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Founded
as the Ohio Automobile Company by brothers James
Ward and William Dowd Packard in Warren (Ohio).
Deciding not to compete at the lower mass-produced
end of the market being then dominated by Henry
Ford, the company instead concentrated on the
manufacture of more up-market cars – by
way of comparison a Model T was selling for $440,
while the Packard’s had a starting
price of $2,600! Appealing to the social elite,
for a time they were the transport of choice
for many US and foreign dignitaries. Financially
rescued by a happy Packard owner (and a wealthy
one at that), one Henry Bourne Joy, the company
would move to Detroit where James would be appointed
president, and Joy General Manager (and later
Chairman of the Board).
Continued to build elite
vehicles for the extremely wealthy throughout
the 1920’s and 30’s, regarded as
a cut above the GM Cadillac’s of the day.
Rode out the depression by manufacturing slightly
less expensive cars, and while competitors Peerless,
Marmon, Ruxton, Stearns-Kinght, Pierce Arrow
and the once mighty Duesenberg would go into
receivership, Packard managed to (just) survive – many
believed due to the fact that they used a single
production line.
The continued economic decline
saw Packard offer it’s first sub $1000
car in 1935, the “Packard 120” – a
car that would become very popular and ensure
the survival of the company – if only
for a time. Despite suffering a chronic shortage
of raw materials, the company beat rivals Cadillac,
Lincoln and Chrysler to release the first new
post war luxury-car bodystyle in 1948. The 1950’s
were known as an era of economic rationalisation,
Nash president George Mason courting Packard
as a suitable candidate for merger.
Packard were
reluctant to go down that route, and Nash would
turn to Hudson to form American Motors Corporation
(AMC) in 1954. The Packard directors soon realised
they too needed to merger if they were to survive,
however the number of independents was fast dwindling. A merger was conceived with Studebaker, which
was ratified on October 1, 1954, and formed the
Studebaker-Packard Corporation. A lack of due
diligence performed by the Packard directors
would leave the company exposed, Studebaker in
more dire straits than anyone imagined.
The slow
demise of the joint companies followed, the Packard
name being dropped for a time only to be re-birthed
when consumers refused to buy unbranded “Clipper’s”.
Studebaker pulled the Packard nameplate from
the marketplace in 1959 to focus instead on its
compact Lark. |
