Re: Packard Dealer Tags/Frames?

Posted by Packard5687 On 2017/11/4 23:34:09

Re Kiker's Packard, Plainview, TX

I grew up in the Texas panhandle. Plainview is north of Lubbock. Kiker's was an unusually successful Packard dealer, especially considering that Plainview was (and remains) a small town. Kiker's stayed with Packard right up to the end - and then stayed alive by specializing in Packard service when no other place between Lubbock and Amarillo was offering Packard service. Lubbock was (and is) a much larger town - but Packard owners in Lubbock would drive to Plainview to have their cars serviced at Kiker's. It seems to me that Kiker took on Studebaker after Packard closed, but I am not confident that my memory is correct on that piece of it.

When I was 4 years old, my father visited Kiker's for some reason - we didn't own a Packard at that time. I remember that he took me into the service department. The cars weren't serviced on lifts, but from pits in the floor. I remember being thrilled that I was allowed to go down into one of the service pits and watch the mechanic drain the oil out of a Packard.

Even at that young age, I was a "Gear Head". My family tells me that at 4 I could tell you the make and often the year of any car pointed out to me.

I distinctly remember thinking while visiting Kiker's that day that I thought the Packard Clippers I saw in the shop were better looking cars than the postwar "bathtubs". I still think that is true!