O_D makes good points. Tho' i believe he's right, also agree with him that it's an interesting topic, and hope to see more on it. Don't forget, club sedan, while in the 1930s, referring to a close-coupled, yet still elegant four door, in Packard's Clipper use, was intended to upscale market the otherwise less-expensive, "entry level" two-door Clipper.

The Duesenberg 120, um, uh, 1936-37 Cord similarly used "Phaeton," which meant an open four door, for their 1936-37 two-door convertible. Whenever you're offering less, a model name suggesting or harking to more helps.

I'm biased, as owner of a '47 Super Clipper four-door, but in my 'umble opine, the 1942-47 two-door club sedans look better on paper. In person, they look a mite man-the-harpoons humpy from the side or rear. This was one (1) time the upper echelon GMobiles got it right. The Cadillac and Buick sedanettes had a sleeker roofline, as did the Bentley R- and S-Type Continentals.

Meanwhile, wonder why the 1942 160 Clipper club and touring sedan are listed with only a 20 lb. shipping weight variance (3,985lbs. vs. 4,005) with the same 20-lb. difference between the '42 180 Clipper club and touring sedan, while their postwar versions are separated by 40 lbs. Obviously the postwar editions are heavier than the '42s because of the clunky bumper extensions and heavy front license plate bracket. But why would the shipping weight variance between postwar club/touring in both Super/Custom Super be twice that of the '42s?


? Anyone?

O-D, if our fellow posters will abide our momentary digression, how fortunate you are to have bought your lovely '34 club sedan from the late Roland M. Crawford.
Surely, this is as close to buying from a real Packard dealer, or even going to the Detroit factory on East Grand and taking delivery yourself.

Never met Mr. Crawford, just enjoyed his wonderful character actor's voice over the phone when i ordered parts for my '40 120 back in 1974-76. I still have the reply on his splendid letterhead to my enquiry for a Packard just a week or two before i found my '40 120 not three blocks from where i then lived.

It's dated 7/13/74:

"Sir:-

Reference your letter, Packard wanted.

I have the following:

1940-120 Packard sedan, sidemounted, trunkrack,
excellent interior, presently registered, running,
and with current Massachusetts Inspection. Needs
work on Running Boards, and fenders. Engine, good.

$2500.00 "



A longtime Packardite out here in California, Doug Judy, told me Mr. Crawford worked for a lumberyard, whose owner gave him his tired '41 One-Eighty sedan. In the course of looking for parts for that car, Roland Crawford wound up starting Packard Parts Unlimited. Wonder what became of Mr. Crawford's 180, and the above 120?

BTW, sportsfans, the price above is two thousand, five hundred dollars.

Thanks for the memories on this rainy Saturday afternoon, O_D.

Now back to the garage to wax the wax on my '47 Super Clipper, delivered new in San Luis Obispo, always garaged, its entire life in Kaleefornyuh, as a recent governor pronounced it. I imagine Jack Palance did much of his own work on his '47 Super in that Prestone commercial, which is how he managed those one-arm push ups at the Oscars.

I defer to Cardinal Santana and O_D above, but so far as the proper noun usage, it helps keep a fine name and part of national, even world, business history alive. An homage by any other name. Let's see. Used to buy parts decades ago from the wonderful Roland M. Crawford's Packard Parts Unlimited, in Groveland, MA. Purchased a fine, complete, authentic wire harness from Potomac Packard, Falls Church, VA. And my auld friends Steve Messenger and Don Figone started ages ago the stellar Just Packards, Napa, CA, specializing in late '30s and '40s Packard repair, service, resurrection.

Faith and begorrah, beauty be a personal matter. That Stutz is right jaunty for its year, but in my 'umble opine, agree with the previous gents 'bout the distracting bumper. And the runningboards are a mite wide, further distract from the car's lines. It looks a little like a Railton 8, assuming they ever made such a coupe.

According to Maurice Hendry, Howard Reed, a Packard engine designer and Buick alumnus, tried during the late '30s to sell Packard management on not just overhead valves, but an overhead camshaft engine, something seen domestically in only Duesenberg and Stutz in that decade. Reed was told such a valve train's noise would be unseemly in a Packard.
Further afield, Fred Duesenberg had wanted to build something closer to his Model A Duesenberg's size, which is about that of the above Stutz. But E. L. Cord insisted on excess. The outsized and rapidly obsolete Model J was the result, which of course led to the more rationally sized 1936-37 Duesenberg One-Twenty-- oops, um, Cord 810/812. (Which shares a couple engine accessories with the early Packard 120.)

We Packardites are catholic in our tastes, which is why we own Packards. We know what's out there. But, thought i'd try to tie the above car to our realm.

Dutch Darrin, both with Hibbard and then Fernandez, cloaked a fair amount of Stutzes as well as Packards.

Mighty fine. Savor every bit of the garage journey. When you're driving, enjoying the assembled car, you'll be glad you went the extra mile in every detail, Dr. Stocker, and may you keep her stock.

JW's soooo right about hearing that rebuilt motor come to life. When the mechanic, an ex-sprint car builder from the old days, told me he finished my '40 120's engine back in '75 ("....hardly a man is now alive, who remembers that famous day and year..." -- apologies to Longfellow), i rushed to his shop. The freshly painted 282 was perched between stout wooden blocks, a copper coil like a moonshiner's still coming from a Maxwell House coffee can full of gas atop his office bookcase. I still remember that unmuffled roar.

Since your non-overdrive '39 120 has a 4.36:1 rear axle, and the overdrive junior tub likely a 4.1, as long as you're in the neighborhood and whatever you don't salvage is going to the Pacific Rim to become rebar, take the bathtub's pumpkin home with you. It's really hard to overgear a Packard, IMHO.

Hard to believe a pair of visegrips firmly attached to the block drain plug, after saturating same with the usual liquid wrench -- lower and/or upper case, lest i be accused of product placement -- won't eventually loosen the plug. Counterintuitive, mayhaps, but an auld aircraft/auto mechanic/machinist taught me years ago to try tightening something stuck, then loosening it.

If this is either an original engine or one overhauled an epoch ago, it's a good idea to run a piece of welding rod, etc. in the back of the block while you flush it with a hose. Waterproof the starter and dipstick with plastic, etc.

On my '40 120 and current '47 356, i added a brass stand off pipe with a drain on the end threaded into the side of the block in lieu of that plug. This way, you can drain the block in the future without running water over the oil dipstick hole/starter. The proximity of rear block drain/oil dipstick not one of Packard's brighter moments.

This is the poster car for "less is more." Notice how you see the car when not distracted by whitewalls, fog/driving lights, ostentatious hood ornament. Saw photos of Packard Super 8 and Twelve convertibles in a big city showroom from the same year as this car shod in blackwalls, adorned with the base baled feather hood ornament. The finer the design, the less it needs.

Amen, JW. Have never fathomed the fascination with anything connected with reprehensible people. Perhaps the best we can do, as owners, caretakers, admirers of "the car built by gentlemen for gentlemen," is to distance ourselves from such displays.

Sadly, we live today in more of a celebrity at any cost world than ever.

Thank you, Messrs. BH et Faber. Vindicated at long last. Now i can even more proudly pop my '47's hood before even the most knowing eyes. I long since tired of concours silliness, but it i s nice to know we're authentic.

Never cease to be amazed at the breadth, scope of knowledge on this finest of sites for the world's consistently finest production automobile.