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KF5JRV > TODAY 25.06.24 11:47l 55 Lines 2417 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 1384_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 25
Path: IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<N2NOV<KA1VSC<VE3CGR<KF5JRV
Sent: 240625/0941Z 1384@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.24
The last Packard, the classic American luxury car with the
famously enigmatic slogan "Ask the Man Who Owns One"rolls
off the production line at Packard's plant in Detroit, Michigan on
June 25, 1956.
Mechanical engineer James Ward Packard and his brother,
William Dowd Packard, built their first automobile, a buggy-type
vehicle with a single cylinder engine, in Warren, Ohio in 1899.
The Packard Motor Car Company earned fame early on for a
four-cylinder aluminum speedster called the "Gray Wolf," released
in 1904. It became one of the first American racing cars to be
available for sale to the general public. With the 1916 release
of the Twin Six, with its revolutionary V-12 engine, Packard
established itself as the country's leading luxury-car manufacturer.
World War I saw Packard convert to war production earlier than
most companies, and the Twin Six was adapted into the Liberty
Aircraft engine, by far the most important single output of America's
wartime industry.
Packards had large, square bodies that suggested an elegant
solidity, and the company was renowned for its hand-finished
attention to detail. In the 1930s, however, the superior resources
of General Motors and the success of its V-16 engine pushed
Cadillac past Packard as the premier luxury car in America.
Packard diversified by producing a smaller, more affordable
model, the One Twenty, which increased the company's sales.
The coming of World War II halted consumer car production in
the United States. In the postwar years, Packard struggled as
Cadillac maintained a firm hold on the luxury car market and
the media saddled the lumbering Packard with names like
"bathtub" or "pregnant elephant."
With sales dwindling by the 1950s, Packard merged with the
much larger Studebaker Corporation in the hope of cutting
its production costs. The new Packard-Studebaker became
the fourth largest manufacturer of cars in the nation. Studebaker
was struggling as well, however, and eventually dropped all
its own big cars as well as the Packard. In 1956, Packard-
Studebaker's then-president, James Nance, made the decision
to suspend Packard's manufacturing operations in Detroit.
Though the company would continue to manufacture cars in
South Bend, Indiana, until 1958, the final model produced on
June 25, 1956, is considered the last true Packard.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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