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Re: Want a NEW Packard?
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Hello...
And another one. Live long enough and you begin to realize this is all just one great big circle of cycles. Every ten to fifteen years somebody, somewhere suddenly discovers "Packard" and goes bonkers. This is usually followed by an announcement that they ...THEY are going to resume manufacturing Packards! Yes. Regardless of no manufacturing facilities, no engineers, and no real money. Of course this latest enterprise cannot possibly "own all patents, copyrights and trademarks" as stated. At least some of the trademarks are owned by the Packard Club. And what about the guy out west who makes the same claims and his holy mackerel (and that's what it looked like) "Packard V-12"????? The latest of a long, long, long line of "revivals" which editor, Stuart Blond covered in The Packard Cormorant magazine years ago. Coming any day– pretty darned soon. One thing about being old and having a working memory. One gets to see a lot of recirculating folly. Please. Happy Holidays to Everyone,
Posted on: 12/10 18:07
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Re: Packard Bikes
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And now for something REALLY new! Pay close attention because THIS six-degrees of separation takes many wild twists and turns!
From the bulging National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA.com), something that ties Packards, bicycles, technology, automotive styling of Brooks Stevens, bicycle design, early gas stations, early TV and the amazing Earle C. Anthony all into one! Yesss... we'll pull this alllllll together for you right here. If you know your Packard history, you'll know that Cleveland Welding Company supplied early wheels to Packard Motor Car Company and developed demountable rim technology used on early Packard vehicles. By the mid-1930s, Cleveland Welding Company (CWC) jumped into the bicycle business with both feet. The result was a very well made premium line of bicycles known as "Roadmaster" brand. Now, for those who think of Roadmaster as a cheaper-made brand from the 1960s-1970s, we're talking about the original 1930s to 1950s era of Roadmasters. And those were super-premium, high technology bicycles with the ultimate in craftsmanship! Additionally, Cleveland Welding Company also made SOME of the Packard bicycles. I'm attaching an image of a CWC-built Packard bicycle headbadge, courtesy of Leon Dixon and National Bicycle History Archive of America. Now. One of the early Los Angeles television stations was KFI-TV. It was the sister channel to KFI-AM radio– which still exists today. Who originally owned KFI? None other than the amazing Packard West Coast Distributor and genius extraordinaire, Mr. Earle C. Anthony. Originally, KFI had what was known as "Clear Channel" status with the FCC. This meant that no other broadcaster could transmit on the same channel. Thus it was possible to listen to KFI just about anywhere one could pick up the AM signal (Mr. Anthony used to sail his yacht to Hawaii and Tahiti, listening to KFI out on the waves... He did likewise in his private train car). Of course this was long before "Clear Channel" became a brand name as it is today. Of course, again, if you know your Packard history, Mr. Anthony's list of accomplishments and firsts is almost endless. He built what may have been the first electric car in California as a teen. He was West Coast Packard Motor Car Company Distributor with some of the world's most magnificent dealerships. Founder of one the the earliest and most successful radio channels in California. The man who brought the first commercially successful NEON SIGN to America and licensed the Claude Neon Company in the USA. Started National Supply Stations which ultimately became CHEVRON gas stations of today. And on and on. KFI-TV did one of the first broadcasts in SoCal and featured famous Betty White to do it. KFI-TV was the progenitor of television cooking shows. KFI-TV featured a cooking show with a famous local female host in a staged kitchen– made to appear as if in a mansion. And KFI-TV had other great programming. Famous cartoonist, Frank Webb (he did the very popular Raising Kane comic strip in national newspapers and lots of others) also appeared on KFI-TV. Mr. Webb had his own syndicated TV show called Let's Draw (... "Are you ready kids? Hurry up... hurry up ... get your paper and pen and draw!"). (You have to be a certain age to remember this stuff.) Let's Draw was sponsored by Roadmaster Bicycles division of Cleveland Welding Company. The TV show was largely geared toward kids. Roadmaster even adopted a Disney-esque advertising mascot. An elf named "Roady Roadmaster." Contrary what people today and the internet will lead you to believe, Roadmaster bicycles were VERY popular and sought-after between the 1930s and the end of the 1950s. And as I said, they made a number of Packard-branded bicycles. Who designed Roadmaster and CWC-built "Packard" bicycles? Why, none other than the famous automotive designer, Brooks Stevens. Brooks, (who I knew and corresponded with for years) also did work for Studebaker and Packard. I am attaching a very, very rare photo and clipping from the bicycle industry trade magazine, Bicycle Journal. BJ was originally published by my old friend, Bill Quinn out of Fort Worth, Texas. Yesss NBHAA has the entire hardbound archive of Bicycle Journal magazine which dates back to the 1940s. Shown in this photo is a 1950 Roadmaster Luxury Liner which was CWC's top-of-the-line bicycle. The Luxury Liner was the direct competitor to Schwinn's "Phantom" series. The Luxury Liner featured a very advanced front suspension fork; chrome fenders, crescent handlebars, "Searchbeam" headlight; electric horn; and a special rear carrier with built-in electric tail light/brake light (yes, applying the brake actually made the tail light illuminate brighter– just like in a car! In case anyone is wondering, the tag near the right rear axle nut was to tell you about the electric brake light operation). For those dyed-in-the-wool hardcore Cleveland Welding Company Roadmaster Luxury Liner fans, NOTE that the chain guard does NOT say "Luxury Liner" or anything at all. Contrary to what you will see on the internet or on the awful so-called "authentic reproductions" of these bicycles made in recent years. Had enough for now? Sit back and breathe easy... there's always more to come! Images courtesy of Leon Dixon / National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA.com). Attach file:  PackCWBadgeCR.jpg (48.47 KB)  KFI-TVandRoadmasterBicycleNBHAAWM.jpeg (1,080.67 KB)
Posted on: 12/10 16:22
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Re: 56 Patrician on Ebay
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Interesting. A factory air car... with REAR seat going bad and front seat looking great. Wow. That's a twist. I sure hope they've got the suspension switched OFF with the car up on jackstands like that!
Posted on: 2023/11/25 10:10
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Re: Interference of R/H turn signal light socket with A/C duct
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Club rosters are merely club rosters. But there are always, always going to be cars not listed. Most of the A/C cars I ever knew of were not on anybody's listings– except for the one I made up. Ahhh. All I can say is that I've been involved with these cars a long, long, long time. And I lived in SoCal and was involved with Packards there for a long, long time. I was a founding board member of the Earle C. Anthony Packard Club region of PAC. I once worked in the very building that was the Earle C. Anthony dealership at 1000 S. Hope Street. I knew the people who operated a business in Santa Monica known as "Automotive Classics Parts Department" which was 100% Packard Parts. This was in the early 1970s. I owned numerous Packards and even got one of them serviced at Frost & French– the last surviving SoCal Packard dealer. I made a list of all known factory air V-8 Packards in SoCal beginning in 1973. That's 50 years ago. I often drove the very Caribbean that Gerry recently had– only I was driving it back in the 1970s. This was even before the factory air got installed. And long before it got so sadly customized into a black car with a black canvas top. Whoever did that customizing job trashed our expensive, hand-made pink-lined grained white vinyl top, and apparently tossed the nice original pink interior cushions– changed the color. Wow. Anyway. The term "factory air" in the case of V-8 Packards has nothing really to do with where or how it was installed. Just that the system is the factory-designed system intended for these cars. These systems came two ways: 1.) Installed at the Conner Avenue factory in Detroit. 2.) Installed at any Packard dealer, distributor or authorized service facility. You say you're familiar with the car Gerry had. Then you should know that Caribbean certainly did not have "dealer installed" air. How do I know this? Because I was there when it was installed! As I said... I've been involved with these cars for a long time. The system in that Caribbean was indeed factory air... only it was yanked completely out of a 1956 dark blue Patrician. It was transferred, lock, stock and barrel. I also had two factory air Caribbeans (my convertible was stolen and never recovered). And I owned a 1956 Patrician with factory air. I sold that car to a man and his son in the San Diego area. My buddy, Joe Clayton had two more factory air V-8s. There were two more in the San Fernando Valley. Another in Hollywood that was running... and two more in Hollywood in storage. And another in Los Angeles (a 1956 Patrician) that was for sale on eBay in recent years. So how many is that? And this is just out of memory. There were and I'm sure still are more. With old cars and paper specs– even if claimed to be "factory" I always go with matching to known good examples. I can personally tell you from experience that, for instance, a convertible top frame and height specification for a modern production car I was involved with changed numerous times. Had you gotten the paper specs/drawings for that vehicle but they weren't verified "final production specification" you could have ended up with anything. All kinds of things out of whack. I'm attaching a photo of how Gerry's Caribbean looked back in the 1970s...right after the A/C installation, but long before it morphed into the black color with the black canvas top. I took this photo at Griffith Park. Attach file: Praigg'sFactoryAir3.jpg (337.80 KB)
Posted on: 2023/11/24 20:32
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Re: 5699 parts questions
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No problem... I perfectly understood your reference. A casting is a casting. And what you refer to is known in the North American convertible business as a "header bow." Again... a header bow for a 1956 Caribbean involves several pieces: • the bow itself • a trim retainer • a tack strip • a weatherstrip retainer • a weatherstrip • a pair of latches As a retired Lead Engineer for a car corporation for North America, and as someone who has owned well over 100 convertibles... and a shop where we replaced tops, I assure you that I know these tops. I have also designed tops and developed convertibles at the OEM level. I know convertibles In every possible way. Very, very well. Especially for the Caribbean. When you say "chrome bow that goes on the convertible top itself" you must be be referencing the stainless steel trim covering on the main rear bow, not the front bow. There was no bright trim on the front bow of a 1956 Caribbean convertible top. Only on the rear bow. And this original stainless trim today is usually missing as well. It is comprised of a U-shaped retainer channel that attaches directing to the exterior of the rear bow. This channel was then covered with a bright stainless steel trim finisher with a screw on each end. A lot of modern-day trim shops toss these pieces and substitute trim-shop short-cuts like a thing called a "wire-on" or worse... a thing called a "hidem." Bad ideas for a Caribbean top. There was also a stainless trim strip at the rear beltline location, where the fabric attached to the body. Again, these pieces are often thrown away by modern trim shops that do not understand these parts are urgently required. As for differences in vehicle weight distribution... this is not critical, especially with Torsion-Level suspension. But weight distribution on the convertible top itself is very sensitive. The power mechanism was designed to lower and raise only so much weight. And a heavy header bow can totally change the center-of-gravity which can alter the require folding specs. Whole topstack frames or just header bows are indeed around. You just have to look. One was on eBay some time back. And another was loose in the recent auction that took place in New York state. There is another in Ohio. These are not impossible components to find. Just depends on patience and how much you want to spend. Never be in a hurry on such things. Take your time, look around diligently and eventually you will have success.
Posted on: 2023/11/24 19:04
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Re: Yet another fugitive from the C. Lewis Ablelove auction comes up for sale
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I already stated that a FB message got ZERO response. My time is important too. Everybody's time is important. I also mentioned that the towing business phone number is NOT working despite a web page listing. I give up. I've bought Packards all over the country. Sold them too. In fact, at least a couple of the Packards in the original Abelove collection came from me. BUT... in over 50 years of dealing with Packards and looking at sales... I'm very, very sorry if I am the only one who thinks this one as listed here is BIZARRE. Bentleys flying 20 feet in the air and exploding in flames. A guy in Las Vegas with 17 moving violations STILL driving and running a red light at 103 MPH, killing 8 people. A guy in Atlanta snuffing a poor waitress because she put too much mayo on his sandwich! The new normal. The world has changed THAT much. WOW.
Posted on: 2023/11/24 15:35
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Re: Yet another fugitive from the C. Lewis Ablelove auction comes up for sale
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Again...
Is there a secret code word (like "Tse-tse fly") one has to use? Does one need to know a secret handshake? • The phone listed does not work. Try it. • The email listed does not give responses. • A FB inquiry to the poster gets no response. • Inquiries to the web site page for the tow company get no response. So... if you have a connection to the seller and IF this is not a secret sale, but is real, I for one would love to get a chance to ask questions! That's all. Thanks.
Posted on: 2023/11/23 13:06
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Re: Interference of R/H turn signal light socket with A/C duct
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San Diego, huh? I can absolutely, positively assure you, there were at least 5 Packard V-8s in SoCal with factory air at that time... and probably now. As for an A/C Caribbean in San Diego? Ohhhhhh there is/was a black 1956 Caribbean there with factory air. I used to drive it in the 1970s. Last time I heard, it was still in San Diego. Ask Gerry at Southwest Packards... right there in your area.
Posted on: 2023/11/22 23:21
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Re: 5699 parts questions
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===================== You are describing what In the convertible business in the USA would be commonly known as a "header bow." On Caribbeans this component is made of an alloy one step or two up from Kirksite. You will certainly want to avoid going to the extreme of casting or milling such a component. And even if you did perform such a casting or milling, you really don't want to change the metal. Weight and balance here are extremely critical (aside from mating two dissimilar metals). Anything that would upset the weight and balance could be disastrous to the power top mechanism and overall operation. Plus you would need to fabricate not merely the header bow, but also the tack strip retainer, tack strip, seal, and latches. That's a lot! You are better off looking for existing parts. There are indeed parts around, but it will take a lot of looking. Good luck.
Posted on: 2023/11/22 22:12
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Re: Packard Bikes
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So. We showed you the early Classic Bicycle Era headbadge for Colson-built Packard bicycles. Now here is the headbadge design that followed.
What we show here is New Old Stock (NOS) never mounted, never drilled, never bent brass. But you can get an excellent idea of the original appearance, including colors and plating. By the way, SOME of these were brass while others were made of aluminum. On the brass headbadges, the raised areas were nickel plated. On the aluminum versions, the raised areas were simply natural silvery look of aluminum. Image is courtesy of Leon Dion / National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA.com). Attach file: Packard(Colson)HeadbadgeNOSNBHAA.jpeg (210.33 KB)
Posted on: 2023/11/22 21:52
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