Re: Historic connection
Posted by Ozstatman On 2008/11/23 5:51:47
Gerd,
You've brought this thread 'back to life' so to speak.
Because of that I'll now unleash an unproven Packard connection with General Douglas MacArthur. Seems that when MacArthur was in Australia after leaving the Philippines a car was "requisitioned" for him and is believed to be a '37 Packard Super 8. It's also thought to be the '37 Super 8 that Harvey, the guy who woodgrained my dash, now owns. Trouble is it's history can't be tracked or verified during that time. But it's original bail radiator cap does bear the scars of having had an attachment to it for mounting a pennant or flag. The Super 8 has also been restored and any military markings it may have had cannot now be found. My understanding is that there is also reference to this car in an authorative local publication but nothing specific enough to positively identify the Super 8 as having been used by MacArthur.
And another lesser connection to the US military, also unsubstantiated, is my '38 Eight. Story goes it was a Hire Car in Melbourne, was "commandeered" by the US military early in WW2 and used on a fortnightly mail run from Melbourne or Adelaide to Darwin. Decent roads were mostly non-existent and sometimes conditions necessitated driving on railroad tracks, dry creek beds, through scrub and bush. The round trip from Adelaide was about 3,600 miles and from Melbourne about 4,500 miles. Blew an engine on one trip which was replaced with a '37 engine in Darwin. And the gears in the transmission were very worn tending to be "knife edged" when restored about 20 years ago.
A couple of interesting anecdotes which if substantiated would make the history of either Packard just a little more "special".
Attach file:
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(55.75 KB)
(37.77 KB)
(47.36 KB)
You've brought this thread 'back to life' so to speak.
Because of that I'll now unleash an unproven Packard connection with General Douglas MacArthur. Seems that when MacArthur was in Australia after leaving the Philippines a car was "requisitioned" for him and is believed to be a '37 Packard Super 8. It's also thought to be the '37 Super 8 that Harvey, the guy who woodgrained my dash, now owns. Trouble is it's history can't be tracked or verified during that time. But it's original bail radiator cap does bear the scars of having had an attachment to it for mounting a pennant or flag. The Super 8 has also been restored and any military markings it may have had cannot now be found. My understanding is that there is also reference to this car in an authorative local publication but nothing specific enough to positively identify the Super 8 as having been used by MacArthur.
And another lesser connection to the US military, also unsubstantiated, is my '38 Eight. Story goes it was a Hire Car in Melbourne, was "commandeered" by the US military early in WW2 and used on a fortnightly mail run from Melbourne or Adelaide to Darwin. Decent roads were mostly non-existent and sometimes conditions necessitated driving on railroad tracks, dry creek beds, through scrub and bush. The round trip from Adelaide was about 3,600 miles and from Melbourne about 4,500 miles. Blew an engine on one trip which was replaced with a '37 engine in Darwin. And the gears in the transmission were very worn tending to be "knife edged" when restored about 20 years ago.
A couple of interesting anecdotes which if substantiated would make the history of either Packard just a little more "special".
Attach file:
(56.51 KB)
(54.11 KB)
(57.32 KB)
(54.91 KB)
(55.75 KB)
(37.77 KB)
(47.36 KB)
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