The Packard Disaster

One of the things that has been a constant, even today, is that luxury brands seem to survive bad decisions, poor marketing, and a screwed up dealer network. The rationale is that the profit margin and the cache of the brand is such that someone will either swoop in and rescue the current company or it will be reconstituted in a merger.

There are only two times in our auto history that this did not happen was the great depression of 1929-33 and the mid 50s. One can understand the Depression, after all everyone took a huge financial hit in those years, businesses and all levels of people from Joe worker to Fred wealthy. In the 50s, another thing happened, and that was something that is still a bit hazy. The car markets consolidated – many marginal brands either merged or disappeared.

That’s certainly understandable where a manufacturer needs volume to make a profit: Kaiser-Frazer, Willys, even Hudson were all victims of this thinking. The manufacturing processes developed in World War Two allowed advances in production, not just on the assembly line but even more so in the supply chain. From 1948 on, one couldn’t reliably utilize outside suppliers for many things; car bodies, transmissions, etc. due mostly to cost, delivery, and even running changes that were happening as more and more technology was applied to motor vehicles.

How did any of this affect Packard, and what circumstances lead the brand to disappear is both interesting and sad. Let’s take a look . . .