Re: What is the most unusual bit of Packardiana in your collection?

Posted by Ross On 2013/12/22 20:10:46

In October '47 Mr. Ralph Hayne became export manager for Packard as a new hire and attended an extensive training course on all aspects of Packard policy and operations. He kept copious notes---more than 180 hand written pages. A large portion of this is a blow by blow description of how to assemble a 22nd series car in a foreign country from components. Right down to how to install headliners. Oh, and proving ground test protocols. And internal memos addressing quality issues. All of this in a small format three ring binder a friend got at, I believe, a flea market. Very cool, and quite arcane.

Here is an excerpt:

"Wheels are rec'd with prime coat all over--wheels shipped to export in condition as rec'd.

At Packard the inside of all wheels are painted black, the outside to specified color. This operation is performed automatically......Paint is synthetic (enamel) instead of laquer.--This automatic spray places the equivalent of two spray coats on the wheel. the wheel is then dried at 250 degrees F for one hour."

I am tickled to death to have all this insight in a small notebook.