Re: Packard Bikes

Posted by Leeedy On 2020/3/2 18:07:57
Not a Packard bicycle, but Packard AND bicycle... and important history that also needs to be known... and needs to be corrected.

Earle C. Anthony was one of America's greatest innovators, but much of his history remains unknown to the general public and even to Packard fans. He was-among his many enterprises-a member of PMCC Board of Directors, west coast Packard Distributor, founder of KFI radio (which still exists today) along with other radio and television stations, erected the first commercially successful neon sign in America, was a major key in bringing the Brooklyn Dodger baseball team to Los Angeles, mapped many of the early roads in SoCal, Southern Nevada and Utah, and founded one of the predecessor companies to Greyhound Bus Lines. Most histories (including those presently on the internet and even the almighty Wikipedia) are wildly skewed and are often incorrect about ECA and his enterprises.

"E.C."(as he liked to be called) designed and built one of the first cars ever to roll the streets of Los Angeles when he was just a boy. Sadly the car was destroyed on a run down what was once known as Beaudry Hill in what is now Downtown Los Angeles. Mr. Anthony saved the parts and after many years eventually had them reassembled and put the car on display in his Hope Street Packard dealership (the same place where today's histories erroneously claim the first neon was erected).

Histories will tell you this car was built out of wheelchair parts, but it was actually built from buckboard parts, wheelchair parts and bicycle parts (especially the forks, steering mechanism, wheels and tires). Yes, bicycle parts.

Anyway, this photo shows E.C. admiring the reconstructed Anthony Runabout (as it was officially known). The lever in his hand was the original control for the electric motor that powered the car.

When I last saw it, this little car was on display with a very poorly worded description sign at the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A. For some reason, someone apparently decided to stain the wood very dark in recent years. No idea where the car is today, but it is sadly under-appreciated and its history is little known.

This photo is from one of the largest Earle C. Anthony collections that exists. Perhaps the largest. I began collecting ECA items in the 1960s and got to know several key persons in Earle C. Anthony, Incorporated, including the last two surviving executives in the 1970s.

By the way, Mr. Anthony knew the owners of "Bean Son Company"... the Packard bicycle distributor out of San Francisco mentioned so prominently at the beginning of this thread. Bean Son Company supplied the wheels and tires for the Anthony Runabout car reconstruction. Ask me how I know...

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