 1700 1282 4-Door Touring Sedan, 1939
Image:Packard 1700 Six Touring Sedan 1939.jpg|Packard Seventeenth Series Six 1700 1282 4-Door Touring Sedan, 1939
Image:Packard 1803 160 Convertible Sedan 1940.jpg|Packard Eighteenth Series Super Eight One-Sixty 1803 1374 Convertible Sedan, 1940
Image:Packard Convertible Coupe 1941.jpg|Packard Nineteenth Series Convertible Coupé, 1941
Image:Packard 4-Door Touring Sedan 1941.jpg|Packard Nineteenth Series
4-Door Touring Sedan, 1941
Image:Packard 1903 One Sixty Convertible Coupe 1941.jpg|Packard Nineteenth Series Super Eight One-Sixty 1903 Convertible Coupé, 1941
Image:Packard 5479 Convertible 1954.jpg|Packard 5479 Convertible, 1954
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