What Ifs in The 50s Auto Industry

“The Greatest” left out that the “Not So Greatest” L-Head I-8 still sat under the hood. But as we suppose in this conjured up ad – what if Packard’s fabulous 1955 OHV V-8 had appeared in 1951?

What If???

The only choices in 1964? That would have been catastrophic! 

• What if John DeLorean decides that the 326 CID V-8 is enough motor for the Tempest and puts his money on the upcoming Pontiac 2+2?
• What if Lee Iacocca decides that the Falcon Sprint is the perfect car for the Youth Market instead of the Mustang?
• What if Zora Duntov takes the job offered at Porsche instead of at Chevrolet?

Those all didn’t happen, thank goodness, but there were a few like this that did, and they resulted in disasters . . .

BUT

• What if Hudson builds their projected V-8 instead of throwing all their money at the I-6 Hornet?
• What if Preston Tucker invests in plant infrastructure instead of marketing?
• What if Packard released their V-8 in 1951 instead of 4 years too late to save the Company?

Packard – How Did it Happen?

We know quite a bit about Tucker’s misfortunes and about how the success of the Hudson Hornet blinded the Company to their impending doom. But the most egregious of all is the story of Packard. How could a leader in luxury cars deteriorate to a gussied up Studebaker, and then to oblivion in less than 5 years?

We’ve documented this disaster and all the moving parts to their demise. It can be found here: Why We Lost Packard.   But there is one “what if” that might have saved them from the cascading mistakes and bad decisions that started in 1950 – the early introduction of Packard’s great but too late V-8!

The Fabulous Packard V-8 1955-1956

If you don’t know about this fabulous engine, that arrived when the downhill slide was unstoppable, check out this story  found Here: Great But Too Late

Know this, that at its introduction, this engine was a rival to all the then produced powerplants in both design and horsepower. It rivaled the famous Chrysler Hemi and outclassed the Cadillac and Lincoln engines! In its short life span, it not only powered Packards, but the famous Studebaker Golden Hawk and the last year of the fabulous Hudson Hornet!

Packard Knew a V-8 Was Essential to Sales Success in 1949! 

You can get into the details of the engine design and approach by reading this SAE paper written by the Packard engineers, who knew, back in 1949, that an OHV-8 was necessary.  (See the excerpt at left). What is both surprising and sad, is that arrived at a point when Packard was too  far down the road in bad decisions to impact the company, and it was gone almost as fast as it arrived.

You can read the SAE Engineering paper on the Packard V-8 HERE.

But the what if in this story is: what if Packard had released the V-8 in 1951 when they restyled their cars – cars that were acclaimed for styling, but little else? How would that have impacted Packard?

From an engineering point of view there is no question that the engine would have been competitive in 1951. By the time it was released in 1955 it was available in 320 and 352 CID making 225 and 275 horsepower (and up to 374 CID and 310 HP in 1956), albeit the result of high compression ratios not available in 1951. However, if we rate it against the famous Hemi and Cadillac of ’51, it’s not unreasonable to assume it would have produced between 140 and 175 HP in that year and been quite competitive in the then prevailing “Horsepower Wars” .

Packard Was In a Unique Position to Scoop even Cadillac on an OHV V-8

The Packard Merlin Aircraft Engine

Packard was in the unique position to produce the OHV V-8 engine. They had huge experience with OHV power from their WW II delivery of the famous Packard-Merlin aircraft engine and their own PT Boat engine – developed in the late 30s.  Packard knew how to build engines of this type and were tooled up to do it – producing 54,714 Packard Merlin engines from 1942-1945 . . .

So why didn’t they apply that knowledge immediately after the War?

One the reasons for the delay was pride, another was money – but most of it was lack of forward thinking by the managing board – most of who had been around since the 30s. In that period right after the War, Packard saw how new body styles sold cars. Their own restyle in 1948 saw a doubling of annual sales – with no other major engineering changes – so why do anything else?

But in those few short years from 1948 to1950 a significant thing happened – one that their own engineers knew about and yet everyone else at Packard ignored – the Cadillac and Oldsmobile OHV V-8. Oldsmobile and Cadillac sales doubled when these engines were introduced with no body style change, a telling indicator that a modern powerplant was necessary.

How a short sales success blinded them to the reality

When Packard introduced their new body style in 1951, sales also doubled to one of the best postwar numbers – over 100 thousand units, giving the wrong impression. But people’s expectations waned when they looked under the hood. After the initial surge, there was a steady decline down to 30,980 in 1954.

By then, Packard knew that another styling redesign would not save them and rushed the V-8 into production. But in the banner year of 1955, when Cadillac sold 140,777 units and Chrysler delivered 152,777 cars, the Packard all new car and V-8 sold only 55,247 units. In 1956, the number dropped to a devastating 28,835 total! It was a precipitous crash that the Company never recovered from.

But What If . . .

What if the Packard great V-8 had arrived in 1951 along with their new and very up to date body restyle?

Would it have saved the brand? Every other mid-price and up-brand that introduced a V-8 in the early 50s had solid sales growth – chewing sales away from those brands that didn’t. Dodge, DeSoto, Buick, and even American Motors saw increases. And by the time Packard did introduce their V-8 in 1955, they were competing with the hoopla of the introductions from the low-price field; Chevrolet, Plymouth Ford – and then from the mid-price field with Pontiac and Mercury. And the 1955 restyle, while gorgeous, was also overshadowed by the hot-looking new Pontiacs, Fords, Chevys, DeSotos and Chryslers.

More significant in the sales statistics is that in 1952, all companies showed a decline due to Korean War materials shortages, but they all rebounded.  In 1953 . . .  except Packard all of whose competition (Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, DeSoto and Lincoln) had a V-8.

By the time their V-8 arrived, it was a “so what?” situation. They were now just another 50s car, far from the head-turning and luxurious cars of the 30s and 40s.

The question remains, what might have happened if they had introduced their V-8 in 1951? Chances are that the prestige of an all new engine when the population was demanding and greedily buying cars with OHV V-8s would have convinced their prospective buyers that Packard was again a luxury car leader in design – something the public was demanding.

The proof is out there – every single manufacturer that did not produce a V-8 by 1954 was gone by 1959. That’s all one needs to know. In hindsight, Packard’s delay in introducing their V-8 was the cause of their evaporation.

Compare the Two!