Re: If you are under sixty, how did you get interested in Packards?

Posted by Craig the Clipper Man On 2013/4/30 11:46:03

Well, I'm a year past 60 ... but close enough. I have liked Packards ever since an old lady brought one in for an oil change at the Mobil station where I worked in San Marino, CA while I was in high school. The mechanic told me if I wanted to see a really well-built car, I should take over the lube and oil change, which I did. And it was really well made. I think it was of the 1951-54 generation. When I went to Arizona State University in Tempe in 1970, I continued to regularly see Packards cruising around the streets of Phoenix. I liked their style. Sometime around that period I made a promise to myself that someday I would own a Packard. It took me several decades to achieve my goal, but I am happy that I did.

I talk to young guys I work with who like cars and they tell me they think Packards are cool. They see them at car shows and I show them pictures of them and explain the mechanics and they are impressed. One of the reasons you do not see many 20-somethings with Packards or other antiques is due to the fact that a decent car tends to be expensive, or they do not have the time and garage space/equipment to restore such a car. I am assured, however, that the interest is still there and just like in the case of Boomers, this interest will rise along with the disposable cash needed to buy and keep one of these beauties.

When I go to shows, I regularly see folks with Willys-Knights, Franklins, Moons, Durants, Auburns, Huppmobiles, etc. None of these companies built cars in the numbers of Packards, but they are still around and cherished by their owners. I think young folks will eventually get the bug to have something that they can actually work on and that has a style like nothing you see on the road today.