Re: Curbside Classic: Packard 200 Article

Posted by Tim Cole On 2013/11/25 1:08:15

I found the grandmother's comment about her husband's new Packard: "A Packard! Who buys a Packard?" pretty consistent with comments I've heard from the period.

"It sure burned a lot of gas", "It was always emptying my purse for gasoline", and "Oh, you couldn't go around the block without putting gas in it" were told to me by the people who owned them.

The used car story is consistent with why so many Packards ended up in the hands of commuters like Ted Kavenagh who got the CCCA going. The train was an easy way to spot parked cars. In those days early CCCA members like Charlie Clancy bought a new 53 for his wife, and his father bought a new 55 Patrician. Turnquist couldn't afford a new car and drove a 38 Super 8. Clancy was a Harvard lawyer and had money, but held onto cars he bought when he was in college - Packards and Cadillacs bought for pennies.

Ken Fahnestock (the financial partner in Hibernia) bought a new 56 Carribean as did Hirsch.

In those days Kavenagh couldn't sell a nice original 1930 Packard sedan for $25.

For those who don't know, if you worked in New York City, you had an old car to drive to the railroad station and took the train into Manhattan. All along the way were stations with parked cars like Kavenagh's 1930 Packard Phaeton. I commuted by train into NYC back in the days of plenty and played bridge with a group of Bankers. There was also an ongoing poker game, and a Euchre table as well. The last old car along the main line I remember was a 37 Buick Special in Newark. Once upon a time New York was a good place to live.