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Re: Good sources for Packard Die-Cast Models
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Hello... don't wanna stray too far off of the Packard subject. Just mentioned the Dietrich connection to Gibson. But yes, my Firebird is a very early version with original case. And my Thunderbird is an early prototype with no serial number, finished in black with white trim. Has original case too. And yes, both have indeed been pictured in Vintage Guitar magazine years ago. All my guitars are just the way I got them in the 1950s and 1960s. The Firebird has my initials in 14K gold on it since new. It was used by me in performances with major stars and in the recording studio. My Thunderbird supposedly was made for the Chambers Brothers and used on the recording of "Time"... but for whatever reason it went back to Gibson and was sold to me through the original Guitar Center in Hollywood (back when it was only one small store). As for my Caribbean, I took this photo in the 1970s when I drove it to the funeral of a major figure in the Earle C. Anthony company. Photo was taken very near Forest Lawn Cemetery. The factory colors here were Dover White, Scottish Heather and Maltese Gray. Somebody got hold of it later and did a horrible black paint job and then worse, yanked off my beautiful white top with the pink inner lining only to be replaced with a non-original black cloth top. The piece de resistance was a horrific squash yellowish orange interior. Gad! As for the 1955 and 1956 Caribbean scale models, I have the 1/24th scale Danbury 1956 convertible in Corsican Black and Naples Orange and the hardtop in Dover White, Danube Blue and Roman Copper. I also have the 1/24th 1955 Franklin Mint convertible in White, Rose Quartz and Gray Pearl (looks like black). Both were exceptionally well done, but with minor errors. I keep my scale model Packards in special clear plastic display cases made by Franklin Mint. Have fun with your guitars and Packards in any scale.
Posted on: 2016/8/24 9:20
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Re: Good sources for Packard Die-Cast Models
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Both Danbury Mint and Franklin Mint had some very excellent 1/24th scale Packard models. You can find most of them on eBay if you are patient. Of course, as a vintage guitar collector, you can take solace and pride in a kind of tangental Packard connection. Ray Dietrich (yes, THAT Ray Dietrich who did Packards) designed a line of electric guitars and basses for Gibson. These first appeared in the early 1960s. The guitars were known as "Firebird" and basses were "Thunderbird"-all featuring what collectors refer to as reverse body. I still have one of each that I got new and kept all these years. My Thunderbird is a prototype so early that it has no serial number. So if you have any of these Gibsons, there was a Packard connection-however slight. And-as an added benefit (or curse) the Gibsons have certainly appreciated in value.
Posted on: 2016/8/23 21:20
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Re: Harry and Sons Radiator Shop in So Cal with a Moon Motor Car.
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You DO realize that the TV show (whatever it is they are "picking") is all staged? They arrive in a tractor-trailer rig with crews and equipment, not a bare van... and "buys" are for the camera ...and they sometimes totally mis-identify stuff (like the "1939" Plymouth that was actually a very different 1940-41)? As for the place in question, it was not at all discovered by the pickers, but rather was fairly well known to vintage car people in SoCal for many decades. Also, since you were unaware of Moon cars...years later in the 1950s and 60s there was Moon (different Moon) speed equipment and their famous "Mooneyes" dragster car. They manufactured once-popular "Moon" and "Baby Moon" hubcaps. See? Now we are totally out of Packard territory...LOL.
Posted on: 2016/8/16 10:52
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Re: Nance's Wife and Family
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I have an original print of this same photo in my files. If I recall if was taken on Easter Sunday. And yes, this was well after JJN had resigned from Studebaker-Packard. Perhaps the look on his face reveals more than a caption could possibly say. My photo was dated 1959.
Posted on: 2016/8/11 17:59
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Re: Packard built jet engine
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There is a Packard-built J-47 jet engine on display at the Packard museum in Dayton, Ohio. The one thing that nobody seems to know is that Packard was also preparing to do an automotive gas turbine engine. This would have taken it beyond a new 12-cylinder and beyond fuel injection. Had they remained in business, this engine would have been seen by 1958. Expertise from developing Packard experimental jet engines would have gone into the Packard gas turbine engine. Another forgotten (or never known fact) is that some former Packard jet personnel went over to join George Huebner's gas turbine team at Chrysler at Packard's demise.
Posted on: 2016/7/19 9:38
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Re: Iona, WI 2016 car show
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The 1956 Four Hundred is very pretty, but it must handle a little strange (especially at higher speeds) with those Thunderbird-looking outrigger wire wheels (with Packard caps installed). The stance of this car would have to be several inches off from factory specs due to the wrong wire wheels. And on these cars, caster, camber, turning clearance, and other front geometry is very, very critical and can result in things like front end shimmy, ripped tires, oddly worn tires, screwy-acting or broken power steering... and more...and worse. This is what happens when magazines and auctions continue to persist-often defiantly- in reference to postwar Packard wire wheels as "Kelsey-Hayes" (one of these references is on prominently eBay right now) instead of Motor Wheels... which is what they are. And people think... "magazine or auction company said it... gotta be accurate. I'll go buy myself some Kelsey-Hayes wires and put them on my postwar Packard!" The original Packard postwar wire wheels never used outrigger spokes positioned on the edge of the rim. And they never used Kelsey-Hayes wires... they used wire spoke wheels made by Motor Wheel Corporation...and the spokes should be inset from the edge of the rim.
Posted on: 2016/7/17 13:27
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Re: 1956 Carribbean Convertible 5699-1001
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I also bought another (a second) 1956 Caribbean like this one in the early 1970s, from very blurry photos. I still have the "1ww" license plates to the car. I had to grin when I saw the statement in the eBay ad for #1001 where these cars could supposedly withstand blows from sledgehammers! I wouldn't try it! Anyway, the first Caribbean I bought looked in almost identical condition and had been left sitting outside (unprotected) near the ocean for perhaps 10-15 years at that point. The seat cushions were so full of water, you could literally press on one and smelly liquid would gush out. Critters were living inside. And there ere scorpions everywhere. Incredibly...never covered, moved or started and wedged under a tree. WHY? How could someone let this beautiful car deteriorate that badly? But there it was. The rear quarters were so bad that they had about the thickness and strength of wet tissue paper. You could actually poke holes through the body with your index finger. The hood had all of the strength and resistance of a couple layers of saltine crackers. I was deeply disappointed when I flew there and finally saw the russssssty Caribbean close up without the blurry photos. But hey- it was a 1956 Caribbean convertible and maybe it could be saved! I quickly got over that fantasy when I called a truck to move the poor car. Since the vehicle was in such a tight place and under a tree, we had no choice but to lift it from the rear in hopes of moving it out where we could perhaps get it onto a flatbed. No sooner did the tow truck guy get a grip on the rear bumper, than we heard this awful groaning metal sound combined with a crunching that sounded like giant Rice Crispies... snap-crackling-popping. Then the coup de gras... on the first try at lifting the whole body came off of the frame and buckled in a cloud of orange dust! And...that was that. By the way, this car only had just over 30,000 miles on it too! So my heart goes out along with a big salute for courage to whomever the new owner is on 1001. I notice that it appeared to be sitting down at all four wheels (the skirts are off of the rear, making it appear to be sitting higher). A torsion-level car down on all four corners...tells me there's a lot that must be going on underneath...I wish the new owner good luck!
Posted on: 2016/7/12 22:45
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Re: Where is this Predictor?
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The color photo in question I believe was taken around the old Studebaker plant in South Bend in more recent years for a magazine article. Possibly near where Newman & Altman used to be. All of which-in answer to the question-is why it is all over the internet. It is a photo taken in more recent years.
The silliness comes in not due to the juxtaposition of a futuristic car and apocolyptic background. It comes in some of the wild things regarding Predictor said on the internet and in magazines in more recent years. Due to the iridescent murano pearl white paint (formula devised by Creative Industries of Detroit with Rinshed-Mason)and thus used by Ghia on Predictor there was an age issue. As the years went by, the paint increasingly turned yellowish (it has since been refurbished). Some folks even have stated that the actual color of Predictor was yellow! Not true. The yellowing hue was just due to the paint age issues and the fact that herring scales in the mix turned yellow with age. As for the article referred to in the Guscha posting, the photo shown of personnel is claimed to be of Packard styling team. Not! While it does indeed show my friend Tom Beaubien (back row)and Dick Teague, it was not a styling team photo and was not taken at Packard. According to Tom (who was one of the two who built the original Predictor scale model) the photo shown was on a non-Packard project and was taken elsewhere in Detroit. In fact, one of the guys shown in the photo was simply a relative of a designer. Other articles on the internet have made a big deal out of pics of Predictor taken in front of Creative Industries' old building on East Outer Drive... claiming it is a newly revealed "mystery." Yet this information was clearly revealed to the public in the December, 1978 issue of "Car Classics" magazine where there was a pictorial article on Creative Industries. Page 61 stated thusly: "Publicity photos (of Predictor) were taken in front of Creative's Outer Drive plant"... That's 38 years ago. The information has been out there a long time. So this information should not be a new surprise resolution/answer to a "mystery" in 2016! And yes,(and if I do say so myself) there was perhaps the world's most intensive and extensive history of the Predictor in The Packard Cormorant magazine (Summer, 2008 issue No. 131), as ECAnthony points out. Everything that nobody ever knew about Predictor. AND the video I rescued from 8MM film my friend Tom shot of the uncrating of Predictor at Packard in 1956 was referenced in this article and posted on the PAC web site. There ARE benefits to belonging!
Posted on: 2016/7/5 9:16
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Re: Nance's Wife and Family
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ECAnthony is being somewhat modest here since he is the pro-from-dover on James Nance info. He has been researching it all for many years. If he doesn't know it, then it is doubtful that anyone does. Great stuff. Or as my Hawaiian cousins would say, his information is "da kine"!
Posted on: 2016/7/4 19:02
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Re: 1956 Carribbean Convertible 5699-1001
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Yes, actually there is some 1955 info that exists. I had a whole box of it for 1955 that came from the Conner plant, but that was stolen when my car was stolen. I'm certain the greedy bozos that did the stealing probably tossed the big box of papers. After all, it would have required the ability to read and the ability to recognize historical value. You might also want to check with R.C. Stelford on factory Caribbean records for V8s. Most of my 1955 records are from cars personally observed since the 1960s. I once had all of the records cornered on 1953-54 but the person in Michigan who had them died and the whereabouts of these papers since then has been in limbo. Hopefully they were not destroyed. Still working on this one.
Posted on: 2016/7/2 12:22
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