Mahoning63,
If I were an English professor with a minor in history you would get an A+ in my class!!

MrPushbutton,

Could not have stated it any better! acolds, I concur!!

bhappy,
Sorry that has been your experience but it does not surprise me at all. Although my experience is not exactly the same as yours I have been looked upon as a red-headed step child on a few occassions when I pulled up to local week-end "grip and grins" at shopping centers etc. Although I am not into "showing" my experience with a lot of the Chevy, Ford, MOPAR crowd at these week-end functions is just being ignored. I had a post on this about a year ago so I won't rehash. My philosophy is that everytime I drive the car I'm "showing" and my best results and compliments are the honest thumbs up while driving and the families that want their kids to take a look when I'm parked at Rite-Aid! Don't let it take away your joy!

Would like to add my 2 cents to the conversation. Purchased a 52 200 sedan about 7 years ago. At the time the car had 4 almost new radials on the car and everything seemed alright but I would develop mysterious leaks. I would go into the garage and a tire would be completely flat for no apparent reason. Seemed to happen only after I washed the car. What I discovered was the holes for the air stems were slightly larger in diameter than the stem. When you washed the wheel the stem would be displaced just enough to cause a slow leak. The stems were brand new and purchased when the previous owner bought the tires.

I put tubes in the tires and never had the problem again and it's going on 7 years. I rotate the wheels once a year, keep the tires properly inflated and I don't "baby" the car when I drive it. No dry rot issues presently. I don't pretend to be an expert on anything but feel that there is no need to get too technical with this stuff. You do what works within reason and I would be the first one to "cease fire" if I thought there was some sort of safety issue. BTW, the wheels are fine, apparently just not designed for tubeless tires. Suppose truck stems may work but just did not go in that direction. Just my 2 cents.

Ross,
AWESOME!!!

Jim, sounds like a great idea, I'll see if I come up with the same results you did.

Bobby, the Packard Logo is displayed prominently on the paperwork. The invoice and a separate receipt both have a handsome logo on them, looks legit.

I have the original bill of sale for my 55 Clipper Constellation and the dealership is listed as "Economy Motors" 211 N. Joliet Street, Joliet Illinois. The date of sale is April 2d, 1955 to a Mr. Richard Warfel of Joliet. The sale price of the car was $3,546.10

When I looked at the listing for Illinois Joliet has 3 dealerships, two have the same address but different names. Economy Motors is not listed. Need to have someone pass some knowledge reference Economy Motors, I would like to add it to the Packard dealership listing. Just curious as to why it was not listed before.

Great topic! Being a "boomer" not too far away from being sixty this thread immediately caught my interest. My first cognizant memories of any automobile that my parents had was a 54 Packard Clipper hardtop. It was a beautiful car that had a green top and white body and dad always kept it clean, I don't ever remember it being trashed or dirty. Dad would always take me down to the garage with him when he was checking under the hood. I would take my plastic tool belt with me complete with plastic hammer, screwdriver and pliers. Dad would assign me the tasks of checking the tires and looking for rust. I always looked forward to this. Somewhere around 1962 dad got rid of it for a 55 Buick Special which really got a workout but thats another story. I remember coming home from school one day and noticing that there was a big crack on the grill just above where the hood release was. My mother was scared to death. She was trying to hide it. She was moving a little too fast and the street was slick with the fall leaves and could not stop in time before hitting a tree. When dad saw it I remember he stomped around and did some swearing but it was all over and there was nothing he could do except buy a new one. The grill was still cracked when he sold it. I guess what appealed to my boyish interests was that huge grill and distinctive front end. There were no other people in the neigborhood that had a 54 Clipper, that appealed to me also. That is when the bug bit but it took decades to achieve the current Packard ownership I now enjoy

su8overdrive,
Loved it! Say what you mean, mean what you say!