Re: In light of today's holiday, some Packard & Cadillac history

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2017/1/16 15:48:04

Some time in the winter of 1959-60, I was a high school Freshman from a Blue Collar neighborhood who went to a private Catholic school, somewhat above our family's status. On cold winter mornings, my friends and I would wait at the bus stop hoping to spot some passing motorists who would take pity on us, shivering in our school jackets and give us a ride in a warm car.

One of our school friends came from a family with whispered Underworld connections. His father was always well-dressed and drove a new Olds Ninety Eight. When they'd stop, we'd load in as many boys who could fit, and rode in comparative luxury through the school gates. On one of those cold, but lucky rides, the father was asked by his son as to why he didn't choose to have a Cadillac, since the Olds cost nearly that much. Using language that we don't use today, the father explained that a Cadillac was the choice of Negroes, while White business men and doctors should choose a Roadmaster, Ninety Eight or New Yorker. Had it not been five years after the last true Packards were made, they might have been included on the select list.

Some time later, I asked my Chevrolet-driving father about the Cadillac theory that I had overheard. Pop's business included employees of all sorts of talents, colors and ethnicities. Pop never wanted to drive the best car in the lot, so we mostly had Chevies, although he could have afforded better. A few years later, Pop switched to senior Buicks when business got better, but he never owned a Cadillac. Not wanting to bring up the subject, I never asked why. He did, once mention that one of his best employees, a Black man, had bought a used DeVille, and kept it as the cleanest car on the lot.