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P.M. Aug 1947 A new way for lining your brakes.
Wes

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I don't have a picture but I remember my high school driving safety text showed an illustration of the importance of wearing a seat belt.

The vehicle was a 53 Packard and the steering column was butted against the windshield header. The caption stated the driver was decapitated by the steering wheel as it intercepted their neck on the way towards the windshield.

Today few people realize that air bags are only effective at speeds up to 65-70 mph. Above that they mostly prolong the experience of dying.

I don't know if this is such a good idea for your Windsheild Wiper Unit, found in Popular Mechanics Dec. 1948.
Wes

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Still going thought the Popular Mechanics, they're not much into Packards but I did find this on a 51 review.
Wes

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I had heard about this but I didn't think anyone really did it.
Wes

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Floyd Clymer's reports are always an entertaining read, thanks for posting it. He seemed to be fairly objective in his approach, though he did come across as a bit of a Kaiser-Frazer cheerleader.

Including the survey comments added some personal color beyond the technical. The one that gave me a laugh is on page 264:

"The payoff, however, came in response to the question "Why did you buy a Packard?" A Texas man replied "Inherited money-- -wife with big ideas!"

Evidently Packard still had enough prestige value for that woman to insist on one.

Steve

New Power Brakes for Packard in 1952.
Wes

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What Detroit was thinking back in May 1952, Speed and Brakes.
Wes

P.S. I hope you enjoy my little tidbits of history. I think to better work on these old cars one was to know the history of what was going on at the time.

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Something in the Drive Report caught my eye - it says 84% of owners surveyed owned the 200 model, 10% the 300 and 6% the 400. Does this accurately represent relative sales levels? If so, no wonder Packard management paid so much attention to 200 and Clipper and regarded the heavy models as a nuisance.

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The articles are interesting but I get a kick out of the ads too. That Arco-Saw a couple of posts up looks like a real winner A drill does not rotate very fast to start with and it looks to be a worm drive or at best a bevel gear to the saw blade so I can only image the blade is turning rather slowly and probably not with a huge amount of power. Add to that the long reach and what appears to be a kind of flimsy and flexible mounting to guide the blade and I would bet some very slow, tedious and not so great quality cuts were the result. Of course if I would have bought the jig saw on another of the pages I would not have needed that saw and could have been able to make so much money that retirement at 21 and a new Packard every year would have been a possibility.

Those two items are almost as good as some of the miracle gas and engine power enhancers which JC Whitney used to sell. Those things would make your little six cylinder Chevy as powerful and fast as a big V8 Cadillac. I remember the toilet paper filter fad too and those things did get bought. NO idea how many engines might have been hurt when the oil flow dropped to nothing and cannot believe some TP rolls did not self destruct and let paper get in the engine. Can't remember if the center cardboard tube in the TP roll had to come out or be perforated some way to make them work but if it did I would bet a few rolls did not get the treatment and filters had no flow.