Old enough to remember Packard Motor Cars?

[gyrafoam]

My dad loved them. A couple of the first cars I ever remember were dad's Packards.

From today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/automobiles/collectibles/13packard.html?ref=automobiles?8dpc

 

[toploader55]

Sure Do.

My Dad had a 1936 4 door (Suicide Doors). I'll call him later as I cannot remember the Model

 

[gyrafoam]

Yeah, I remember a couple of "Four Hundreds" and the last one was dad's '56 Carribean. The only convertible I ever remember him having. He loved it.

 

[polkanut]

My Mom's Uncle Fred drove Packard's also. Six months before he died in Nov. 1954 be bought his last one. When his wife, Aunt Helen, asked him why he traded in their other Packard which was only about a year old at the time, his answer was "because the ashtray was ful". He smoked both La Palina cigars, and Lucky Strike cigarettes. He was a banker, farmer, and an auctioneer. He and Aunt Helen had no children of their own, my Mom and uncle were their surrogate kids.

 

[revvinkevin]

I drove a 1941 Packard 180 sedan with Le Baron coachwork 2 weeks ago. A friend built a large garage behind a house he bought and had a house / garage warming party.

Me in the '41 Packard.

(Gee, can you tell the little avitar (photo) is me??)

 

[revvinkevin]

Now lined up in front of the new garage on display.... from L to R: a 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud lll, the 1941 Packard, a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville, a 1955 Packard (sorry, not sure the model) and a 1957 De Soto Adventurer.

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, I'm old enough...

But I don't recall seeing any when I was a kid in the 50's.

Most of the Packards I've seen since then have been the classics at various car shows.

Interesting tidbit about Packard: During WWII the government convinced Packard to sell the dies for its pre-war models to the Soviet Union. This gave rise to a series of Soviet built limos that bore a striking resemblance to pre-war Packards. Just why this helped the war effort is a mystery to me... since the cars only went to the top Soviet leaders... but probably was political.

Anyway, this wound up hurting Packard after the war, because unlike most other American car mfgs, without its old dies, Packard couldn't just revive the pre-war models to meet the high demand for cars after the war. It had to go to entirely new models, which took it some years to get into production. And in my humble opinion the post-war Packards have none of the cachet of the stately pre-war models. They're nice, but just don't look like luxury rides.

 

[sudsmaster]

Great collection, Kevin! They all look beautifully restored. I envy your five car garage setup. I could also fit five cars under a roof, but there's just a single entrance to the garage/shop and it's a bit of a chore to switch them around...

 

[veroroger]

My Dad owned a 1948 Custom 8 touring sedan in a pea soup green color. God, was that an ugly color!!! Dad traded his 1941 Cadillac convertible for a 1948 Mercury convertible (we didn't have a Cadillac dealer within 50 miles) and only had it for two months. He liked to drive fast and, one day, went out of control and ended up in Lake Superior. Scared him senseless and he swore never to have a convertible again.
We had a Packard dealer less than 30 miles from us so he tried Packard. He traded off that car shortly after I was born in 1951 for an Olds 98 (not the best of deals, to be sure!) and our family doctor's nurse bought it. Mrs. Solberg drove that car till the late 60's before putting it up in the barn. The Olds? The longest it was out of the service garage was 6 weeks and a money pit!
I remember going to the doctor's office and seeing "our" Packard outside and Mrs. Solberg telling my Dad what a great car it was. No, he was not a happy camper!

 

[twintubdexter]

the start of a life of crime...

When I was about 7 the girl that lived across the street Margot and I would sneak into her parent's garage and steal 50 cents for candy out of the glove box in her dad's black 1953 Packard Clipper. I remember the box pulled open like a drawer...even though Margot did all the hands-on dirty work. A nosey neighbor saw us sneaking into the garage and we got "told on" like we were doing something nasty. Silly woman, even at that young age I knew what I know now...girls have cooties.

 

[mixfinder]

Watch Out

A infamous, overdressed and illusive realtor in my home town was an old wisp of a woman named Ida Egan Bunt. She drove a huge 55 Packard she could barely see out of. Her family coerced her into buying a newer car. She got a 1965 Buick Wildcat 4 door hard top. She had four wreaks the first month she owned it. Her grandaughter was a friend a mine. She said "granny's so used to pushing the gas pedal to floor and waiting for something to happen, this car keeps jumping out from underneath her."

 

[tomturbomatic]

My 2nd grade teacher drove a salmon and white Packard Clipper with a metal ship's wheel emblem and raised metal lettering that spelled Clipper on the front fenders.

Even rarer, though not nearly as stylish, was the car that belonged to the neat family with all of the electric appliances including Carrier window units, the Economat and Bendix dryer. They drove a Hudson; not the big long style but the little Hudson Jet. It was boxy as all get out, the antithesis of the huge Hudsons and a soft light blue-green. It must have been a 53 or 54.

 

[revvinkevin]

Actually Rich (Sudsmaster), these cars are not mine. The garage and the car collection belongs to a friend of mine, and the garage will actually hold 9 cars. There is a lift in the single stall at the far end of the garage where 2 cars can be parked in there, one above the other.

I WISH this was all mine!

 

[whirlcool]

A friend of ours has a 1948 Packard 4 door sedan in his car port awaiting restoration. It's that pea green color mentioned earlier. This friend hasn't started restoration of it even though he's had it for at least five years.

Kev:
Wow, what a nice collection you have! I think a 1961 Olds wagon would fit nicely in with what you have.

 

[petek]

Wow nice cars,, is that a 70 blue LTD Broughm up front in the last picture. Always one of my faves , that and the Marquis.
When it comes to vintage cars I like the pedestrian middle class cars moreso than the exotics, especially if they are originally outfitted, nothing nutty added.

 

[nurdlinger]

More than you ever wanted to know

about what happened at Packard may be found in this book. I was fascinated because a lot of it took place during my lifetime, five or ten miles from where I was living. Some names I remember, some even were men for whom I was a caddie now and then.

http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Packard-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252792085&sr=1-1

 

[gredmondson]

Ask the Man Who Wons One . . .

I bought a 1948 Packard Custom (just 36,000 miles!) in 1964 from a Mennonite minister in Bakersfield, California for $400.00. It weighted two tons, and rode like a dream. It was just as the one in the photo. I was told that the exterior color was Midnight Blue, but it looked black to me; the interior was tan mohair fabric and the plushest carpet I have ever seen in an automobile. The radio, heater and even the clock worked, but not the electromagnetic clutch. The dash lights were a fluorescent green with a purple back light. I sold it in 1971 for $1000.00 after it suffered a fender bender. I still love those cars!

 

[spookiness]

Kevin,

I want that DeSoto! That was my dreamcar after I first discovered them when I was about 12.

 

[whirlaway]

Packard Limos

When I was a kid my dad was an undertaker,at the funeral home they had two 1940 limos with the spares mounted out on the front fenders with covers.They kept them till 64 and sold them for 100 dollars.They were blk with maroon mohair seats.I remember they itched the back of your legs in the summer.Big powerful cars we would take them to Richmond on Sundays.They stopped using them in the 50s except for backup cars never spent a night outside.Of course in the mid fifties people wanted airconditioned funeral cars.I had a 55 Patrician 400,a beautiful car with Packards first V8.A really nice ride very firm,it had torsion bars that ran the length of the car and they were hooked to a gear box that would flex them and make the car rise and lower to the amount of weight you put in it.If you look at the Later russian limos in the sixties and seventies they were identical to the 56 packards,Bobby

 

[gyrafoam]

Hey George,

I think the first one I remember is just like the one you show. Dad always referred to that dark blue as "Packard Blue".
It was a beautiful shade.

 

[rinso]

Can you say "Ultramatic"? It was Packard's automatic transmission and the first one ever with a locking torque converter.

 

[supersuds]

I was brought home form the hospital after I was born in a '52 Packard (an old car by then!)

That 1941 Packard with LeBaron coachwork is one nice car. Does it have the Electromatic clutch? This was a feature that allowed shifting without using the clutch pedal except to reverse, I think.

By the way, the story of prewar Packard dies being sold to the Soviet Union has been pretty thoroughly debunked in the Packard Club's publications. Someone did actual measurements of a surviving Soviet car -- I think it was called a ZIL -- and it didn't match up with a prewar US model. The Soviets just copied the styling. They had a 1950's sedan that looked like the '55 Packard, too.

 

[tolivac]

Yes,Remember Packard-nice cars-my Dad had one when we were growing up-those infamous trips to the Colorado mountain cabin from New Mexico in a Packard-The Packard my Dad had was a Black and Whire sedan-with air conditioning-the air conditioner had two transperat plastic tubes that blew the air against the back window-we loved to drop marbles into the pipes and watch them blow out-one time didn't go as we wanted-a marble was rattling asround in the fan or duct under the plastic tube.And we split Life Savers in the ash tray doors.That car did provide amusement as well as transportation!Don't remember what year that Packard was.Was the only car my Dad had at the time that had factory AC.

 

[whirlcool]

That 48' Packard is just like the one our friend has. Unfortunately, his is not in as good condition. He keeps saying "He'll get around to it one of these days". He also has a 55' Nash Rambler (those little cars) that he has owned for 20 years and still hasn't started on it either. Personally, I think he hoards things.

 

[goatfarmer]

The end of Packard

...was in 1954 I believe, when they merged with Studebaker. At the time, it was called "two drunks trying to help each other across the street". Horrible merger, since both companies were in such bad shape.

 

[sudsmaster]

The times I've been at Pebble Beach Concours, I noticed that when a twin-six Packard was running, you really couldn't hear the motor. Very quiet and smooth.

 

[stainfighter]

when twin-six running, couldn't hear it...

My uncle's 1950 Chrysler Windsor was the same - silky and eerily quiet at idle. That (1972?) LTD is a beauty in powder blue, one could tell its lineage and that it was a step up from a Galaxie 500

 

[abcomatic]

Love those Packards

When I was a kid we drove Packards. 1949 clipper, 1952 clipper and a 1953 clipper. The '49 and '53 were both light gray on the bottom, dark gray on top and had red wheels. My mother received several speeding tickets with those straight 8 engines. ( I don't use the word straight very often).lol
I can remember my mom and a girl friend of her's who would both go out on route 66 and RACE. We had the '49 Packard and she had a '49 Caddy with a V-8 engine. The Caddy beat at start acceleration but our Packard passed her hands down once mom got it going. How I ever lived beyond childhood is a mystery to me! lol