Inside Packard: How One Bad Merger Killed America's Greatest Luxury Car

In 1937, Packard outsold Cadillac at the top of the American luxury market. Presidents rode in Packards. Japan's royal family owned ten. The brand had been building cars since 1899 with a slogan so confident it didn't need a pitch: Ask the Man Who Owns One. By 1958, the name was on a rebadged Studebaker. This is the story of one deal, signed in October 1954 by a man who had spent his career selling kitchen appliances — and who didn't require an independent audit before he handed over everything Packard had left. The number that came back from South Bend, Indiana, after that deal closed was 282,000. That was Studebaker's real annual break-even. The number Packard's negotiators had been given was closer to 120,000. Packard's chief financial officer came back from reviewing the books and was, in the president's own words, ashen-faced. This is not a story about a car company that lost to the market. The market was still buying. This is the story of how America's greatest luxury car died from the inside. #AmericanCarHistory #packard #DetroitHistory #PackardMotorCar