As of October 1, 1954 Packard Motor Car Company bought the failing Studebaker Corporation to form America's fourth largest automobile company but without full knowledge of their circumstances or consideration of the financial implications. However, SPC's Nance refused to consider merging with AMC unless he could take the top command position (Mason and Nance were former competitors as heads of the Kelvinator and Hotpoint appliance companies, respectively), but Mason's grand vision of a Big Four American auto industry ended on October 8, 1954 with his sudden death from acute pancreatitis and pneumonia.