Packard 1946-1958 Gold Portfolio

By R.M. Clarke

Packard's big cars were aimed at the luxury end of the market. As an independent producer there were difficulties in 1950s with intense competition from the Big Three (GM, Chrysler and Ford) in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1870642198
• ISBN13: 9781870642194
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Brooklands Books
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Good Info on Post War Packards

Before WWII Packard was the American luxury car for conservitive old moneyed customers. The same can be said with Packard's look and sound alike competitor of Buffalo NY, The Pierce Arrow Automobile Co. Cadillacs like Duesenbergs were the brash glitzy cars for gangsters, movie stars, and lottery winners. When the depression hit most luxury car makers were too small to ride out the storm and failed. Packard chose to produce a Jr Series of cars called 110,120,160,180 which sold like ten cent hamburgers and allowed the company to survive the depression but at the cost of it's prestige image setting the stage for all problems the company faced after the war. This book is a good resource for anyone studying the sad last days of this American Automotive Icon. Many historians love to give DUESENBERG the title of the greatest American car ever but the title belongs to Packard. A little known piece of Packard History was in 1954 General Motors toyed with the idea of purchasing the troubled car maker and making it a premium brand above Cadillac. A shame this idea never came to be as when the market returned for premium cars in the late 1950's the market was quickly gobbled up by the Europeans. Packard's loss meant America has no real luxury car like England's Rolls Royce and Germany's Mercedes Benz or France's Bugatti.