The structure of the automobile industry in the 1920s was built on the needs of the market at the time. High-priced cars sold poorly in small towns and rural areas, where incomes tended to be low. The Packard, with its $1,200 price tag, was beyond the reach of the lower-income groups, and in a small town or rural community there might be only three or four Packard owners. Ford, Chevrolet, and Plymouth, on the other hand, were popular in these markets, and it was a small town, indeed, that lacked dealers in these lines. - General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler produced makes of cars to fit most budgets, but the independents —Packard, Reo, and Pierce-Arrow, for example —found it impossible to maintain dealerships in small towns. These manufacturers relied instead on distributorships that were located in large cities and supplied cars to...