Rusty, there was sort of an unofficial and uneasy truce until General Beauregard decided, more or less on his own, to interfere with the resupply of Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbour. The Federal Government in Washington never recognised the right of the southern states to secede and, well before Ft. Sumter, President Lincoln had called for 100,000 volunteers, presumably to put down what was considered by the Washington government to be a rebellion. Maybe he was just nervous. Both raising an army with which to invade the south and the resupply of a Federal fort located within a Confederate harbour (which one would assume was within Confederate territorial waters) could be considered acts of war, in and of themselves, as I suppose the resupplying of Ft. Sumter was by the South Carolinians and General Beauregard. The Federals had pretty much made it known that they weren't going to allow the southern states to secede, peacefully, and the Confederates had made it pretty plain that they intended to fight if interfered with. In the climate of the times war was inevitable from the time that the first southern state passed the first secession resolution. It was just waiting for a spark to set it off.

There was, about 50 years ago a book (I read it in serial form in the old, "Saturday Evening Post," magazine) called, "If the South Had Won the Civil War." I cannot recall the author's name but the book was quite well researched and logically posited the Army of Northern Virginia having flanked the Federal forces at Gettysburg, making an end run on Washington, capturing the Federal government and forcing a Union surrender. It also theorised the end of slavery within a short span of years, both because it was dying anyway and to facilitate foreign recognition of the CSA. Its author, however, theorised that with slavery no longer an issue and having so many common interests that the two nations would've reunited, if I remember correctly, under the depredations of German unrestricted submarine attacks on Allied and American shipping and the Imperial German government's plan to assist Mexico in reoccupying California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico in return for their help should either American nation join the war on the side of the Allies. The Kaiser's foreign ministry did, in fact, make such an offer to the Mexican government before the United States entered World War I.

All conjecture, of course, but interesting nonetheless.

Interesting vehicle, certainly not a factory offering. Could be a home-built but more likely the work of a coachbuilder on a Packard chassis.

There is certainly plenty of info on prewar Packard station wagons to be found on this website and in various Packard publications. In 1940-41 they were a popular factory offering, bodied by Hercules I believe, and you'll find pictures of one of the earliest known, 1934 Eight rebodied from an 1100 or 1101 sedan by Bridgeport, in the photo archive.

Check your vehicle over carefully for an indications of who the coachbuilder might have been. Typical locations for bodybuilder's ID would be sill plates, cowl plates, plates under the carpet or under the seats, etc.

EDIT- apparently I didn't post a prior photo of the 1934 Eight by Bridgeport, rebodied from a 4-door sedan. The car was owned for years by Paul Lamb of Englewood, NJ, passed thru several hands, was at the 1999 Centennial in Warren, OH, and is now part of a well-known New Jersey collection. Sorry, don't recall who the photographer was.

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Hello.Maybe somebody have info about prewar Packard cars with Woody body?Its a 1926 Packard, straight 8 engine.

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Gerd: The Maskvich 410 front end looks like it is taken from a 1954 American Ford.

John F. Shireman

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Old Soviet joke:

A Russian goes to the state car agency to buy a car. He places his order and the salesman says " Congratulations comrade! Your car will be ready 10 years from today. Would you prefer to take delivery in the morning or afternoon?"

The customer replies " Better make it the afternoon. The plumber is coming in the morning."

From the information hat I have been able to obtain the Moskvich was the only auto produced in Russia that there was no need to sign up for or be on a waiting list.

Gerd if I am wrong on that point please correct me.

John F. Shireman

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My impression is that Fort Sumter was Union property, and the Confederacy was no longer part of the Union. So as a foreign government they had no right to tell Lincoln anything.

I have pondered the question of what would have happened if those shots had not been fired and the war had not happened. I suspect the Confederacy would have done away with slavery within 20 years anyway. But it would have been too late to save the Union. There would now be a United States and a Confederate States. In terms of international relations the Confederacy would be about on a par with Australia and the United States would be about half as important as it is now.

Back in the garage today to get some work done. First thing I did was finishing bending and installing the new transmission lines. One of the lines was not long enough so I had to couple it with a 6" piece to made it reach. Both Kragen (O-Reileys) and Napa only carried 60" line on 5/16". The top transmission line needs to be 66" long. So I did the coupling at the front by the cooler so it gives me a perfect place to splice in the hoses for a future aux transcooler. Just need to remove the 6" piece and install to hose barb ends when the time comes.

With the transmission lines back on place, I went ahead and reinstalled the radiator. Finally that radiator wont be in the way in the garage anymore. Also along those lines, I reinstalled the hood on the car to get it up off the floor and out of the way. With a fender and trunk lid already off the car, something had to go back on. Since the hood is already in primer, it was time for it to go back on the car for now.

Also here is a pic of the trunk lid stripped down. Still working on stripping the bottom side.

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Actually, Rusty, the attack was provoked by Lincoln. He wouldn't remove the troops from the Fort, and despite being told not to attempt to supply the Fort, he deliberately sent a ship of supplies. I suppose in a way you are right, they could have just ignored the situation for a period of time.

Sounds like the politics of today and the politics of always. I wonder what they called "spin doctors" in those days?

I believe the US government is and has been way overstepping its constitutional boundaries. A CW2 is not out of the question; maybe that's why gun and ammo sales are out of sight.

On a more local and Packard level, our local city council in Pahrump, NV --one of the last bastions of independence in the USA and an "open carry" state--has decided that despite the fact that there are no zoning laws that THEY can make you remove any inoperable unlicensed vehicles from your property if they meet certain criteria. I think I can wiggle out of this if ever confronted because I'm in the process of "restoring" all these Packards (and Pontiacs). But this is just one more example of a certain political segment of our current society deciding that you need to conform to their values...if not they will make you comply.

Not going to happen here...with me.

Craig