[Legbreaker]

My thoughts are that in both timelines (1st and 2nd ed), Cadillac Gage would very likely have remained an independant company. The spectre of war just on the horizon would likely have boosted their sales and possibly even allowed a little expansion.

This would probably have gone against them once the nukes came down, as they wouldn't have easy access to the Textron facilities. Mind you, nobody is likely to have easy access to anything that's not within walking distance....

The will to produce might be there, and I'm not just talking about the M-20, but production across the board - vehicles, ammo, weapons, food, clothing, energy, comsumer goods, you name it. But, once transportation and energy networks went down (about ten seconds after the nukes), the ability to produce would virtually disappear.

Some production of low tech items might still be possible on a relatively small scale, but production of high tech electronics, etc required for the fire control systems would be nigh impossible. The best that could be hoped for is using the last few spare parts that avoided EMP to cobble together a few more units.

Once the nukes fell, the technicians, engineers, mechanics, and so forth would be more interested in personal survival than collecting their paycheck, no matter how patriotic they were, no matter there was a global war raging with US troops fighting in Europe, Korea, the middle east, and Alaska (and probably a few more minor locations).

In early 1997 it appears fighting was more widespread than even at the height of WWII! It only grew from there...

So, to me the will may have been there to produce, at least at the command level, but on the ground where the work is actually done, next to nothing would have been possible.