Packard was the quintessential automotive manufacturer for the first half of the twentieth century. They were one of the first car companies to focus on customer satisfaction, which is why Packard enjoyed a 90% loyalty from their customers. That is, whenever a Packard owner would trade or sell their car, chances were they would buy another Packard. There are many documented tales of Packards running in generations of families here and abroad.
This obsession with customer satisfaction is what started Packard in the first place. Mr. Packard had bought one of the first high end cars in the States, the Wynton. The only problem was that he would suffer a breakdown at least once every couple of weeks. So he would go to the Wynton factory (back then you could do that) to have the car repaired. One day he was fed up and talked with the owner, Alexander Wynton. He complained about the car's reliability and how some improvements could be made. Wynton got hot under the collar and told him; "If you think you can make a better car, then build it yourself!" And that's how Packard began around 1899.
Most Packard dealerships were outfitted with two sets of garages. One that had its regualr mechanics on duty, and the other was catered for customer / owners (more than likely the chaffeur) who were proficient at fixing things. You could drive into any Packard dealership in the USA in your Packard and fix something in it yourself. They even provided the tools for you, all you had to do was buy the parts.
Around the early 1910's, someone promoted the Packard as a high quality car, and said; "Just ask the man who owns one!" This became the catch phrase or slogan for Packard all the way to the last day.
The last Packard to roll out of the plant was in 1958. By then , it was just a Studebaker Hawk with funny looking add ons here and there. Studebaker bought Packard (and Pierce Arrow) during the depression, and they did a fine job of leaving the company alone (yet floating their boat). But after the war, the economy changed, and so did the philosophy of mass production. Even though Packard introduced the 120 in the thirties as an entry level car - and one to save the bottom line when money was tight - they had a very strict discipline on building and testing cars. One which was no longer cost effective after WWII.
By the mid 1950's the name of the game was volume mass production. Not hand crafting. This killed the Packard ideal.
There is an important lesson to be learned from all of this. The lesson is about arrogance getting the better of a business.
Pierce Arrow and Packard were too arrogant and proud to build an introductory car ( one that is more affordable for most)
and it hurt them in the end. (Pierce Arrow was divested by Studebaker in the mid 30's)
Studebaker had the arrogance of thinking that since they were the oldest manufacturer of vehicles in the US (They started by building the famous covered wagons in the 1840's) they knew how to do things.