Hemmings Classic Car

SUNSET STEP-SIBLING

When you’re a mid-level car division without a ton of excitement happening, what do you do to spur sales? One popular answer: Move downmarket, make a go of it with the plebes, and hope that a rush of sales makes up for whatever suffering of reputation your company may endure.

There are plenty of examples, but the most prominent two are Packard and Cadillac/La Salle. In an era when Packard sales were unsustainably low, they dreamt up the lower-line 120, a smaller, less expensive car that got the rub from Packard’s good name. Short-term, the ploy worked: For 1937, Packard sold 122,000 cars, the bulk of them the 120-series — enough to vault Packard all the way into to eighth place in the year’s sales figures. (Whether this staved off or encouraged the inevitability of the marque’s demise 20 years later is another conversation altogether.)

Meanwhile, Cadillac’s companion marque, La Salle, nearly doubled Cadillac’s sales for 1940, a year that would

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Hemmings Classic Car

Hemmings Classic Car2 min read
Rare Induction
ASKING PRICE: $4,500 FOUND AT: 2023 AACA EASTERN FALL MEET (HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA) AMERICANS REDISCOVERED factory performance thanks, in part, to NASCAR’s first official Strictly Stock (quickly renamed Grand National) race, held on June 19, 1949, on
Hemmings Classic Car5 min read
Plymouth Perfected
The earliest post-World War II designs from the Big Three were futuristic looking from a 1940s perspective, but quickly came to look outdated as 1950s industrial design left Streamline Moderne behind for the jet age. Similarly, reliable prewar mechan
Hemmings Classic Car2 min read
News Reports
The schedule for Demo Days at the Simeone Museum has been announced featuring a full slate of gatherings planned for select Saturdays from May to November. Each event kicks off at 11:15 a.m. and will include a brief presentation on the technical spec

Related Books & Audiobooks