Hemmings Motor News Blog

Thanks, dstrohl. If you like Packards, check out this blog-entry that ran last week on CR4.

I'm just jold enough to have driven 53 through 56 Packards. They were a dream. the 56 was extraordinary. WIth a radical new suspension refined from 55 and a very responsive transmission coupled with a powerhouse v-8 it wasa teenagers dream. Push button tranny that was electric, not the chrysler cable driven version. self leveling, by virtue of one electric motor that tightened up a secondary set of torsion bars. you have to remember that the front and back wheels were connected by a single torsion bar on each side. Check out youtube for a visual of how these cars cornered, braked, accelerated and handled a pot hole filled dirt road.

I saw the Predictor in philly on a cold Thursday night when about 150-200 people crowded the showroom on Broad street to see it. It was dazzling. iridescent paint, reverse angle rear window, updated Packard grill. it was a huge success. again check out the web to see the drawings for the 57 that packard could not get financing to produce. THis is the company tht built the Merlin engines that Rolls could not produce in numbers, to win the second world war. Their marine engines powered the PT boats. They had produced the first mass produced v-12 engine in 1914. My grandmother had a 38 12 convertible 4 doors that was gorgeous. there were only 4 of them sold in philly that year. This company is automobile history and also holds the lessons that GM, Chrysler have had to repeat and learn all over again. quality and focused market make the difference. Packard ran out of time and money. so many of their showrooms are still being used, they were architectural masterpieces of their day

I am old enough to have worked at Packard in Detroit. I was attending Michigan Tech at the time and when I had a long holiday I would sign up at the plant and be put to work immediately. I spot welded the left front fender and was amazed at the thickness of the metal and the overall quality of the car being produced. I subsequently worked at the Chrysler plant on Jefferson and was awestruck by the poor quality and flimsy materials being used. That plant was run by the union and I was told to work 30 minutes and do the work of both people assigned to that job and to "bugoff" for the other 30 minutes. Then I was told that I had to join the union or quit the job...I quit, graduated from college, became a pilot in the Air Force, retired, worked another 23 years in international training and am still alive to talk about it. The contrast between Packard and Chrysler convinced me 50 years ago to never buy a Chrysler automobile.