Page 21 - Sample pages "Raymond Henri Dietrich" by Necah S. Furman

“He felt strongly that we were asking Packard to carry the Dietrich line at their expense and that a risk was involved if the cars did not sell,” Dietrich said. Macauley himself explained that Packard traditionally earned most of its profit from chassis sales for custom coachwork, hence their reluctance; however, this straightforward back and forth between Dietrich and the Packard trio would not be the end of the discussion.56
Dietrich and Jarvis were simply motivated to proceed with the next step of their plan, which they felt would be a feasible if highly speculative alternative. Accordingly, Dietrich proposed to Macauley that Dietrich, Inc. purchase three Packard chassis at dealer’s prices; mount them with the three most popular body styles
based on Jarvis’ marketing survey; then again at the expense of Dietrich, Inc., take them on a nationwide tour of dealerships to test customer reaction. Macauley unenthusiastically agreed to the sale of the chassis. After all, under Dietrich’s terms, he had nothing to lose.57
A hectic period followed during which time Dietrich had the bodies designed and constructed. A few months later, the cars were built – “three of the finest looking automobiles you’d ever want to see,” Dietrich said proudly. Jarvis hired three chauffeurs to drive them to each location on the tour where the beautiful cars arrived highly polished in exhibit condition. As instructed, the handsomely uniformed chauffeurs stopped at the best hotels and tipped the door man $10 to assure that these
180 RAYMOND DIETRICH: AUTOMOTIVE ARCHITECT
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