Mnieto

There was a nice full page magazine ad Packard ran in the 30's or 40's with a commissioned painting depicting the incident. A friend of mine has a print of it on the wall of his very elegant garage.

To anyone's knowledge, the event literally happened as described. The late Beverly Rae Kimes found a reference in an English (!) publication dated about a year after it occurred. The "one" car in the slogan is the first one built. I gather James Ward had his hands full trying to get the 2nd or 3rd car on the road when she got the inquiry...


Regards


John Harley

John

I don't know the history offhand of the Packard Piano Company, but can find out the dates pretty easily. Piano companies were plentiful and fluid in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is a substantial chance that Packard pianos were "stencil" pianos, bought by a dealer who put his own trade name on them. Naming a piano after Packard and trying to ride on their reputation probably occurred to more than one hungry piano salesman.

The family grave site in Warren, predating PMCC, (not J.W.'s, the other one in the same cemetery) carries the familiar Packard script. If memory serves me right it was the trade mark of Warren's lumber company, and the succeeding family businesses continued to use it.

Regards


John Harley

John

More Citroen trivia. The TA 15Cvvs hydraulic system is the rear suspension only. The DS had 4 wheel hydropneumatic suspension, high pressure brakes, assisted steering and semi automatic transmission, hydraulically actuated , of course.

Apparently it took a few years to get all those seals to work. By the time I owned them, the hydraulics were pretty reliable as long as one used the right fluid and the lines didn't rust.



Regards


John

EC

Won't work-no Leicas.


JH

Owen

I guess I wasn't clear-the Traction Avant was a "spectator". Citroens are aggressively non classics, like Fords

It was painted in rather lurid 2 tone scheme- to my knowledge all post war Tractions were black

John Harley

Former Citroen owner

"Owen

Thanks for posting the pictures for me. I'm not up to a scanner yet.

The owner of the red Silver Ghost started out with a very bare chassis. He designed and built the body himself. He has a sill plate that reads "Calvin and Hobbs"

There was also a fine Cricklewood Bentley there- I don't know if it was a 4 1/2 liter or a Speed Six. The most interesting "modern " car was a very late Citroen Traction Avant with a 6 cylinder engine and a very early hydraulic suspension system.

I'll start another discussion...My pictures were taken with a Voigtlander Vitessa folding 35 mm rangefinder from about 1954. It has the more expensive Ultron (Planar type) lens. Film is Walgreen 400 which I understand is Fuji film. I'm not ready for digital yet and film is fine for my limited purposes. I've got a raft of mechanical cameras but I use the Voitlander most often. People are starting to give me their old cameras to get rid of them. They're plotting to take over my apartment

The show was lots of fun. I'm trying to figure out how to get an Isotta into my budget

Regards

John Harley

Owen,Guscha, Kev


The picture of the car with the blanked out panels is from the Eastern Packard Club. Bob Skop owned it at that time and for a long time after, but sold it about 8 years ago. I think it went to Ohio, but I can find out.

The story is that it was originally in the motor pool of the Governor of Tennessee. Owen will remember that it carried a well used siren. Somewhere in its history it a acquired a junior engine. Bob never got around to replacing it, but the car seemed not to notice. My memory is that it does not have a division.

It carries the series number from whatever body it was made from i.e there is no separate number for the blanked out quarter panels. Bob was never able to find out who did the conversion. I gather it doesn't come up in the Henney records .

As the car got older it became fairly easy to see the panels soldered over the windows-they are the same shape. The glass may still be under the metal. On the inside the windows have upholstery over them.

Regards


John Harley

GTO, et al

It was Packard's money. Studebaker had been a pauper since Erskine used their cash to pay dividends during the Depression. We all know what happened when he reconsidered...


JHH

LLoyd


I think the "choice"comment was a dig at Cadillac. They were charging for the Hydramatic but you couldn't get a manual transmission.


Regards



JHH

Owen

The clutch brake booster system was a Mark Brigkit (Hispano Suiza) patent. Rolls Royce was the best known licensee . RR started to pay royalties on it when they went to four wheel brakes in 1923. Henry Royce would never duplicate effort to dodge someone else's patent if he thought it was sound. It was used by RR until the end of the SIlver Cloud era as their cars used a dual hydraulic /mechanical system like Hudson.

I was unaware that Pierce system was the same.

Regards


JHH