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Re: Mechanical Car Wascher
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In this day of self-published books, more and more people believe the author has control of a release date. But this is not a self-published book and the author has no control of the release date, which is set solely by the publisher. And this is a story never-before told, so the editing process to reduce it down to a size that would work for the book was substantial. This said, the Creative Industries book is set for release in stores by February. There are several years worth of work here and a lot more years of accumulation of never-before seen photos and information. It will be well worth the wait. By the way, behind the scenes, it is a little-known fact that car companies today are making authors pay huge sums for use of photos, including lump sums and royalty sums. People don't know this squeeze is going on now. These are the very photos once sent out for publicity purposes. Yours truly has had to go back and get re-permission to publish photos that were already sent to yours truly 30 years ago! These fees come out of the author's pocket, not from the publisher. So the investment here is a substantial one... which may never be recovered. But it is what it is. So we're both waiting. Thanks for your interest. Again... it will be well worth the wait.
Posted on: 2016/11/17 19:13
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Re: Mechanical Car Wascher
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Ahh, yes... I was indeed there... regularly. My dad owned commercial property on Mt. Elliott... which crosses Grand Blvd. right at the Packard Plant. So I very vividly remember the storage lot on that corner filled with gleaming new Packards. To this day, I have to wonder why no one ever seems to pay attention to this important location and the building erected on that site (the last one put up in connection with Packard and STILL STANDING to this day, although somewhat modified). Transport trucks with new Packards on them left from this very spot-even after Conner was going... but nobody talks about it today. And my uncle's store was located on East Jefferson Avenue not far from the old Hudson Plant, just off of Conner Avenue. So I also passed Conner Packard Plant regularly too. I saw Conner start up...and I saw it close. As for photos of the plants and environs? I have tons. In the 1960s and 1970s I took lots and lots. I even still have photos of "The Packard Bar" that once stood on Mt. Elliott directly across from the yellow brick building I mentioned. They had a pool table and sold great hamburgers. Of course there is already a series of books with photos of Packards from the NAHC at DPL. But I wish they would get some real Detroiters from the old days who really knew the cars in there to re-caption some of these photos that turn up on the internet and in books these days. Much of this stuff is obviously captioned by college kids or librarians (Hey, you! We got this box of old pictures we need identified. Write up some descriptions on the backs why don't ya?). Some the resulting captions can be almost hilarious... some are embarrassing...others kinda sad when you realize due to today's situations and mindsets, so much knowlege is being lost as we speak! A book just about the Packard Plant would be a fabulous thing and I sure likely have enough to do one... especially combined with what the DAHC/NAHC has. Wonder if the new owner of Grand Blvd. is listening? Here is a photo I took from the roof of the Packard Plant in the 1970s. You are looking at the company street. Note that the plant was still very much in use at the time... just no Packards... Attach file:  (199.18 KB)
Posted on: 2016/11/16 18:57
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Re: 1955 Suspension video
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Hello, Since no one apparently answered this question... I was indeed at the PAC National at the PPG in 1973. And I assure you it was Bill Allison himself who was driving the Torsion-Level Cycle Car. I rode in it on the track with Bill as he very graciously invited me to ride with him. I pointed out the bicycle and motorbike parts he used and he was surprised that I recognized these components. I also rode in a 1956 Caribbean convertible on the banked track at over 100 MPH. I remember looking to the left on a lower lane and a fellow in a Chrysler convertible with Town & Country style faux wood trim was actually passing us!
Posted on: 2016/11/15 10:38
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Re: Mechanical Car Wascher
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~Quote:
Yes... see that polished mirror-like look? THIS is how black or maroon or Packard Blue nitrocellulose lacquer looked when new. Fabulous stuff. And it would stay that way with regular waxings or Blue Coral jobs. As for "human sensors instead of limit switches"... again, "automatic" or "auto-matic" was merely a term used to describe this kind of car wash, but it didn't mean that they were fully automatic. There wasn't one such car wash in Detroit in those days that didn't employ numerous workers doing hand labor in "automatic" car washes. Even today's supposed fully automatic car washes still just don't get the job done without any human involvement. And the mere fact that a guy had to be there to manually hook up the drag-along also meant another guy had to be on the other end to un-hook it. By definition, this refutes the notion of fully automatic. But... that's what people called these washes and they were considered marvels of the age. There were several of these car washes around Detroit by the late 1940s/early 1950s. There was one on Gratiot near Grand Blvd. not far from the big Packard Plant. And another on East Warren Avenue that was not far from the new Packard Plant on Warren and Conner. For whatever reason on Fridays, you could see a group of 1955-56 Four Hundred hardtops and Patrician sedans being washed there.
Posted on: 2016/11/13 9:48
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Re: Mechanical Car Wascher
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The Clipper was purposely dirtied for demonstration purposes and to dramatize the car wash capabilities. Dried salt didn't look anything like that and didn't get on the car in splotches.
Technology for this type of car wash was relatively new and adapted from car factory assembly lines. In fact, sections of the factory assembly lines were still using identical drag-along mechanisms in the 1960s. Mustangs at the Rouge Plant were dragged up to a phosphatizing unit (there were switched over there to an overhead hanger) using identical mechanical treadmill with a chain attachment. Fact. No idea why folks are making such a fuss over the car wash chain link attachment. Surely someone else remembers this was a very common set-up back then! This was the latest thing in those days to tow a car through a car wash. This is how it worked. Although they quickly stopped using hook on top of the bumper and began grabbing below. Some of the chain attachments eventually adopted a U-shaped flat metal piece instead of a hook (which lessened possibility of scratching and bumper damage). And some of these systems used two attachment chains... one front and one rear. As time went on, the chain attachment methods got even more varied and sophisticated, some using hooks from tow-truck designs. Eventually, of course, the chain link was dropped altogether. By the way, this photo was absolutely, definitely taken in the southwest downriver area of Detroit. Probaby Dix-Fort Street area judging by the look and the street signs. You can see the typical Detroit DSR streetcar (electrically driven rail cars) tracks in the middle of the street. These were normally filled in the centers and sometimes on the edges with red brick. Industrial water tower in the background is identical to those used at the Packard Plant on East Grand Blvd.
Posted on: 2016/11/12 20:51
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Re: Sad oops at Hilton Head
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Heartbreaking! An incredible automobile... and interesting in every way... right down to the beautiful Earle C. Anthony special radio antenna bird ornament!
It will be interesting to see what happens now with this automobile after this sad and preventable disaster. In the excitement of a show it can be easy to overlook simple precautions, but this one was a sad, perfect storm. Let's hope it returns to the show circuit.
Posted on: 2016/11/7 9:43
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Re: Lost in the '50's!
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Great photos and very nice to see these cars. Of course, no idea who told the museum the story about the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser... but that's a fantasy. The photo shows a 1958 model with a "back porch" added on there. Hardly the first Turnpike Cruiser built by Ford.
The first Mercury Turnpike Cruiser was actually the 1957 model ...which had several differences from 1958. Anyway, thanks for posting the photos.
Posted on: 2016/11/6 22:29
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Re: The Packard Request
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Yes... and these are the very same 3 guys I mentioned who owned and restored the Request. Dick Comstock got some of the parts used in that restoration from me. Also, some of the photos in the magazines were taken at Richard's house (at that time) in Yakima, WA. Again, I believe "Bill Francis" was a fictitious pen name and not a real person (I wrote for the same magazine at that time).
Posted on: 2016/11/5 18:28
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Re: The Packard Request
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You will probably want to know that "Bill Francis" certainly had to be a pen name and not a real person. Either way, whoever it was, that person was not who bought or restored the Request-who actually were three guys I knew in the 1970s. The Request has been re-done at least twice since that article and now lives in New Jersey.
Posted on: 2016/11/1 23:20
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Re: Problem with charging battery
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I keep looking at V-8 Clippers vs. Packards today mentioned on the internet, in magazines and in these forums and everything seems to be all jumbled up. Maybe I'm remembering this wrong, but when these cars were new, I always noted that Clippers seemed to have Autolite generators and electrical systems while Packards had Delco. And when it came to carburetors... Packards seemed to all have Rochesters while Clippers had Carters. Now I see Packards with Carters... Clippers with Delcos and Rochesters. I also seem to remember differences in pulley sizes from Autolite to Delco. Nobody ever mentions these things today... but I just don't remember it this way.
I also have seen several 1955 batteries hooked up backwards. Right now, today, there is a 1955 Packard advertised by an auction company on Hemmings... with the red cable (which ought to be positive) hooked to the rear (positive terminal) ...when a 1955 Packard battery should be just the reverse with positive grounded. But there it is proudly showing in the photo of the engine compartment.The battery cables in the photo are criss-crossed in a lovely "X" pattern...but the factory never did that! Auction claims the car underent an extensive restoration...but what's the deal with the backwards battery hook-up? Wonder how it runs...
Posted on: 2016/10/7 20:09
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