Paralleling our
fledgling and well received Packard Car Dealer Series, we thought
we'd add something more up front and personal by doing a series on
members' cars. The first section of each Pelican Perspective will
examine the models produced in the year featured and how they fit
into the Packard Saga. The second section will focus on the owner(s),
how they came into the Packard family, and of course their ownership
experience with their featured Packard.
1938 was a watershed model year for the Packard Company and their
exclusive
Senior Eights, the models that signified Packard prestige going back
to 1923. These
models were so successful through 1929 that the profit they
generated was used to
weather the Great Depression and later finance the development of
the 1935 One Twenty. Ironically, as we will see later, from then on
it was the Junior cars that supported the Seniors to World War II
and beyond. Between 1923 and 1928 the Eight was the premier model
and the much sought after Six was only one notch below, and a full
Classic in its own right. In 1928 the lines were upgraded again. A
new Custom Deluxe Eight was added at the top with a muscular yet
silky 385 CID powerplant. The Six was replaced by the Standard Eight
and was named so like the Custom Deluxe through 1932. "Standard" may
be perceived as "regular" to some readers, but this is hardly the
case. Webster's Dictionary states that "criterion" is a synonym for
"standard" which is: "an authoritative model or measure, a pattern
for guidance, by comparison with which the quality, excellence, and
correctness of other things may be determined." The "High Standards
Eight" is a name more fitting, as the most inexpensive model in 1928
cost $4,100, the equivalent of 10 (!) Model A Fords. The company
sold an astounding 43,130 Standards in this one model year, plus
another 11,930 Custom/Deluxe and Speedsters. Kindly keep in mind
Packard model years rarely coincided with calendar years, so these
numbers are relative to each other only. 1929 started out with high
demand and waiting lists as before, but as the economic crisis
became real, sales tailed off to approximately 35,000 units, still a
very good year. As the depth of the Depression intensified, there
was a curious delayed reaction for Packard, as they still managed to
sell approximately 18,000 units as late as 1931. For 1933-34, the
Standard Eight became the Eight, and the Custom/Deluxe series became
the Super Eight. Meanwhile, fine car sales along with the rest of
the Industry continued to plunge, reaching the horrifying bottom of
7,040 units in 1934.
In 1933 the plan for 1935 and the foreseeable future was drawn by
Alvan
McCauley, Max Oilman, and George Christopher: the Twelves and Senior
Eights would
be modernized to fully compete in the ultra-fine car market while
the new One Twenty
would compete in the much larger upper medium priced market against
Buick, LaSalle, Nash Hudson, Chrysler, etc. Hindsight is exactly
20/20, the Packard management has been criticized on one hand, for
polluting the Senior Line's prestige with the Junior One Twentys and
on the other hand, not modernizing and promoting the Seniors to
dominate the luxury car market. Actually, it was reasonable to
believe the economy would surge back to the levels of the late
1920s, (it did) and that the fine car market would return as well.
(It didn't).
The 1935-36 Eights and Super Eights hit the road running with every
conceivable
body style spread across 34 models and 5 wheelbases. The least
expensive Eight Sedan Model 1200, priced at $4,160, cost over seven
times as much as a Chevrolet Master Deluxe Sedan at $740.00. The
Eight continued to use the smooth and powerful_320 C1U power plant
introduced in 1928. Sales-wise, the Eights were mildly received.
Meanwhile, the 1935 One Twentys were smash hits and long waiting
lists ensued. The Senior Eight sales for 1935 at 6 173 units were
bitterly disappointing, and plans were immediately laid to offer
only one Senior Eight for 1937. What was going wrong? Simply put,
the fine car market was evaporating. Marmon, Peerless, and Stutz
were gone. Pierce was in bankruptcy and Lincoln was producing less
than 200 KBs per year. Packard had approximately 40 of a worldwide
market that had no future. Even m 2003 the market for cars that are 5
to 10 times the cost of a Ford Taurus is miniscule. The new 1937
Super Eight refined the 1935 styling theme and retained the smaller
320 engine. Nevertheless, the chassis was completely new with
independent front suspension and numerous other refinements. The
front-end geometry impressed Rolls Royce/Bentley to such a high
degree they designed virtual copies and used it well into the 1950
s. Once again sales were disappointing at only 5,793 units spread
across 15 models on 3 wheelbases. Additionally, Packard was using
approximately half of its 87 acre floor space and half of its 9,000
person workforce to produce these almost hand built vehicles The
other half built about 104,000 Sixes and One Twenty's. With these
numbers in mind, management, heavily influenced by the production
man George Christopher, decided early in 1937 the Super Eights with
their exclusive bodies and chassis would be discontinued after 1938,
and the Twelve in 1939.
At this juncture the argument was that Packard abandoned the luxury
market to
Cadillac and Lincoln can get some traction. Packard had nothing to
counter^the Sixty
Special and the Zephyr, two trend-setting cars in the new luxury
mwkGtmi^wo ,
2 400 price range This new class of buyers that blossomed in the
late 1940 s demanded the most advanced styling at more modest
prices. Max Gilman demanded that we must look modem," but that would
not happen until the arrival of the Clipper in the spring of 1941 In
mid 1939 the famous Production Bridge was constructed across East
Grand Boulevard, allowing one unified assembly line where Juniors
and Seniors would be produced together.
Even though it was introduced into the teeth of the Recession of
1938 and it was
already destined to be discontinued, the Sixteen Series Super Eight
went out with a
flourish. Offered on 15 Models across 4 wheelbases, factory prices
ranged from the base Model 1603/163 Touring Sedan at $2,790 to the
Model 1605/1143 Convertible Sedan at $4,945. The Super Eight now
shared bodies with the Twelve. Custom Cabriolets and Town Cars could
be ordered from Rollson or Brunn, two of the fine body companies
that survived from the heydays of the 1920s. The 1937 bodies were
improved with a veed windshield and flowing pontoon fenders, giving
the vehicle a handsome and regal look.Inside, a modem art deco
dashboard upgraded the already elegant interior. To put the
1938 Super Eight into perspective, when Robert Turnquist wrote the
first edition of his
Packard Book circa 1970 The Classic Car Club had not recognized most
of the 1939
Super Eight, the 1940 Super Eight 160, and the 1941 Super Eight 160
as Classic Cars.
That is not to say these successors are not excellent machines, but
Tumquist noted "they do not have the price, refinement, and
attention to detail that the earlier models did." The customers
agreed: Morgan Yost in "Packard - A History of the Motor Car and the
Company" wrote that Hugh Hitchcock, Advertising Manager, noted in
1939 "that among personages identified as Packard owners were three
Kings, one Queen, two Sultans, four Princes, three Princesses, Two
Royal Courts, fifteen Cabinet Members.... and officials of
thirty-nine other countries." Nevertheless, the Company in their
view had to stick to the business of staying in business, and from
now on all Packards would be based on the One Twenty/Eight Series.
Thus ended the most successful and profitable line the company would
ever build.
Earl Robinson was bit by the Packard bug in high school, and as we
all know the
bite produces an infection for which there is no cure. While
visiting his uncle in 1947 at
Holyoke, Massachusetts he was invited to park his uncle's 1941 One
Twenty Sedan in
their garage. Earl compared driving their family's 1939 Plymouth to
the Packard and it
was "love at first ride." Robinson is a native of Barrington Rhode
Island, and commuted
to the University of Rhode Island and later switched and graduated
from Bryant Business School. During that time he bought and sold a
number of interesting 20 year old drivers that included a 1940 One
Twenty Convertible, a 1937 One Twenty Convertible, a 1939 One Ten
Sedan, a 1941 One Twenty Convertible, and finally, a 1929 Stutz
Black Hawk Phaeton bought for $125.00. In the midst of all these
tempting Packards Earl was tempted in another way; he met and
married Mary Lou.
The Stutz moved west to Windsor Connecticut with the Robinson's
where it was
sold to raise cash for the restoration of their colonial home for
the princely sum of
$1,800.00 in 1963. In 1972 Earl found a 1953 Caribbean that was a
"runs well but rusty
underneath car." Three years later he sold the car to, of all
people. Bill Reynolds, who
still has it! In 1980 the Robinson's bought a 1948 Deluxe Eight
Sedan, one of those
"original low mileage cars" that winds up needing a heart lung
transplant the day after it's driven home. This vehicle demanded and
received a nice, juicy motor. Alas, in 1987 the Packard had to make
room for a 1922 Studebaker Big Six Sedan that his father fell in
love with. Nevertheless, Earl could not get Packard's out of his
mind and the Stude had to give way to the spiffy 1930 Model 733/409
Convertible Coup they have now. They
joined NAP shortly thereafter.
In 1998 Earl & MaryLou kicked around the idea of purchasing a
distinctive
Packard to drive to the Centennial Meet in Warren Ohio. Later that
year at the
Hemmings/Bennington Vermont Meet Earl came across a very nice 1938
Model
1604/116 Club Sedan owned by Andy Woods. The car Earl was looking
at rides on a
regal 134" wheelbase. Her companions, all 2,463 of them, rode
wheelbases of 127" for the base 1603 Series, and 139" for the
1604/1605 Series. The deal was struck and the car was prepped for
Warren with a major engine overhaul. The car performed well on the
road out to Warren and then again out and back to Canadaigua in
2001. Earl says she has developed some aches and pains as all
show-worthy driver's do. Nevertheless, this is a Classic Super Eight
that was designed to run on the road and the Robinson's use the car
the way Packard intended.
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