Packard had always been trying to appeal to the upper middle class and upper class market. It starts with the obviously comfortable modern home. Note at 3:10 the large Zenith T600 Transoceanic "portable" radio on the table to the left of the woman. This was a long range AM and shortwave radio much in demand for people like those in remote hunting and fishing camps, sailors, and explorers like Richard Byrd. It cost $139.95 in 1956, the equivalent of $1,388 in 2019, so it was a high status thing to have sitting in your home, but also a good prop to demonstrate pushbuttons. Everyone going to the "club" at the end was also a pitch to those who belonged to country clubs. The boys were being a little disingenuous about torsion bars. They were first used by Citroen in 1934, and almost all WWII tanks used them as well. Many German panzers had the front to rear torsion bar setup similar to what's being shown, but Packard was the first car company to use the concept in a passenger car. The electric motor for automatic leveling was another first in the auto industry. The Push Button Ultramatic was not a first, Chrysler developing the push button PowerFlite the year before. Packard decided it could develop a better (and cheaper) option using an electric motor to engage the gears rather than a mechanical linkage that was essentially the same as using a manual shift lever. The Chrysler system turned out to be very reliable. Packard, currently in its final money crunch, couldn't afford to engineer a new motor made especially for the loads put on it by the transmission selections, especially if the car was on any kind of grade, up or down hill. The modified a starter motor and hoped for the best. It turned out to be a disaster. The motor didn't have enough torque to get the car into drive on a hill, so circuit breakers popped and the car was stuck. The owner would have to await a tow truck to get him off the hill. In some cases, the loads were high enough to start the wiring on fire, destroying the entire car in a couple cases. This "futuristic" transmission system cost Packard hundreds of thousands of dollars in warranty claims at a time when making payroll was becoming harder and harder. Packard had workable plans to fix these problems in the 1957 models, but time had run out. Packard had merged with Studebaker in 1954 in an attempt to keep both companies afloat. There was a merger mania at the time, and Packard, much more financially healthy then, accepted the word of Studebaker management and their balance sheet that Studebaker could be an equal partner. As it turned out, Studebaker was near bankruptcy and had been turning out misleading financial statements at the time of the merger, and the formerly strong cash position of Packard was drained off to pay enough of Studebaker's debts to avoid bankruptcy for the merged corporation. By 1956, the situation was dire. The Packard plant in Detroit was the more modern but also much too large for the diminished numbers of Packards being sold. The toolings costs were just too high to maintain the real Packard line. The Studebaker plant in South Bend was older but also smaller and cheaper to maintain compared to the sprawling Packard plant. Consequently, the decision was made to end Packard production and move the machinery to South Bend. This film must have been made right after the introduction of 1956 model in September, 1955 since everyone still looked happy and hopeful. Alas, that wouldn't last, as the last real Packard rolled off the line in Detroit on June 25, 1956. Parts of the plant were used for smaller businesses after the plant closed in 1958, but the area around the plant deteriorated, and the businesses started to leave, the last closing up in 2010. Most of the plant remained unoccupied and unsecured, so scrapers moved in and removed anything of value, including the wiring, plumbing and window frames. There have been a number of plans for reuse over the years but none have come to fruition. Its highest use has become as a tourist attraction for those into ruins porn and movie sites for life after humans types of films. The iconic pedestrian bridge between the two largest plant buildings over Grand Blvd collapsed into the street on January 23, 2019. It seems to be a rather symbolic end to what was once one of the largest industrial concerns in the country, and maybe a sign of the times we live in today. No one will probably ever read this but, if you do, ponder that for a bit.
Citroen had used torsion bars for 20 years at the time of this film, VW for almost 15 and Porsche for almost 10. I have seen a few GMC and Chevrolet Trucks of the early 60's with Henderickson torsion bar front suspensions and of course the biggest user was Chrysler incorporating them into their designs and using them for over 20 years. As the previous poster mentioned Packard spent a lot of money on new and high tech designs but they weren't all fruitful and it turned out to be money they didn't have. I've heard that both Studebaker and Packard fought hard to stay out of the Hudson-Nash merger that created American Motors which may of been a bad business move. They needed economies of scale and needed more than Studebaker and Packard to achieve that. Alternatives may of been to team up with other smaller manufacturers to get that scale of economy What comes to mind would be Checker, Kaiser-Jeep and International Harvester. Each having products, market niches and marketing capabilities that each other could use.
Packard brought back a 6-cylinder car in 1937 to compete with cars like Pontiac and Studebaker. It sold well but eroded Packard's upper class image. They even started building Packard taxis. More of their upper income customers defected to Cadillac.
@Sar Jim Very interesting to read, thank you. I knew their pushbutton transmission, being all electric, had issues but never knew the extent. Edsel came out in 1958 with its pushbutton transmission which was also electrical, and they had issues with their shifting motor too. Specifically from what I read was that it was not shielded from a nearby exhaust pipe and from the elements. I think it was late in the model year that they did add a shield.
I lived about 3 miles from the Packard Proving Ground. The factory at the site was sold to Curtis Wright who produced aircraft engines for a couple of years, and then it was sold to Ford who converted it to a trim plant and made dashboards, seats, door panels, etc. The banked track and inner parts of the proving ground were there for a number of years until Ford sold the property. The straight portions of the track were nearly one mile long. The track went from 22 Mile Road to 23 Mile Road just outside of Utica, Michigan in Shelby Township. The track was finally removed, and a housing development is there now, although you can still see where parts of the track were on Google Maps satellite view. The factory was torn down after Ford sold the property and an Amazon distribution warehouse was put up where the factory was located.
I'm surprised the old Packard Plant is still standing after being abandoned for so long. I lived in Windsor Ontario right across the river from Detroit and every time I go to Michigan to see family and friends I go by the old Packard plant
Was Curtis Wright a not so friendly competitor against Packard as to military engines and equipment? Back in the glory days when Packard products were probably superior to those of most of its competitors? (Like PT boat engines,airplane engines,I think a brief period of producing turbine (turbojet) engines although I don't know much about that)
Well now, I've been hoping to see a film on this subject for a long time. I was 6 years old when this movie was made. 6 years later, I vowed I would someday own a Packard, and 8 years after that I bought my first car, a 15-year-old, 1955 Packard Patrician. I had no idea that the suspension was so unusual and forward-thinking, I just always thought these cars were beautiful, without some of the typical mid-'50s visual tricks that look dated all these years later. The '55/'56 body was actually a refreshed version of the the 1954 model that they use in the comparison test, and was masterfully facelifted to be as new looking as all the completely redesigned cars offered by most others. And, it really did have a remarkably controlled ride and flat cornering for a 5000 lb. cruiser. I often did the same thing as the valet in the scene at that country club, standing on the rear bumper so folks could see the Packard rise up. Friends in the art school I was attending were wowed when they saw it while they were "tripping"! They don't tell you this in the video, but there's a toggle switch under the dash near the driver's door that allows you to switch the system off. When you do, a ratchet on the short torsion bar motor remains locked, so the car stays at the height you left it. I would sit on the trunk until the Packard leveled out, then jump off. Without 200 lbs. of pseudo-hippie at the end of the see-saw, the tail would spring up into a rake. Then I would casually walk forward, knowing the delay wouldn't allow the leveler to kick in for about 5 seconds, and switch off the toggle. The car would be frozen in the raked position, and I would leave it there and drive off, like NOTHIN' HAPPENED.
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Torsion bar suspensions are still used today in the front of heavy duty trucks. Not nearly as complicated as it's made out to be in this video. Damn I love these old automotive films. Kudos to periscope for the digital conversions!
The torsion bar suspension Packard used on 1955 & 1956 was actually invented by a Hudson engineer, Bill Allison. Hudson didn't have the money to develop it, so they let Allison shop it to other carmakers. Very generous of them.
We had one when I was a kid. The carb fuel bowl had a crack, it caught fire because of a faulty plug wire. Me, my mom and 2 sisters watched it burn to the ground on the carmel hill in cali
Cadillac had the same problem on the 55/56 models. Elvis and his guitarist even wrote a song about it after his caddy went up in flames.. called " watch that Cadillac burn" . --> ruclips.net/video/OdDDLmLyVo0/видео.html
The one Packard innovation they discussed here that is still very commonly used is Twin Traction. Most people call it by a different name like Positraction but it was a Packard invention.
The 30's to 50's films always make me wish I wasn't born in the 80's. I just love the era, electricity, vacuum tubes, television, the height of radio...
@@ohmyblindman Who says any of the above you listed were unhappy during those times? How do you know-for sure? Were you there to live it? Nope, didn't think so...
Allan Hegyes -to no small extent, you’re still full O crap though. (Born well before you) Those groups had problems to be sure, but they also had SELF RESPECT. They were’t “professional victims” but overwhelmingly, they still carried themselves with dignity. Take a look at their dress, manners, and the overall demeanor of those in newsreel footage fighting for civil rights. Now look at the shameful behaviors being demonstrated by a community that now celebrates incivility, fatherlessness and dysfunction, often roaming the streets in groups and attacking lone victims to steal their shoes..... They weren’t doing that in 1958, pal. I know, I was there too...
Helen wanted a big roomy car where she could get a powerful ride in comfort. LOL. The double entendres, whether intentional or accidental make this comedy gold.
Although there is a whiff of cheese about all these dealer films from the period, what comes across very strongly (and seems sadly lacking from almost all car companies now) is a sense of pride in the ENGINEERING. Not the style, or the price, or the warranty - the cleverness and quality of the engineering. Back then cars were built, not simply assembled.
Packard had some really innovative ideas and some really stupid ones. Their first year V8 {big and heavy nearly 400kg's} used to have a vacuum pump to assist the vacuum accessories this was mounted underneath the oil pump in the sump driven by the same shaft. The pump seal would fail and this would let the oil pump suck air and trash the bearings. The Torsion Bar system that uses a single bar for each side works pretty well but needs a very rigid chassis to function correctly. This makes them Very heavy. This is the main reason why they are only really used at each end today.
They were called "old money cars", built to a higher standard without the frills of those caddilacs. Packard was considered good enough to contact build Rolls-Royce aircraft engines during WW2, and in some ways improved the design.
They were not horrendously expensive except for the long wheelbase ones and the "lesser model" 250s and Deluxe Clipper were affordable and very good cars before the 1955 debacle. Don't understand why antique car buffs haven't discovered those cars. Maybe even the base Clipper which still had a lesser Packard straight eight that was 281 cubic inches,which was more than the approximately 270 cubic inches of the beloved Pontiac Straight Eight. The top of the line cars were very competitive against Cadillac up through probably 1953 but were "frumpier",I think the Straight Eight was just as powerful as the first years of Cadillac's overhead V8 and smoother. Packard should have purchased Hydramatic automatic transmission from the General instead of fooling with the inferior in house transmissions. I believe that in 1953 Packard had two 327 cubic inch Straight Eights,one of them had 5 main bearings like most cars that had Straight Eights,the other one had 9 main bearings. Packard had the reputation that its engines were better balanced than others,maybe as much so as Rolls Royce. Packard may have suffered from having a lack of dealers. I would hope that Packard clubs can help people who are trying to restore and/or preserve these cars with finding qualified mechanics and sources of parts.
So funny how their idea of “blistering getaway” is so different than what we would think today. Ha. That Caribbean convertible was gorgeous and I just hated seeing it driven through the mud. Some of the tri-tone color combinations on the Caribbean we’re just a little odd, and I wish they could’ve offered some prettier ones. It is really strange to see a Caribbean in a solid color, which I’ve seen before. Also when they show the guy press the transmission buttons, he has a really dirty fingernail, but I think he was wearing coveralls so he must have been a mechanic. I always loved how both Packard, Edsel and Chrysler all talked about their pushbuttons and how safe, secure, and easier they were to use…like a shifting lever was so “hard to use” and unsafe. 😳
With new cars built for millennials, I hear push button transmissions, even rotary knobs and even smart phone app controlled transmissions, are coming back. What's old is new again...
@@raylopez99 Bad then and bad now. The first year Edsel had electric push buttons to control the automatic transmission,I believe it had the same problems as had Packard's as of a couple years before.
Packard's last major development was the Bill Allison-invented Torsion-Level suspension, an electronically controlled four-wheel torsion-bar suspension that balanced the car's height front to rear and side to side, having electric motors to compensate each spring independently. Contemporary American competitors had serious difficulties with this suspension concept, trying to accomplish the same with air-bag springs before dropping the idea. And they were gone in 2 yrs.
Packard was not gone in 2 years. They purchased Studabaker and then did away with the Packard name. Studabaker stopped production of all vehicles in 1966 but did not go bankrupt as many may have thought. In their last years, Studabaker went on a buying spree and purchased other companies to diversify.
@@wallyplumstead614 They were conned by Studebaker re their debt then were immediately asset stripped to save Studebaker as those who were owed the money could only get more if Studebaker survived. The action would be illegal today as they never disclosed this time bomb but were required to comply.
@@That_AMC_Guy I would say that is pretty close to being one and the same thing. Moving their production plant was the real killer, as it had a maximum capacity turn out of only 80,000 autos, insuring that they would never again have a really profitable year, forced the company to start the introduction of their new models six months late thereby losing tens of thousands of sales, and also forced them to abandon their middle range of cars, which was why the Caribbean that year was so big compared to the two previous years, although they did make amends for that mistake by introducing the Executive in March of 1956 but by then it was much too late because by that time Packard was sinking fast. It would have been a far wiser move if they had joined forces with AMC, which was yet another bad policy decision.
I had a 1953 Packard in 1963 .. the heater rotted out from under the dash and fell on the floor ..but by god it still worked .. now that's Packard quality .planning 5-10 years down the road ....funny 1-2 years later they were out forever
It's interesting, Packard made it's last car (in Detroit) in 1956 and the last ever "Packard" at South Bend in 1958, and there's still folks interested in that marque. What a lasting impression.
This unique system seems like a great idea, however if it was, it would have been utilized on other cars after Packard went out of business. Chrysler torsion bars were nothing but replacements for the front coil springs.
The packard system solved the problem it was trying to solve successfully. Others developed competing technology to solve the same problem. Most left the problem unsolved to save money.
these packards had real style i would love to own one today but sadly they are very hard to come by here in germany and if way to expensive these days -.-
I drove a 1956 Packard Clipper Super to high school in 69-70. Everyone else drove Mustangs, Camaros, or pickup trucks. We put 250 thousand miles on that car in the 15+ years we had it.
stop the video at 3;12,,notice that radio over the lady's right shoulder?thats a zenith wave magnet trans oceanic radio ..i have one on my coffee table right behind me
I had a TransOceanic 3000-1. Wonderful radio back when shortwave was packed with signals. If I was in the room while these people were talking about the Packard, I'd be fiddling with the radio to see what kind of DX I could pick up.
It was not long after this that Packard merged with Studebaker. The last Packard cars were made in 1958. I think there were two models offered for the 1958 model year. A two door coupe and a full sized sedan. They were both dressed up Studebakers.
I have thought they should of hooked up with Checker Motors and offered a version of the Checker Marathon dressed out as a Packard and opened up Checker's use of Packard and Studebaker engines. Don't know how cost effective the Packard torsion bar suspension would be on taxi cabs but a Marathon body on a Packard chassis would of been quite the Automobile and could appeal to Limousine and commercial car markets and fleet and municipal uses. But then at it's time of demise Studebaker was the distributor of Mercedes Benz parts in the USA and I think they missed the boat by not having a Mercedes Benz diesel powered Lark.
The merger would not have occurred if the auditors had done a better job of depicting the poor health of Studebaker. Packard was a stronger company and probably could have survived as an independent.
@@fk4515 I'm not sure people would have spent the money on a diesel engine back then in numbers that would have saved it maybe if they could have survived until the first gas crisis but also back then diesel was not at stations like now which was another problem not real common until late eighties when light trucks started to gain popularity.
@@jimhaines8370 Studebaker did offer a Perkins diesel engine in cars and light trucks in 1958. Aimed at taxicab and commercial users. It was not popular and set no sales records.
There was a hardtop coupe and 4dr sedan and wagon, but also the 1958 Packard Golden Hawk - took the 53 Lowey coupe and added a fish mouth, among other things. I've see the Hawk and sedan, never the other two.
There's still a lot of them around so I assume the suspension works. The torsion bar suspension was actually optional on some models. You could still get a convention suspension Packard at least in 1955. I'm not sure about 56.
Coil springs are also torsion bars--they're just coiled to save space. Chrysler cars handled well because of suspension geometry and spring rate, not due to torsion bars. Citroen had a more sophisticated system since it used interconnected air springs.
According to reviews by professional road testers it was quite an advance on every previous suspension and definitely had superior ride and control especially in rough conditions as when going over a bad railroad level crossing or on a rough road. With the added advantage that a heavy load of passengers and luggage did not make the rear end squat down. Other companies tried to get the same effect with air suspension a few years later but could not get it to work well or reliably. Packard started putting Torsion Level suspension on their most expensive models in 1955 and gradually extended it to the full Clipper and Packard line in 1956, sometimes as an option, standard on the top models. It died when production ceased at the original Packard plant, and Packards were replaced by revamped Studebakers in 1957 and 58. But while it lasted it was definitely the best luxury car suspension on the market.
Chrysler’s Torsion-Aire was pretty awesome too. I’ve seen comparisons from back then of their ‘57 and ‘58 cars with other makes while stopping, going through corners and over bumps and the difference was amazing.
David. I drove a '72 Chrysler New Yorker for several years in the 1970s and I can tell you the Torsion level ride was superior to coil springs in every way possible. The handling, the cornering, the stops where the car didn't dive forward - all much better with torsion-aire ride. GM and Fords sucked when it came to cornering and nose-diving because of their use of coil springs.
Killer video! The guy that starts the talk sounds like Groucho Marx. I read many years ago those trans. would snap if you put it in park before a complete stop. The torsion bars are probably why Henney Coachbuilders stopped using Packards for funeral cars. Too difficult to stretch with that suspension. The armed forces also stopped buying Packards by '54 or '55 I assume.
The electric push-button shift in the '56 models was not strong enough to pull the transmission out of gear if the car was parked on a hill. One had to raise a rear wheel off the ground (both wheels in cars with Packard's innovative Twin Traction limited slip differential) to release the parking pawl. The parking pawl is not designed to be a braking mechanism in any transmission. Another tip, it is not intended to replace the parking brake, but as another layer of immobilizing your car. Always set the parking brake before shifting into park.
@@5610winston Wull yuh, I'm quite familiar w/sensible operations of an A/T. Just read a story careless parking lot attendants would shove it in P before a complete stop. So you know, most trans can take it. The pawl will sort of ratchet, or skip so they're dummy proof. I'd still like to know why they're weaker than normal. No fail-safe system I guess. Have you ever put a '56-61 ChryCo. trans. into park while moving?
I forget who said, "They can make them fool-proof, but they can't male them damn-fool proof."As I recall, most of the PowerFlite and Torqueflite transmissions of that period used a drum parking brake on the output shaft rather than a parking pawl. I have only driven one Chrysler from that period, a '60 Saratoga, and it did not have a park lever. My grandparents had a '57 Belvedere (beautiful car, black with factory air) with TorqueFlite, and as I recall, my Grandma forgot to set the brake one afternoon; she parked at the top of the hill and she had to back it out of the barn after the bridge game.
Sure they were on the edge in the mid '50s, but were well behind the times for the previous decade and were on their deathbed by this point. A valiant effort but too little, too late.
Too bad they closed the Packard plant and moved all production to Studebaker the next year. Also trashed all the packard designs. The last Packards were just rebaged Studebakers, and by 1958 Packards were gone!
The '56 Packard was the last gasp for the company, as the AMC merger deal had failed by '54, and the lying cheats at Studebaker had conned Packard's president Nance into a merger of two losers. The '55-'56 Packards and Clippers weren-t new bodies, by any means. They were both cleverly done major makeovers of the '51 body, which propelled the styling career of Dick Teague, who went on to design some of AMC'S most iconic cars in the 60s and '70s. He had exciting designs on the board for Packard, had they survived to 1957, many of the styling features later stolen by Ford for their Mercury Division. Parts of the new Packard V8 later lived in the the Chrysler "A" engine. Worst features of the '55-'56 Packards? The always-troublesome Ultramatic transmission, and the ridiculously inept TeleTouch push button selector, dumped on Packard by AutoLite. Ford also used that for some 1957-"58 Mercs and the '58 Edsels, with similar results.
Packard sure put a lot of R&D into their new cars for 55 and 56 only to have them totally flop in the marketplace. The merger with Studebaker didn't help any, either. I wonder where all these guys wee by 1957?
Truly sad and ironic as '56 was the last year of a "true" Packard. The '57s & '58s were ugly "badge-engineered" cars that were basically Studebakers with different trim and hideous "fish-mouth" grilles. The Packard-Studebaker merger was a tragic mistake that brought a fairly healthy and profitable Packard down for the count.
Except the Citroen had torsion bars on the front wheels only, nothing like as sophisticated as the Packard system. You might also like to know the Citroen was designed by the American Budd company.
@@mrdanforth3744Nope. The Citroen TA had torsion bars front and rear. It also had fully independent suspension front and rear.. Budd did not design the Traction Avant. Citroen did, they created a unibody structure using technical innovations developed by Budd. That's quite a long ways from being able to claim that Budd designed it...
Will all the access to internet you'd think companies these days would be tripping over themselves to show off their technology like this... Sadly not.
Cuando niño un vecino nuestro tenia un Clipper Que AUTO !! la chiquilleria no paraba de admirar esa belleza El Clipper sirvio de base de los autos Chaika rusos de la epoca de Kruschev . Ahora el misterio... Siendo que Packard hacia tan buenos aventajados y hermosos autos tuvo que aliarse con Studebaker y despues ambos perecieron Que paso ?
juan asanelli - si sigo los comentarios en Inglés (trabajé por 22 años en un concesionario Nissan pero estos autos eran de otra era) una combinación de factores diezmaron a Packard. Tenían una fábrica obsoleta (aunque llegaron a fabricar autos con algo de calidad y tecnología más avanzada de lo normal para la era), su capitalización era insuficiente, no tenían suficiente volumen de ventas para sobrevivir por sí solos y se unió a otro fabricante (Studebaker en 1954) que estaba en aun peor situación financiera. Para colmo una recesión a finales de los 1950 termino finalmente con ambas manufacturas. Para la misma era hubo otra fusión de 3 manufacturas de menor tamaño (Nash, Kelvinator y Hudson) que junto con Jeep (comprada a Káiser en 1970) formaron la American Motors (AMC), la cual sólo se sostuvo como marca hasta 1987 cuando una administración anterior de Chrysler se la compró a la francesa Renault, que la había comprado unos años atrás. Esas consolidaciones de los 1950´s fueron las que dieron paso al sistema actual de manufactura de propiedad nacional en EEUU, basada en 4 (ahora en 3) grandes consorcios. Espero que esto te aclare... Saludos desde Puerto Rico!!!
@@syxepop Gracia il por tu respuesta al go de eso conocia , Tanto Packard como Studebaker ,lo mismo Jeep and Hudson habian tenido una buena durante la WW2 . Dilapidaron su dinero? Entiendo que sus metodos ya eran obsoletos , pero tenian exelentes productos Nunca terminare de comprender ,como esos gigantes de la industria no se pudieron reconvertirse ,Entiendo que el mercado es muy voluble paso con Pontiac y Oldsmobile ,que teniendo autos maravillosos un dia GM les cerro la tranquera ,y hasta la propia GM casi termina en la casa de remates .! Es muy cambiante la economia y los gigantes caminan con pasos mas lentos que los del dineroy cuando viene la quema los halla con los calzones bajos ...
@@juanasanelli6831 - los contratos que obtenían los fabricantes de autos en la 2GM no eran para enriquecerse, pero si para sostenerse. Fue después de la 2GM (como en el caso de Willy's / Kaiser con el Jeep) que se obtendrían los beneficios de esos contratos. La industria automotriz requiere alto nivel de capitalización ($$$) y mucha planificación, ya que cualquier vehículo necesita hasta 5 años (a veces más) desde que se empieza a diseñar hasta su primer despacho, por lo que ES DIFÍCIL PLANIFICAR CORRECTAMENTE. Aún con la experiencia actual (pregunta a la gente de FCA de hoy) se cometen muchos errores que terminan con modelos o fabricas completas...
There are several histories that dispute a connection between Chaika and Packard. They say Stalin liked the looks of Packards, so he had designers use similar styling... bus not the Packard body dies.
My neighbors across the street when I was a kid in the early '60s had an Edsel that had a push-button transmission. Even at 8 or 9 years old, I thought it was cool and wondered why all cars didn't have it.
Richard K - don't look back, but there are some Fords and Chryslers that right now use such push-button transmissions (no shift lever in the middle and a larger place for your phone or whatever)... But they now use electronic "drive-by-wire" rather than cables.
CAN anyone explain to me( in a serious fashion) ,why did Packard go out of business .I know they merged with Studebaker, but why did they have to go that route ? I am from Canada ,forgive my lack of knowledge regarding the PACKARD CAR THEY WERE INDEED BEAUTIFUL LOOKING VEHICLES ?🤔
I think things deteriorated fairly quickly. Hired a hot CEO or "President" who didn't know the car industry as well as he did the home appliance industry? Did he make the decision to merge (buy) Studebaker? (Who was responsible for the lack of "due diligence")(Or was it fraud?) Did that merger cause labor unrest because of different pay rates at Stude vs. Packard that led to strikes? Problems with Packard having assumed that they could continue to rent the "Briggs plant" at low rates until they couldn't due to the death of the owner? The horrible automatic transmission problems of 1955 (and the bad pushbuttons in 1956) when earlier the transmission had already gotten a reputation as being "lethargic" Someone in the Federal Government perhaps being more partial to Packard's competitors than to Packard as far as Packard's military contracts Not enough dealerships in much of the country? (Was the Studebaker purchase an attempt to correct that?) a little late at bringing out their modern V8 engine (although their old engines were some of the best of their type and still made as much or more power than some of the first couple of year's version of the new V8s from Oldsmobile and Cadillac) but I think Packard's old engines cost more to build and were heavier in 1951 though maybe maybe the new Chrysler Hemi was a much more serious competitor than the other new (in 1949) V8 engines the streamliner Packards of about 1949-1950 were not popular and lost money in low sales because of their appearance (although they were good cars and similar bathtub look cars from Nash and Hudson don't seem to have been singled out as ugly)
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Packard had always been trying to appeal to the upper middle class and upper class market. It starts with the obviously comfortable modern home. Note at 3:10 the large Zenith T600 Transoceanic "portable" radio on the table to the left of the woman. This was a long range AM and shortwave radio much in demand for people like those in remote hunting and fishing camps, sailors, and explorers like Richard Byrd. It cost $139.95 in 1956, the equivalent of $1,388 in 2019, so it was a high status thing to have sitting in your home, but also a good prop to demonstrate pushbuttons. Everyone going to the "club" at the end was also a pitch to those who belonged to country clubs.
The boys were being a little disingenuous about torsion bars. They were first used by Citroen in 1934, and almost all WWII tanks used them as well. Many German panzers had the front to rear torsion bar setup similar to what's being shown, but Packard was the first car company to use the concept in a passenger car. The electric motor for automatic leveling was another first in the auto industry.
The Push Button Ultramatic was not a first, Chrysler developing the push button PowerFlite the year before. Packard decided it could develop a better (and cheaper) option using an electric motor to engage the gears rather than a mechanical linkage that was essentially the same as using a manual shift lever. The Chrysler system turned out to be very reliable. Packard, currently in its final money crunch, couldn't afford to engineer a new motor made especially for the loads put on it by the transmission selections, especially if the car was on any kind of grade, up or down hill. The modified a starter motor and hoped for the best. It turned out to be a disaster. The motor didn't have enough torque to get the car into drive on a hill, so circuit breakers popped and the car was stuck. The owner would have to await a tow truck to get him off the hill. In some cases, the loads were high enough to start the wiring on fire, destroying the entire car in a couple cases. This "futuristic" transmission system cost Packard hundreds of thousands of dollars in warranty claims at a time when making payroll was becoming harder and harder.
Packard had workable plans to fix these problems in the 1957 models, but time had run out. Packard had merged with Studebaker in 1954 in an attempt to keep both companies afloat. There was a merger mania at the time, and Packard, much more financially healthy then, accepted the word of Studebaker management and their balance sheet that Studebaker could be an equal partner. As it turned out, Studebaker was near bankruptcy and had been turning out misleading financial statements at the time of the merger, and the formerly strong cash position of Packard was drained off to pay enough of Studebaker's debts to avoid bankruptcy for the merged corporation. By 1956, the situation was dire. The Packard plant in Detroit was the more modern but also much too large for the diminished numbers of Packards being sold. The toolings costs were just too high to maintain the real Packard line. The Studebaker plant in South Bend was older but also smaller and cheaper to maintain compared to the sprawling Packard plant. Consequently, the decision was made to end Packard production and move the machinery to South Bend. This film must have been made right after the introduction of 1956 model in September, 1955 since everyone still looked happy and hopeful. Alas, that wouldn't last, as the last real Packard rolled off the line in Detroit on June 25, 1956. Parts of the plant were used for smaller businesses after the plant closed in 1958, but the area around the plant deteriorated, and the businesses started to leave, the last closing up in 2010. Most of the plant remained unoccupied and unsecured, so scrapers moved in and removed anything of value, including the wiring, plumbing and window frames. There have been a number of plans for reuse over the years but none have come to fruition. Its highest use has become as a tourist attraction for those into ruins porn and movie sites for life after humans types of films. The iconic pedestrian bridge between the two largest plant buildings over Grand Blvd collapsed into the street on January 23, 2019. It seems to be a rather symbolic end to what was once one of the largest industrial concerns in the country, and maybe a sign of the times we live in today. No one will probably ever read this but, if you do, ponder that for a bit.
Goog god, man
Citroen had used torsion bars for 20 years at the time of this film, VW for almost 15 and Porsche for almost 10. I have seen a few GMC and Chevrolet Trucks of the early 60's with Henderickson torsion bar front suspensions and of course the biggest user was Chrysler incorporating them into their designs and using them for over 20 years. As the previous poster mentioned Packard spent a lot of money on new and high tech designs but they weren't all fruitful and it turned out to be money they didn't have. I've heard that both Studebaker and Packard fought hard to stay out of the Hudson-Nash merger that created American Motors which may of been a bad business move. They needed economies of scale and needed more than Studebaker and Packard to achieve that. Alternatives may of been to team up with other smaller manufacturers to get that scale of economy What comes to mind would be Checker, Kaiser-Jeep and International Harvester. Each having products, market niches and marketing capabilities that each other could use.
Packard brought back a 6-cylinder car in 1937 to compete with cars like Pontiac and Studebaker. It sold well but eroded Packard's upper class image. They even started building Packard taxis. More of their upper income customers defected to Cadillac.
Well said, thank you. My late father was fan/owner of these cars. 😎
@Sar Jim Very interesting to read, thank you. I knew their pushbutton transmission, being all electric, had issues but never knew the extent. Edsel came out in 1958 with its pushbutton transmission which was also electrical, and they had issues with their shifting motor too. Specifically from what I read was that it was not shielded from a nearby exhaust pipe and from the elements. I think it was late in the model year that they did add a shield.
I lived about 3 miles from the Packard Proving Ground. The factory at the site was sold to Curtis Wright who produced aircraft engines for a couple of years, and then it was sold to Ford who converted it to a trim plant and made dashboards, seats, door panels, etc. The banked track and inner parts of the proving ground were there for a number of years until Ford sold the property. The straight portions of the track were nearly one mile long. The track went from 22 Mile Road to 23 Mile Road just outside of Utica, Michigan in Shelby Township. The track was finally removed, and a housing development is there now, although you can still see where parts of the track were on Google Maps satellite view. The factory was torn down after Ford sold the property and an Amazon distribution warehouse was put up where the factory was located.
I'm surprised the old Packard Plant is still standing after being abandoned for so long. I lived in Windsor Ontario right across the river from Detroit and every time I go to Michigan to see family and friends I go by the old Packard plant
I like what was there originall better.
To see those old cars on that track would be an awsome sight to see!😁
Was Curtis Wright a not so friendly competitor against Packard as to military engines and equipment? Back in the glory days when Packard products were probably superior to those of most of its competitors? (Like PT boat engines,airplane engines,I think a brief period of producing turbine (turbojet) engines although I don't know much about that)
Well now, I've been hoping to see a film on this subject for a long time. I was 6 years old when this movie was made. 6 years later, I vowed I would someday own a Packard, and 8 years after that I bought my first car, a 15-year-old, 1955 Packard Patrician. I had no idea that the suspension was so unusual and forward-thinking, I just always thought these cars were beautiful, without some of the typical mid-'50s visual tricks that look dated all these years later. The '55/'56 body was actually a refreshed version of the the 1954 model that they use in the comparison test, and was masterfully facelifted to be as new looking as all the completely redesigned cars offered by most others. And, it really did have a remarkably controlled ride and flat cornering for a 5000 lb. cruiser. I often did the same thing as the valet in the scene at that country club, standing on the rear bumper so folks could see the Packard rise up. Friends in the art school I was attending were wowed when they saw it while they were "tripping"! They don't tell you this in the video, but there's a toggle switch under the dash near the driver's door that allows you to switch the system off. When you do, a ratchet on the short torsion bar motor remains locked, so the car stays at the height you left it. I would sit on the trunk until the Packard leveled out, then jump off. Without 200 lbs. of pseudo-hippie at the end of the see-saw, the tail would spring up into a rake. Then I would casually walk forward, knowing the delay wouldn't allow the leveler to kick in for about 5 seconds, and switch off the toggle. The car would be frozen in the raked position, and I would leave it there and drive off, like NOTHIN' HAPPENED.
Hot Rodders Forever.
👏👏👏👏👏 Thanks for the comment! 😉😉
Torsion bar suspension was invented for tanks and armoured vehicles. All the German Panzer Kampf Wagen types had it.
It must have been a beautiful riding car. :)
@@waynejohnson1304 In every sense of that term. ;)
Excellent 1950s automotive nostalgia. Another winner from PeriscopeFilm.
You are so very welcome. Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.
Torsion bar suspensions are still used today in the front of heavy duty trucks. Not nearly as complicated as it's made out to be in this video. Damn I love these old automotive films. Kudos to periscope for the digital conversions!
Chrysler has used this for decades.
Right there with you, nismo, LOVE these old automotive films!
@@intuitive7274 beginning in 1957, so Packard was two years ahead of Chrysler.
Chevy GMC pickup trucks after 1996 I think Suburbans akso
The newer torsion bar suspensions are not linked together from front to rear the way Packard did them though.
I watched this some years back and RUclips pulled it. Glad its back 4/01/2020. The engineer Tom, did a Chrysler film after Packard closed about 1959.
The freeways are smooth and no signs of graffetti or vandelism anywhere!
Thanks for keeping the videos flowing through tough times.. Reminders of simpler times...
I couldnt imagine wanting to drive such a beautiful looking machine in mud. If I had one of these I would treat it like a precious piece of art
And a convertible no less.
The torsion bar suspension Packard used on 1955 & 1956 was actually invented by a Hudson engineer, Bill Allison. Hudson didn't have the money to develop it, so they let Allison shop it to other carmakers. Very generous of them.
These periscope films are really well done and entertaining
Well said, Mike, and very true! Very entertaining during this horrible in-house enprisonment because of this COVID-19 crap!
An impressively detailed scale model of a Packard Chassis and Engine....
Except for the clumsy, messy tires. It looks like there's a couple of pounds of excess glue near the wheels and on the whitewalls.
I wonder where that model finally went to? I hope someone still has it.
My father, Ralph Matesky, wrote the opening "cue" music heard in this video.
When companies treated its clients with intelligence 👌🏽
I think the 56 Packard is Beautiful, I love the front end.
We had one when I was a kid. The carb fuel bowl had a crack, it caught fire because of a faulty plug wire. Me, my mom and 2 sisters watched it burn to the ground on the carmel hill in cali
@MOKO OH That’s awful. Did your folks replace it with another Packard?
Friend: We only had one Packard I can remember, it was a long time ago. 50's
Cadillac had the same problem on the 55/56 models. Elvis and his guitarist even wrote a song about it after his caddy went up in flames.. called " watch that Cadillac burn" . --> ruclips.net/video/OdDDLmLyVo0/видео.html
@@mokooh3280 That's too bad.
The one Packard innovation they discussed here that is still very commonly used is Twin Traction. Most people call it by a different name like Positraction but it was a Packard invention.
Limited slip differential
That mesh covering the woman's eyes is a real hoot.
The 30's to 50's films always make me wish I wasn't born in the 80's. I just love the era, electricity, vacuum tubes, television, the height of radio...
Just as long as you weren't black, disabled, lesbian, gay, trans, native, yeah, great times.
@@ohmyblindman Who says any of the above you listed were unhappy during those times? How do you know-for sure? Were you there to live it? Nope, didn't think so...
@@keithphillips211 Well, Kevin I was born in 1954 and so yes, I did live it.
Allan Hegyes -to no small extent, you’re still full O crap though. (Born well before you) Those groups had problems to be sure, but they also had SELF RESPECT. They were’t “professional victims” but overwhelmingly, they still carried themselves with dignity. Take a look at their dress, manners, and the overall demeanor of those in newsreel footage fighting for civil rights. Now look at the shameful behaviors being demonstrated by a community that now celebrates incivility, fatherlessness and dysfunction, often roaming the streets in groups and attacking lone victims to steal their shoes..... They weren’t doing that in 1958, pal. I know, I was there too...
volvo09 -born just after the war in my case, and yes you’re right. No bed of roses 1956, but largely a better quality of life than today....
Helen wanted a big roomy car where she could get a powerful ride in comfort. LOL. The double entendres, whether intentional or accidental make this comedy gold.
"...I hope you'll pardon my feminine mind, but..." -- 8:38
LOL
Shhh. What's that noise I hear?
It's Betty Friedan rolling over in her grave.
I hope you'll pardon my feminine mind, but why can't you men find a Gspot?
I hope you'll pardon my feminine mind, but... but I need a drink, where is this Torsion bar located. nancy pelosi
No problem hun. Your mind is just fine.
Although there is a whiff of cheese about all these dealer films from the period, what comes across very strongly (and seems sadly lacking from almost all car companies now) is a sense of pride in the ENGINEERING. Not the style, or the price, or the warranty - the cleverness and quality of the engineering. Back then cars were built, not simply assembled.
Packard had some really innovative ideas and some really stupid ones. Their first year V8 {big and heavy nearly 400kg's} used to have a vacuum pump to assist the vacuum accessories this was mounted underneath the oil pump in the sump driven by the same shaft. The pump seal would fail and this would let the oil pump suck air and trash the bearings. The Torsion Bar system that uses a single bar for each side works pretty well but needs a very rigid chassis to function correctly. This makes them Very heavy. This is the main reason why they are only really used at each end today.
Actually, there are four torsion bars. One for each corner.
i wish i could still get such a car
RIP To the great actors in this video.
Ah that famous Packard Grille...
Packard was a great car. And it's sad they went out of business. Parkard was truly built for the upper middle class
They were called "old money cars", built to a higher standard without the frills of those caddilacs. Packard was considered good enough to contact build Rolls-Royce aircraft engines during WW2, and in some ways improved the design.
@Dan Hayes Yes, very sad indeed. They had some upcoming designs that were out of this world, like the ‘57 Predictor.
The class government is trying to stamp out these days.
@@1940limited They have already destroyed so very much of America. The U.S.A. 1776 to 2020
They were not horrendously expensive except for the long wheelbase ones and the "lesser model" 250s and Deluxe Clipper were affordable and very good cars before the 1955 debacle. Don't understand why antique car buffs haven't discovered those cars. Maybe even the base Clipper which still had a lesser Packard straight eight that was 281 cubic inches,which was more than the approximately 270 cubic inches of the beloved Pontiac Straight Eight.
The top of the line cars were very competitive against Cadillac up through probably 1953 but were "frumpier",I think the Straight Eight was just as powerful as the first years of Cadillac's overhead V8 and smoother.
Packard should have purchased Hydramatic automatic transmission from the General instead of fooling with the inferior in house transmissions.
I believe that in 1953 Packard had two 327 cubic inch Straight Eights,one of them had 5 main bearings like most cars that had Straight Eights,the other one had 9 main bearings. Packard had the reputation that its engines were better balanced than others,maybe as much so as Rolls Royce.
Packard may have suffered from having a lack of dealers.
I would hope that Packard clubs can help people who are trying to restore and/or preserve these cars with finding qualified mechanics and sources of parts.
So funny how their idea of “blistering getaway” is so different than what we would think today. Ha. That Caribbean convertible was gorgeous and I just hated seeing it driven through the mud. Some of the tri-tone color combinations on the Caribbean we’re just a little odd, and I wish they could’ve offered some prettier ones. It is really strange to see a Caribbean in a solid color, which I’ve seen before. Also when they show the guy press the transmission buttons, he has a really dirty fingernail, but I think he was wearing coveralls so he must have been a mechanic. I always loved how both Packard, Edsel and Chrysler all talked about their pushbuttons and how safe, secure, and easier they were to use…like a shifting lever was so “hard to use” and unsafe. 😳
With new cars built for millennials, I hear push button transmissions, even rotary knobs and even smart phone app controlled transmissions, are coming back. What's old is new again...
@@raylopez99 For sure.
@@raylopez99 Bad then and bad now. The first year Edsel had electric push buttons to control the automatic transmission,I believe it had the same problems as had Packard's as of a couple years before.
Tom Taylor was also in some Kearney and Trecker films...Like the Zenith Transoceanic radio in the background...
Packard's last major development was the Bill Allison-invented Torsion-Level suspension, an electronically controlled four-wheel torsion-bar suspension that balanced the car's height front to rear and side to side, having electric motors to compensate each spring independently. Contemporary American competitors had serious difficulties with this suspension concept, trying to accomplish the same with air-bag springs before dropping the idea. And they were gone in 2 yrs.
Packard was not gone in 2 years. They purchased Studabaker and then did away with the Packard name. Studabaker stopped production of all vehicles in 1966 but did not go bankrupt as many may have thought. In their last years, Studabaker went on a buying spree and purchased other companies to diversify.
TRUMP 2020 honestly, you’ve got a great name.
How effective was Torsion Level Ride in real life and what year was it discontinued or did they use it until the company closed its doors?
@@rollingtones1 I think '56 was the last year. The 57's were rebadged Studebakers.
@@wallyplumstead614 They were conned by Studebaker re their debt then were immediately asset stripped to save Studebaker as those who were owed the money could only get more if Studebaker survived. The action would be illegal today as they never disclosed this time bomb but were required to comply.
I always thought Chrysler was the first to use this...interesting...good video - thank you 😊
Packard is one of the saddest losses in the American automobile industry.
Bad management was the main reason. Otherwise they would have lasted much longer and introduced many new innovative automobiles.
@@8176morgan Was it really as simple as "bad management" or was it more poor decisions?
@@That_AMC_Guy I would say that is pretty close to being one and the same thing. Moving their production plant was the real killer, as it had a maximum capacity turn out of only 80,000 autos, insuring that they would never again have a really profitable year, forced the company to start the introduction of their new models six months late thereby losing tens of thousands of sales, and also forced them to abandon their middle range of cars, which was why the Caribbean that year was so big compared to the two previous years, although they did make amends for that mistake by introducing the Executive in March of 1956 but by then it was much too late because by that time Packard was sinking fast. It would have been a far wiser move if they had joined forces with AMC, which was yet another bad policy decision.
@@8176morgan and people died untimely too...
Cool home office that still looks modern
I had a 1953 Packard in 1963 .. the heater rotted out from under the dash and fell on the floor ..but by god it still worked .. now that's Packard quality .planning 5-10 years down the road ....funny 1-2 years later they were out forever
It's interesting, Packard made it's last car (in Detroit) in 1956 and the last ever "Packard" at South Bend in 1958, and there's still folks interested in that marque. What a lasting impression.
This unique system seems like a great idea, however if it was, it would have been utilized on other cars after Packard went out of business. Chrysler torsion bars were nothing but replacements for the front coil springs.
The packard system solved the problem it was trying to solve successfully. Others developed competing technology to solve the same problem. Most left the problem unsolved to save money.
these packards had real style i would love to own one today but sadly they are very hard to come by here in germany and if way to expensive these days -.-
I own a 1948 Studebaker Land cruiser ,which I restored in 1976 , it`s the center of interest at shows .
I drove a 1956 Packard Clipper Super to high school in 69-70. Everyone else drove Mustangs, Camaros, or pickup trucks.
We put 250 thousand miles on that car in the 15+ years we had it.
So it must've held up ok. Did it still drive well ? Did the suspension perform as they discussed after all those miles?
Any problems with the suspension?
These guys could have converted those folks to Mormon's if they stayed any longer.
That lady was not stupid. She knew her stuff
A Zenith Trans Oceanic on the book shelf! I have one just like it.
Still work?
Of course the Zenith still works, “The quality goes in before the name goes on!”
I wonder if she carries them in a wheelbarrow today....
I wonder if she carries them in a wheelbarrow today....
Yes. I had to replace the Voltmatic Regulator tube. But it still works!
That's simply brilliant!
stop the video at 3;12,,notice that radio over the lady's right shoulder?thats a zenith wave magnet trans oceanic radio ..i have one on my coffee table right behind me
Go to the 13:27 point. It shows a close up of the radio.
I had a TransOceanic 3000-1. Wonderful radio back when shortwave was packed with signals. If I was in the room while these people were talking about the Packard, I'd be fiddling with the radio to see what kind of DX I could pick up.
That Zenith radio quite a status symbol... worked for German Grundig in the 70s we had a modern version called 6001. .. a very different era...
I have one as well.
It was not long after this that Packard merged with Studebaker. The last Packard cars were made in 1958. I think there were two models offered for the 1958 model year. A two door coupe and a full sized sedan. They were both dressed up Studebakers.
I have thought they should of hooked up with Checker Motors and offered a version of the Checker Marathon dressed out as a Packard and opened up Checker's use of Packard and Studebaker engines. Don't know how cost effective the Packard torsion bar suspension would be on taxi cabs but a Marathon body on a Packard chassis would of been quite the Automobile and could appeal to Limousine and commercial car markets and fleet and municipal uses. But then at it's time of demise Studebaker was the distributor of Mercedes Benz parts in the USA and I think they missed the boat by not having a Mercedes Benz diesel powered Lark.
The merger would not have occurred if the auditors had done a better job of depicting the poor health of Studebaker. Packard was a stronger company and probably could have survived as an independent.
@@fk4515 I'm not sure people would have spent the money on a diesel engine back then in numbers that would have saved it maybe if they could have survived until the first gas crisis but also back then diesel was not at stations like now which was another problem not real common until late eighties when light trucks started to gain popularity.
@@jimhaines8370 Studebaker did offer a Perkins diesel engine in cars and light trucks in 1958. Aimed at taxicab and commercial users. It was not popular and set no sales records.
There was a hardtop coupe and 4dr sedan and wagon, but also the 1958 Packard Golden Hawk - took the 53 Lowey coupe and added a fish mouth, among other things. I've see the Hawk and sedan, never the other two.
Awesome design.
Hypoid and Posi Traction ride control automatic transmission wow.
John DeLorean was about to leave Packard for Pontiac when this was made.
Didn't know about this long torsion bar and load leveller system!
Has anyone managed to keep one of theses cars working?
There's still a lot of them around so I assume the suspension works. The torsion bar suspension was actually optional on some models. You could still get a convention suspension Packard at least in 1955. I'm not sure about 56.
With the demise of Packard so died the American Auto industry . The engineer was replaced by the bean counter .
Packard died for our sins. Thanks be to Packard 🙏🏻
@@icecreamforcrowhurst and the engineers wept .
Some of the tunes used in this were in 1952s studebaker 100 year story film short.
Coil springs are also torsion bars--they're just coiled to save space. Chrysler cars handled well because of suspension geometry and spring rate, not due to torsion bars. Citroen had a more sophisticated system since it used interconnected air springs.
How effective was Torsion Level Ride in real life and what year was it discontinued or did they use it until the company closed its doors?
lots of cars and light trucks have used them since then actually fairly common
According to reviews by professional road testers it was quite an advance on every previous suspension and definitely had superior ride and control especially in rough conditions as when going over a bad railroad level crossing or on a rough road. With the added advantage that a heavy load of passengers and luggage did not make the rear end squat down. Other companies tried to get the same effect with air suspension a few years later but could not get it to work well or reliably. Packard started putting Torsion Level suspension on their most expensive models in 1955 and gradually extended it to the full Clipper and Packard line in 1956, sometimes as an option, standard on the top models. It died when production ceased at the original Packard plant, and Packards were replaced by revamped Studebakers in 1957 and 58. But while it lasted it was definitely the best luxury car suspension on the market.
Chrysler’s Torsion-Aire was pretty awesome too. I’ve seen comparisons from back then of their ‘57 and ‘58 cars with other makes while stopping, going through corners and over bumps and the difference was amazing.
@@jimhaines8370 No. Packard had the patent. Lots of cars and trucks have torsion bars but they act independently of the other wheels.
David. I drove a '72 Chrysler New Yorker for several years in the 1970s and I can tell you the Torsion level ride was superior to coil springs in every way possible. The handling, the cornering, the stops where the car didn't dive forward - all much better with torsion-aire ride. GM and Fords sucked when it came to cornering and nose-diving because of their use of coil springs.
LOVE this video, from start to end! Perfect entertainment during this horrible in-house enprisonment COVID-19 crap!
Nonsensical, ignorant comment.
Killer video! The guy that starts the talk sounds like Groucho Marx.
I read many years ago those trans. would snap if you put it in park before a complete stop.
The torsion bars are probably why Henney Coachbuilders stopped using Packards for funeral cars. Too difficult to stretch with that suspension. The armed forces also stopped buying Packards by '54 or '55 I assume.
The Packard "Twin Ultramatic" transmission was as smooth as any in the industry, but quality control left a lot to be desired.
I read decades ago if you put them in park before coming to a complete stop, something (a paul?) would break easily.
The electric push-button shift in the '56 models was not strong enough to pull the transmission out of gear if the car was parked on a hill. One had to raise a rear wheel off the ground (both wheels in cars with Packard's innovative Twin Traction limited slip differential) to release the parking pawl.
The parking pawl is not designed to be a braking mechanism in any transmission.
Another tip, it is not intended to replace the parking brake, but as another layer of immobilizing your car. Always set the parking brake before shifting into park.
@@5610winston Wull yuh, I'm quite familiar w/sensible operations of an A/T.
Just read a story careless parking lot attendants would shove it in P before a complete stop.
So you know, most trans can take it. The pawl will sort of ratchet, or skip so they're dummy proof.
I'd still like to know why they're weaker than normal. No fail-safe system I guess.
Have you ever put a '56-61 ChryCo. trans. into park while moving?
I forget who said, "They can make them fool-proof, but they can't male them damn-fool proof."As I recall, most of the PowerFlite and Torqueflite transmissions of that period used a drum parking brake on the output shaft rather than a parking pawl. I have only driven one Chrysler from that period, a '60 Saratoga, and it did not have a park lever.
My grandparents had a '57 Belvedere (beautiful car, black with factory air) with TorqueFlite, and as I recall, my Grandma forgot to set the brake one afternoon; she parked at the top of the hill and she had to back it out of the barn after the bridge game.
I'm told they blew out frequently as they couldn't handle the power of the new V8.
Packard appears to be a well engineered good looking car for its time.What killed Packard an economic downturn in late 50s?📉🤔
Packard seemed to be on the edge of auto tech for the day. I'm curious why they went under.
Sure they were on the edge in the mid '50s, but were well behind the times for the previous decade and were on their deathbed by this point. A valiant effort but too little, too late.
They coulln't compete with the Big Three. Ultimately, no one could.
Bad management.
at first I read "the safe road head" and finally, an instructional film i could use, but alas ...
What a doll!
Was that a surgical mask she was wearing on her head?
8:38 "I hope you pardon my feminine mind" , lol
Too bad they closed the Packard plant and moved all production to Studebaker the next year. Also trashed all the packard designs. The last Packards were just rebaged Studebakers, and by 1958 Packards were gone!
The '56 Packard was the last gasp for the company, as the AMC merger deal had failed by '54, and the lying cheats at Studebaker had conned Packard's president Nance into a merger of two losers. The '55-'56 Packards and Clippers weren-t new bodies, by any means. They were both cleverly done major makeovers of the '51 body, which propelled the styling career of Dick Teague, who went on to design some of AMC'S most iconic cars in the 60s and '70s. He had exciting designs on the board for Packard, had they survived to 1957, many of the styling features later stolen by Ford for their Mercury Division. Parts of the new Packard V8 later lived in the the Chrysler "A" engine. Worst features of the '55-'56 Packards? The always-troublesome Ultramatic transmission, and the ridiculously inept TeleTouch push button selector, dumped on Packard by AutoLite. Ford also used that for some 1957-"58 Mercs and the '58 Edsels, with similar results.
I heard Studebaker cooked the books to make the deal seem more appealing.
@@1940limited cooked em, baked em, roasted em, broiled em then set em on fire!
When my Dad and his sister were children, he and my Ant road the back bumper of my grandfathers car till the battery died.
Packard sure put a lot of R&D into their new cars for 55 and 56 only to have them totally flop in the marketplace. The merger with Studebaker didn't help any, either. I wonder where all these guys wee by 1957?
Take my money!
Truly sad and ironic as '56 was the last year of a "true" Packard. The '57s & '58s were ugly "badge-engineered" cars that were basically Studebakers with different trim and hideous "fish-mouth" grilles. The Packard-Studebaker merger was a tragic mistake that brought a fairly healthy and profitable Packard down for the count.
Load levelizer - thought that was a CyberTruck innovation.
600 series Zenith Trans-Oceanic or something similar at 3:05
This suspension principle was invented by Citroen motors in the 1930, for the 2CV model.
So clever of the Packard designers to steal the idea of torsion bar suspension from the German Volkswagen and French Citroen!
It's all water under the bridge now.
True but they stole A Delco Auto Electric
That lady looks ridiculous with that net across her face. 1:50
Excellent
Could you think if Packard was around now?
Yellow STOP sign at 05:36
Ahead of it's time.
So...how would the dealer show this to customers?
Just Packard taking credit for doing in the mid-50s what Citroen was already doing in the mid-30s...
Except the Citroen had torsion bars on the front wheels only, nothing like as sophisticated as the Packard system. You might also like to know the Citroen was designed by the American Budd company.
@@mrdanforth3744Nope. The Citroen TA had torsion bars front and rear. It also had fully independent suspension front and rear.. Budd did not design the Traction Avant. Citroen did, they created a unibody structure using technical innovations developed by Budd. That's quite a long ways from being able to claim that Budd designed it...
@Dead Centre Challenge me. Where am I wrong ?
Regardless, I'd rather have a Packard.
Who was the audience for this? Salesmen? Investors? Recruiters?
And in just a few years...Packard was gone. Sad.
Thi was the last year, really. 57 and 58 were glorified Studebakers.
did you all see those dirty fingernails pushing the drive button?
Must have been guys out in the plant.
15:40 nice intake manifold.
That suspension i hade disigned in my maind many years algo.
0:20- Same music cue used under the closing credits of the syndicated "FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE" episodes {"STAR PERFORMANCE"}.
"I hope you will pardon my feminine mind". Hahaha, oh boy, that's a loaded statement! That would never fly today!
And Packard is gone. Very sad.
It's a shame what's become of the plant in Detroit. It's hard to believe it was once a thriving operation.
Just 2 years before the 😥 end of Packard...
Actually, 1956 was. That was the last year a "true" Packard was produced.
In 57 and 58 Packards were more or less "Packardbakers"....
Nice Hat
Dump the fish net.
Is this a reupload? I commented on this video over a month ago.
These two Packard guy's are the one who spearheaded the idea to merge with Studebaker.....
"I need just a couple of minutes to fix my powder.:
Is that what she said? I didn't quite catch that. Thanks. I think the mesh over women's faces back then was kind of stupid. Otherwise, she's OK.
8:39 😂😂😂
Will all the access to internet you'd think companies these days would be tripping over themselves to show off their technology like this... Sadly not.
The netted veil hat she's wearing is really the frumpiest thing ever. Who did the wardrobe work for this 📽️ film?!
Cuando niño un vecino nuestro tenia un Clipper Que AUTO !! la chiquilleria no paraba de admirar esa belleza El Clipper sirvio de base de los autos Chaika rusos de la epoca de Kruschev . Ahora el misterio... Siendo que Packard hacia tan buenos aventajados y hermosos autos tuvo que aliarse con Studebaker y despues ambos perecieron Que paso ?
juan asanelli - si sigo los comentarios en Inglés (trabajé por 22 años en un concesionario Nissan pero estos autos eran de otra era) una combinación de factores diezmaron a Packard.
Tenían una fábrica obsoleta (aunque llegaron a fabricar autos con algo de calidad y tecnología más avanzada de lo normal para la era), su capitalización era insuficiente, no tenían suficiente volumen de ventas para sobrevivir por sí solos y se unió a otro fabricante (Studebaker en 1954) que estaba en aun peor situación financiera. Para colmo una recesión a finales de los 1950 termino finalmente con ambas manufacturas.
Para la misma era hubo otra fusión de 3 manufacturas de menor tamaño (Nash, Kelvinator y Hudson) que junto con Jeep (comprada a Káiser en 1970) formaron la American Motors (AMC), la cual sólo se sostuvo como marca hasta 1987 cuando una administración anterior de Chrysler se la compró a la francesa Renault, que la había comprado unos años atrás.
Esas consolidaciones de los 1950´s fueron las que dieron paso al sistema actual de manufactura de propiedad nacional en EEUU, basada en 4 (ahora en 3) grandes consorcios.
Espero que esto te aclare... Saludos desde Puerto Rico!!!
@@syxepop Gracia il por tu respuesta al go de eso conocia , Tanto Packard como Studebaker ,lo mismo Jeep and Hudson habian tenido una buena durante la WW2 . Dilapidaron su dinero? Entiendo que sus metodos ya eran obsoletos , pero tenian exelentes productos Nunca terminare de comprender ,como esos gigantes de la industria no se pudieron reconvertirse ,Entiendo que el mercado es muy voluble paso con Pontiac y Oldsmobile ,que teniendo autos maravillosos un dia GM les cerro la tranquera ,y hasta la propia GM casi termina en la casa de remates .! Es muy cambiante la economia y los gigantes caminan con pasos mas lentos que los del dineroy cuando viene la quema los halla con los calzones bajos ...
@@juanasanelli6831 - los contratos que obtenían los fabricantes de autos en la 2GM no eran para enriquecerse, pero si para sostenerse. Fue después de la 2GM (como en el caso de Willy's / Kaiser con el Jeep) que se obtendrían los beneficios de esos contratos.
La industria automotriz requiere alto nivel de capitalización ($$$) y mucha planificación, ya que cualquier vehículo necesita hasta 5 años (a veces más) desde que se empieza a diseñar hasta su primer despacho, por lo que ES DIFÍCIL PLANIFICAR CORRECTAMENTE.
Aún con la experiencia actual (pregunta a la gente de FCA de hoy) se cometen muchos errores que terminan con modelos o fabricas completas...
There are several histories that dispute a connection between Chaika and Packard. They say Stalin liked the looks of Packards, so he had designers use similar styling... bus not the Packard body dies.
So, did Marge and Homer buy the car?
That's the cliff hanger! :-)
This film came out when I was only one-year old. I miss my 1955 diapers.
That push button transmission would come in handy today. Everytime I get head while driving that damn shift selector gets in her way.
My neighbors across the street when I was a kid in the early '60s had an Edsel that had a push-button transmission. Even at 8 or 9 years old, I thought it was cool and wondered why all cars didn't have it.
Chrysler used it from about 1957-1964 even on Plymouths
Richard K - don't look back, but there are some Fords and Chryslers that right now use such push-button transmissions (no shift lever in the middle and a larger place for your phone or whatever)... But they now use electronic "drive-by-wire" rather than cables.
Good for you! :-)
CAN anyone explain to me( in a serious fashion) ,why did Packard go out of business .I know they merged with Studebaker, but why did they have to go that route ? I am from Canada ,forgive my lack of knowledge regarding the PACKARD CAR THEY WERE INDEED BEAUTIFUL LOOKING VEHICLES ?🤔
I think things deteriorated fairly quickly.
Hired a hot CEO or "President" who didn't know the car industry as well as he did the home appliance industry? Did he make the decision to merge (buy) Studebaker? (Who was responsible for the lack of "due diligence")(Or was it fraud?) Did that merger cause labor unrest because of different pay rates at Stude vs. Packard that led to strikes?
Problems with Packard having assumed that they could continue to rent the "Briggs plant" at low rates until they couldn't due to the death of the owner?
The horrible automatic transmission problems of 1955 (and the bad pushbuttons in 1956) when earlier the transmission had already gotten a reputation as being "lethargic"
Someone in the Federal Government perhaps being more partial to Packard's competitors than to Packard as far as Packard's military contracts
Not enough dealerships in much of the country? (Was the Studebaker purchase an attempt to correct that?)
a little late at bringing out their modern V8 engine (although their old engines were some of the best of their type and still made as much or more power than some of the first couple of year's version of the new V8s from Oldsmobile and Cadillac) but I think Packard's old engines cost more to build and were heavier
in 1951 though maybe maybe the new Chrysler Hemi was a much more serious competitor than the other new (in 1949) V8 engines
the streamliner Packards of about 1949-1950 were not popular and lost money in low sales because of their appearance (although they were good cars and similar bathtub look cars from Nash and Hudson don't seem to have been singled out as ugly)
14:20
Trip to the moon? pffft like thats ever gonna happen.
We wll get to the moon someday, but first we must find cures for COVID and cancer. Perhaps in 20 years...perhaps not.
Obviously a joke on your part.
i didn't know Packard invented Steak and Road head . March 14th LOL. Thank you Packerd!!!!!!
They didn't know in 2 years, Packard would be gone :(
Yes, what does Packard have in it's 2020 lineup from all those great facilities, engineers, and technicians?
@@danbolton3180 Their making smooth breathing defibrillators. .
Packard was mostly gone after this 56 model.