Editing Packard (section)

==Studebaker-Packard Corporation==
{{Main|Studebaker-Packard Corporation}}
As of October 1, 1954, Packard Motor Car Company bought the failing Studebaker Corporation to form America's fourth-largest automobile company, but without full knowledge of their circumstances or consideration of the financial implications.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Patrick R. |title=Studebaker: the complete history |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-7858-3261-4}}</ref> Studebaker-Packard's Nance refused to consider merging with AMC unless he could take the top command position (Mason and Nance were former competitors as heads of the [[Kelvinator]] and [[Hotpoint]] appliance companies, respectively), but Mason's grand vision of a Big Four American auto industry ended on October 8, 1954, with his sudden death from acute pancreatitis and pneumonia.

A week after the death of Mason, the new president of AMC, [[George W. Romney]], announced "there are no mergers under way either directly or indirectly".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823618,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930213850/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823618,00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |title=Personnel: Changes of the Week |magazine=Time |date=October 25, 1954 |access-date=September 15, 2013}}</ref> Romney continued with Mason's commitment to buy components from SPC. Although Mason and Nance had previously agreed that SPC would purchase parts from AMC, it did not do so. Packard's engines and transmissions were comparatively expensive, so AMC began development of its own [[AMC V8 engine|V8 engine]], and replaced the outsourced unit by mid-1956.<ref name=newentry>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819620,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116224228/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819620,00.html |archive-date=November 16, 2010 |title=Autos: New Entry |magazine=Time |date=March 24, 1954 |access-date=September 15, 2013}}</ref> Although Nash and Hudson merged, the four-way merger Mason had hoped for, which would have joined Nash, Hudson, Studebaker, and Packard, did not materialize. The S-P marriage (really a Packard buyout) proved to be a crippling mistake. Although Packard was in fair financial condition, Studebaker was not, struggling with high overhead and production costs and needing the impossible figure of 250,000 cars annually to break even. Due diligence was placed behind "merger fever", and the deal was rushed. It became clear after the merger that Studebaker's deteriorating financial situation put Packard's survival at risk.

Nance had hoped for a total redesign in 1954, but the necessary time and money were lacking. Packard that year (total production 89,796) comprised the bread-and-butter Clipper line (the 250 series was dropped), Mayfair hardtop coupes and convertibles, and a new entry-level long-wheelbase sedan named Cavalier. Among the Clippers was a novelty pillared coupe, the Sportster, styled to resemble a hardtop.

With time and money lacking, 1954 styling was unchanged except for modified headlights and taillights, essentially trim items. A new hardtop named Pacific was added to the flagship Patrician series and all higher-end Packards featured a bored-out {{cvt|359|CID|L|1|adj=on}} engine. Air conditioning became available for the first time since 1942 although Packard introduced air conditioning in the 1930s. Clippers (which comprised over 80% of production) became available in a hardtop model, Super Panama, but sales fell to 31,000 cars.

[[File:1955-Packard-Patrician-Touring-Sedan.jpg|thumb|1955 Packard Patrician]]

The new model Nance hoped for was delayed until 1955, partially because of Packard's merger with Studebaker. Packard stylist [[Dick Teague]] was called upon by Nance to design the 1955 line, and to Teague's credit, the 1955 Packard was well received. Not only was the body completely updated and modernized, but the suspension was new, with torsion bars front and rear, along with an electric control that kept the car level regardless of load or road conditions. Along with the new design was Packard's new [[overhead valve|overhead-valve]] [[V8 engine|V8]], displacing {{cvt|352|cid|L|1}}, replacing the straight-eight that had been used for decades. Packard offered a variety of power, comfort, and convenience features, such as power steering and brakes as well as electric window lifts. Air conditioning was available on all car makes by the mid-1950s, but it was installed on only a handful of cars in 1955 and 1956 despite Packard's status as a luxury car. Model year sales only climbed back to 55,000 units in 1955, including Clipper, in what was a strong year across the industry.

As the 1955 models went into production, an old problem flared up. Back in 1941, Packard had outsourced its bodies to [[Briggs Manufacturing Company]]. Briggs founder Walter Briggs had died in early 1952 and his family decided to sell the company to pay estate taxes. Chrysler promptly purchased Briggs and notified Packard that they would cease supplying bodies after Packard's contract with Briggs expired at the end of 1953. Packard was forced to move body production to an undersized plant on Connor Avenue in Detroit. The facility proved too small and caused endless tie-ups and quality problems.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Bad quality control hurt the company's image and caused sales to plummet for 1956, though the problems had largely been resolved by that point.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Additionally, a "brain drain" of talent away from Packard was underway, including [[John Z. DeLorean]].{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

[[File:Packard Clipper Custom 4-Door Sedan 1956.jpg|thumb|1956 [[Packard Clipper]]|alt=]]

For 1956, the [[Packard Clipper|Clipper]] became a separate make, with Clipper Custom and Deluxe models available. Now the Packard-Clipper business model was a mirror to Lincoln-Mercury. "Senior" Packards were built in four body styles, each with a unique model name. Patrician was used for the four-door top-of-the-line sedans, Four Hundred for the hardtop coupes, and the Caribbean for the convertible and vinyl-roof two-door hardtop. In the spring of 1956, the Executive was introduced. In a four-door sedan and a two-door hardtop, the Executive was aimed at the buyer who wanted a luxury car but could not justify Packard's pricing. It was an intermediate model using the Packard name and the Senior models' front end, but using the Clipper platform and rear fenders. This was to some confusion and went against what James Nance had been attempting for several years to accomplish, the separation of the Clipper line from Packard. As late as the cars' introduction to the market was, there was reasoning for in 1957 this car was to be continued. It then became a baseline Packard on the all-new 1957 Senior shell. Clippers would share bodies with Studebaker from 1957.

The new 1955 Packard design did not affect Cadillac's continuing to lead the luxury market segment, followed by Lincoln, Packard, and Imperial. Reliability problems with the automatic transmission and all electrical accessories further eroded the public's opinion of Packard. Sales were good for 1955 compared to the previous year as this was a record year for the automobile industry. Packard's sales fell for 1956 due to the fit and finish of the 1955 models as well as mechanical issues relating to the new engineering features. These defects cost Packard millions in recalls and tarnished its image.

[[File:Packard Ultramatic control.jpg|thumb|Packard's push-button Ultramatic transmission control pod]]

For 1956, Teague kept the basic 1955 design and added more styling touches to the body such as then−fashionable three-toning. Headlamps hooded in a more radical style in the front fenders and a slight shuffling of chrome distinguished the 1956 models. "Electronic Push-button Ultramatic", which located transmission push buttons on a stalk on the steering column, proved troublesome, adding to the car's negative reputation, possibly soon to become an orphan. Model series remained the same, but the V8 was now enlarged to {{cvt|374|cid|L|1}} for the Senior series, the largest in the industry. In the top-of-the-line Caribbean, that engine produced {{cvt|310|hp|kW}}. Clippers continued to use the 352 engine. There were plans for an all−new 1957 line of Senior Packards based on the show car Predictor. Clippers and Studebakers would also share many inner and outer body panels. (A private presentation of this 1957 new-car program was made to Wall Street's investment bankers at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in January 1956.) These models were in many ways far advanced from what would be produced by any other automaker at the time, save Chrysler, which soon felt public wrath for its poor quality issues after rushing its all−new 1957 lines into production. Nance was dismissed and moved to Ford as the head of the new Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division. Although Nance tried everything, the company failed to secure funding for retooling, forcing Packard to share Studebaker platforms and body designs. With no funding to retool for the advanced new models envisioned, Studebaker-Packard's fate was sealed. The large Packard was effectively dead in an executive decision to kill "the car we could not afford to lose". The last fully Packard-designed vehicle, a Patrician four-door sedan, rolled off the Conner Avenue assembly line on June 25, 1956.<ref>{{cite web |title=Last Packard produced - Jun 25, 1956 |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/last-packard-produced |website=History.com |access-date=January 20, 2018 |archive-date=January 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122001044/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/last-packard-produced |url-status=live}}</ref>

===1957–1958===
[[File:1958 Packard.jpg|thumb|right|1958 Packard]]

In 1957, no more Packards were built in Detroit and the [[Packard Clipper|Clipper]] disappeared as a separate brand name. Instead, a Studebaker President–based car bearing the [[1957 and 1958 Packards|Packard Clipper]] nameplate appeared on the market, but sales were slow. Available in just two body styles, Town Sedan (four-door sedan) and Country Sedan (four-door station wagon), they were powered by Studebaker's {{cvt|289|cid|L|1|adj=on}} [[V8 engine|V8]] with a [[McCulloch Motors Corporation|McCulloch]] supercharger, delivering the same {{cvt|275|hp|kW}} as the 1956 Clipper Custom, although at higher revolutions. Borrowing design cues from the 1956 Clipper (visual in the grille and dash), with wheel covers, tail lamps, and dials from 1956 along with the Packard cormorant hood mascot and trunk chrome trim from 1955 senior Packards, front bumpers, and Dagmars from the 1956 model, the 1957 Packard Clipper was much more than a badge-engineered Studebaker—but also far from a [[Packard Patrician|Patrician]]. Had the company been able to invest more money to finish the transformation and position the car under a senior line of "true Packards", it might have been a successful Clipper. Standing alone the cars sold in limited numbers; a number of Packard dealers dropped their franchises while customers stayed away, despite huge price discounts, fearful of buying a car that could soon be an orphan. Additionally, there was internal competition from Studebaker-Packard dealers that also carried the Mercedes-Benz brand, to which SP had the USA rights, with the market flooded by inexpensive cars, minor automakers struggled to sell vehicles at [[loss leader]] prices to keep up with Ford and GM.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2098583 |last=Bresnahan |first=Timothy F. |title=Competition and Collusion in the American Automobile Industry: The 1955 Price War |journal=The Journal of Industrial Economics |volume=35 |issue=4 |date=June 1987 |pages=457–482 |jstor=2098583}}</ref> There was a general decline in demand for large cars heralded an industry switch to [[compact car]]s such as the [[Studebaker Lark]].

The marque suffered further loss of exclusivity and consumers perceived a reduction in quality. Competitors and media critics described the new models as "[[Packardbaker]]s". The 1958 models were launched with no series name, simply as "Packard". New body styles were introduced, and a two-door hardtop joined the four-door sedan. A new premier model appeared with a sporting profile: the [[Packard Hawk]] was based on the Studebaker Golden Hawk and featured a new nose and a fake spare wheel molded in the trunk lid reminiscent of the concurrent Imperial. The 1958 Packards were among the first in the industry to be "facelifted" with plastic parts. The housing for the new dual headlights and the complete fins were fiberglass parts grafted on Studebaker bodies. Very little chrome was on the lower front clip. Designer [[Duncan McRae (designer)|Duncan McRae]] managed to include the 1956 Clipper tail lights for one last time which also included the "Packard Cusps" in the front hood. Added to the front of all but the Hawk were jet [[Nacelle (disambiguation)|nacelles]] for quad headlights, in a desperate attempt to keep up with late-1950s styling cues. All Packards were equipped with {{cvt|14|in|cm|adj=on}} road wheels to lower the profile. The public reaction was predictable and sales were 2,622 vehicles for the 1958 model year, even being outsold by Checker Motors Corp. The Studebaker factory was older than Packard's Detroit plant, with higher production requirements, which added to dipping sales. A new compact car on which the company staked its survival, the Lark, was a year away, and it also failed to sell in sufficient numbers to keep the marque afloat. Several makes were discontinued around this time: Packard, [[Edsel]], [[Hudson Motors|Hudson]], [[Nash Motors|Nash]], [[DeSoto (automobile)|DeSoto]], and [[Kaiser Motors|Kaiser]]. Not since the 1930s had so many makes disappeared, and it would not be until the [[automotive industry crisis of 2008–10]] that so many makes would be dropped at the same time again. The last Packard by Studebaker Packard Corporation rolled off the assembly line on July 16, 1958.

===Concept Packards===
[[File:Packard Predictor, SNM, 2011.JPG|thumb|right|1956 Predictor concept, at the [[Studebaker National Museum]]]]

During the 1950s, a number of "dream cars" were built by Packard in an attempt to keep the marque alive in the imaginations of the American car-buying public. Included in this category are the 1952 [[Packard Pan-American|Pan American]] that led to the production [[Packard Caribbean|Caribbean]] and the [[Packard Panther|Panther]] (also known as Daytona), based on a 1954 platform. Shortly after the introduction of the Caribbean, Packard showed a prototype hardtop called the [[Packard Balboa|Balboa]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNwDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hudson+and+Packard+Present+Their+Cars+of+the+Future&pg=PA97 |page=97 |title=Hudson and Packard Present Their Cars of the Future |magazine=Popular Mechanics |date=November 1953 |volume=100 |issue=5 |access-date=January 18, 2023 |via=Google Books |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605034013/https://books.google.com/books?id=JNwDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hudson+and+Packard+Present+Their+Cars+of+the+Future&pg=PA97 |url-status=live}}</ref> It featured a reverse-slanted rear window that could be lowered for ventilation, a feature introduced in a production car by [[Mercury (automobile)|Mercury]] in 1957 and still in production in 1966.

The [[Packard Request|Request]] was based on the 1955 Four Hundred hardtop, but featured a classic upright Packard fluted grille reminiscent of the prewar models. In addition, the 1957 engineering mule "Black Bess" was built to test new features for a future car. This car had a resemblance to the 1958 Edsel. It featured Packard's return to a vertical grill. This grill was very narrow with the familiar ox-yoke shape that was characteristic for Packard, and with front fenders with dual headlights resembling Chrysler products from that era. The engineering mule Black Bess was destroyed by the company shortly after the Packard plant was shuttered. Of the 10 Requests built, only four were sold off the showroom floor.

Dick Teague also designed the last Packard show car, the [[Packard Predictor|Predictor]]. This hardtop coupe's design followed the lines of the planned 1957 cars. It had many unusual features, among them a roof section that opened either by opening a door or activating a switch, well ahead of later T-tops. The car had seats that rotated out, allowing the passenger easy access, a feature later used on some Chrysler and GM products. The Predictor also had the opera windows, or portholes, found on concurrent Thunderbirds. Other novel ideas were overhead switches—these were in the production Avanti—and a dash design that followed the hood profile, centering dials in the center console area. This feature has only recently been used on production cars. The Predictor survives and is on display at the [[Studebaker National Museum]] section of the Center for History in [[South Bend, Indiana]].

====Astral====
One unusual prototype, the Studebaker-Packard Astral, was made in 1957 and first unveiled at the South Bend Art Centre on January 12, 1958, and then at the March 1958 Geneva Motor Show.<ref>''Automobile Quarterly''. Volume 31, no. 1, 1992, pages 14–29.</ref> It had a single gyroscopic balanced wheel and the publicity data suggested it could be [[nuclear propulsion#Cars|nuclear powered]] or have what the designers described as an ionic engine. No working prototype was ever made, nor was it likely that one was ever intended.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?DocID=1008&index=5 |title=1957 Studebaker-Packard, Astral, Form of Power: Atomic |publisher=Petersen Automotive Museum |year=2010 |access-date=June 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624003559/http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?DocID=1008&index=5 |archive-date=June 24, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cruising the Misfits of Motordom |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/04/cruising-the-misfits-of-motordom/ |magazine=Wired |date=April 9, 2009 |access-date=June 11, 2022}}</ref>

The Astral was designed by Edward E. Herrmann, Studebaker-Packard's director of interior design,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/472630/Herrmann-Edward.php |title=Edward Herrmann Obituary |website=obitsforlife.com |location=Fort CollinsS, Colorado |access-date=2016-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701073115/http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/472630/Herrmann-Edward.php |archive-date=2016-07-01}}</ref> as a project to give his team experience in working with glass-reinforced plastic. It was shown at Studebaker dealerships before being put into storage. Rediscovered 30 years later, the car was restored and put on display by the Studebaker museum.

===The end===
Studebaker-Packard retired the Packard marque in 1959. In 1962, "Packard" was dropped off the corporation's name at a time when it was introducing the all-new [[Studebaker Avanti|Avanti]]. The Packard name had been considered for the Avanti, but a less anachronistic image was being sought for the new model. Thus the Packard name ceased to exist in the American auto industry.

In the late 1950s, Studebaker-Packard was approached by enthusiasts to [[badge engineering|rebadge]] the French car maker [[Facel Vega]]'s [[Facel Vega Excellence|Excellence]] four-door hardtop as a Packard for sale in North America, using stock Packard V8s and identifying trim including red hexagonal wheel covers, [[cormorant]] hood ornament, and classic vertical ox-yoke grille.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} The proposition was rejected when [[Daimler-Benz]] threatened to pull out of its 1957 marketing and distribution agreement, which would have cost Studebaker-Packard more in revenue than they could have made from the badge-engineered Packard. Daimler-Benz had little of its own dealer network at the time and used this agreement to enter and become more established in the American market through SPC's dealer network, and felt this car was a threat to their models.

===Aborted revival===
In the late 1990s, Roy Gullickson revived the Packard nameplate by buying the naming rights and logo and developing a '''Packard Twelve''' for the 1999 model year. His goal was an annual production of 2,000 cars, but a lack of investment funds stalled that plan indefinitely. The only [[prototype]] Twelve made was sold at an auto auction in [[Plymouth, MI]], in July 2014 for $143,000.<ref>{{cite web |title=1999 Packard Twelve Prototype - Motor City 2014 |url=https://www.rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/SJ14/Motor-City/lots/r112-1999-packard-twelve-prototype/181083 |website=rmsothebys.com |date=July 20, 2017 |access-date=December 1, 2017 |archive-date=December 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052817/https://www.rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/SJ14/Motor-City/lots/r112-1999-packard-twelve-prototype/181083 |url-status=live}}</ref>