Quote:
ewrecks wrote:
Leedy- I am not sure how to respond to your post. I am sure that I am not the first person to take pictures of the Hughes Caribbean. I concur that the curator and staff were terrific.
I have tried without success to secure detailed photos of this car or other benchmark vehicles for several years and would gladly have paid and would still pay for detail pictures of the engine compartment, trunk, interior and other areas of the car to allow restoration approaching original specifications.
Is there some reason why the extensive photographs and engineering details that you mention are not readily available or incorporated into a judging guideline.
I have been somewhat confused that those who restore Packards much less those who are called upon to judge them do not have such guidance.
I do not restore my cars for show but do endeavor to try to perform the work in such a fashion that it does not preclude a future owner from such activity. I drive my cars and will install radial tires, updated halogen lights, electronic ignitions( Petronix) and perhaps electric wipers for safety and ease of operation. I do not change engines, transmissions, interiors or suspension or braking systems--- although the TredleVac has tempted me.
More common Marques like the Corvette and Mopar groups have taken steps to identify Benchmark vehicles and to document every aspect of construction and details- both to aid restoration and to to allow consistent judging.
If the photographs of the Hughes car are available, I am sure they are superior to my efforts. Please advise whether I may purchase copies and I will endeavor to get them into open circulation.
I would hope that similar efforts could be available for other models- we will be working on a 55 Clipper Comstellation shortly and are pretty much in the same haze regarding specifics.
Thanks
RJR
First, that's Leeedy with 3 e's. And a response was neither necessary nor expected.
For reasons that are unclear, people today are creating "mysteries"(ooohhhhh that Predictor history is such a mysssstery... Ohhh where on earth did they take those crayzeee Predictor photos???? Oh... click here and find out the SECRET!!-not bothering to tell you they are merely repeating something that was written and published years ago) and making it SEEM as though some of these things and the information are not available, when it is exactly the opposite. What some people really mean is it may not be someplace they frequent or like on the internet or on the almighty Wikipedia. Or or on the smartphone...or familiar to THEM. So they consider it unobtainable!
A lot of this stuff that is made to appear so mysterious or unobtainable was actually published years ago. You could always read it where it originally appeared... or wait decades and maybe find it regurgitated in one fashion or another on the almighty internet...appearing like some new discovery!
The photographs of the Hughes car-as I stated earlier-are clearly available and have been for 40 years. As attested to by O.D. above. Get the magazine (either through The Packard Club web site... or eBay), read the story. Look at the photos which are all in there already-and more. Ignoring this stuff does not mean it doesn't exist! There are also some photos on The Packard Club web site and again, have been there for years.
This may
seem impossible in today's web forums, but there were some of us alive when Packard was still in business... and when the Hughes car was purchased. Some of us even liked Packards back then. Some of us even wrote this stuff down so that people who came along later could actually read it and see the photos we took! (As incredible as it may seem, in those days you had to go to the store, buy the film, load it, set the lighting, shoot the photos, hope the film didn't get too hot or over/under exposed, then you had to take that film to a developer, PAY that developer and hope you got pics back, sort the pics, photo screen them to make publishable... and then write the text and
then maybe you had something to show others that they could read and enjoy.)
When people make all of these efforts to bring forth these kinds of materials for others, it usually takes a lot of time and work-not to mention expense-especiall back when. It is tough to see said work all considered non-existent years later-just because it doesn't pop up on a smart phone or a computer web site. What was published was good in the 1970s... it is still good today in 2015. And-one way or another-still available... in "open circulation." Just like the cars are still in "open circulation." If one wants a Packard automobile, they stopped making them decades ago and closed the dealerships... but this does not mean they are not available to own.
Now, if you are concerned that there are no judging "guidelines" (actually there are in many cases-another benefit of being in a club)... here is your golden opportunity to start writing and publishing "Ewreck's Judging Guidelines for Packards." After you do all of the hard work to photograph, write and publish them, you should have a fine product or line of products to sell... or
give away if you are so inclined.
Finally, I can assure you that Packard is not the only brand of car I have ever owned. I can also assure you that I very well know all about what MoPar and Corvette groups have done (and by the way-I bought a Challenger convertible NEW and a have owned and restored others. Also bought a Corvette new and have owned several-oldest was a 1958...newest a C6). (By the way... if you are a MoPar man... read what it says about radials in the 1971 Dodge Challenger Owner's Manual.) Anyway many of the manuals out there in the car world were written by yours truly... AND I have judged at my share of vintage car meets. So this information is not unfamiliar to me-so you are preaching to the choir. Agree with you 1,000%.
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