Re: Packard Bikes

Posted by Leeedy On 2020/5/3 18:30:56
Quote:

RogerDetroit wrote:
In the early 1940s the Detroit bike licenses were stamped with the year of registration. One would suspect the license was renewed annually.



That's a nice one, Roger. Yes, (in theory) in the City of Detroit you were supposed renew your bicycle license annually. Many other cities did likewise. But as long as you had your bicycle licensed, the police usually didn't make a big deal over it. However, if you didn't have your bicycle licensed at all...that was a different matter!

Bicycle theft was a big and growing problem in those days and one of the big purposes of licensing was so that the serial number was registered and known to law enforcement in the case of theft. Detroit had a bicycle pound (actually several of them) and that's where your bicycle went if stolen-if the robbers were caught or if the bicycle was abandoned. Or both.

(By the way, I have photos of the bicycle pounds where there were piles and piles of recovered stolen and abandoned bicycles. In Detroit there were occasional police auctions held sat the bicycle pounds).

My J.C. Higgins Wonderide was stolen and stripped at Pingree Park in 1956. It was a VERY nice place in those days in spite of the new rougher kids moving into the area who weren't so nice. The police officers actually put what was left of my bicycle in the trunk of their squad car and gave me a ride home... then explained to my dad what had happened. Anyway, they said it was because my bicycle was legitimately licensed and up to date, so they felt they should bring me home with it and help. They even hauled the bicycle up onto the front porch! That wouldn't happen today!

Because I disobeyed my dad's rule about NOT taking my bicycle to the park, I ended up having to pay for the parts lost out of my allowance and paper route money. In the end, I put it all back together just like new and still have it to this day-in mint condition...

I think I mentioned earlier that General Motors and Packard Motorcar Company both sponsored bicycle safety programs. Packard is the tough one to find items on today. Packard and GM also sponsored what were known in the 1930s and 1940s as "Juvenile Bicycle Court" (no kidding) wherein there was an actual court appearance involved before a special judge (usually not a real one). Rulings were legally binding! Offenses were illegal turns, speeding, riding at night without light and reflector, etc. You get the idea.

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