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Board index » All Posts (Lee)




Re: 47 Packard Speedster
#1
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Leeedy
Quote:

r1lark wrote:
Maybe a scam? Are the pictures on Craigslist the same ones as on bringatrailer?



Oohhhhhhhh... my eyes are hurting again!!!!! This is what happens when originality no longer matters and fantasy is everything. The present generation of folks have no idea what is original. And what is just plain absurd. So thingies get unleashed as purposely-obscure mysteries. And off to auction they go! Ready to be flipped more times than a flapjack pancake on a hot griddle.

So. Nowwww we know what happened with at least one of those leftover Auburn boat-tail kits that no one could give away back in the 1970s. They just doubled-down on the same tail lights and blended the rest into a (gulp!) Packard. Betting that raked-back cut-off windshield is about as steady as a bobble-head doll mounted on Jello. Gotta love the modern GM-look power window switches too. And on and on and on. You'd think that if they went this far, they should have included golf-bag doors on the quarters.

Surely (I hope) no one is taking any of this "Packard" silliness seriously? Really?

As for Rita Hayworth... I have photos taken of Rita and myself standing together in Newport Beach, California in the 1970s. Rita was no "platinum blonde"... but she certainly was a redhead. At the very least, you might get away with calling Miss Hayworth a "strawberry blonde..." but certainly not a "platinum blonde."

Posted on: 3/16 23:21
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Re: Wheel Well Paint Color 56 Caribbean
#2
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Leeedy
Scroll back to my previous post for additional original photos on this matter...

Posted on: 3/11 23:44
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Re: Wheel Well Paint Color 56 Caribbean
#3
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Leeedy
Quote:

Kiff Rule wrote:
Hello All - i'm doing some restoration my 56 Caribbean Hard Top, including paint MES code. I've noticed that nearly all of the cars I've looked at have the front wheel wells painted black. However, I've noticed one little advertisement where the front wells appear to be the same dover white as the top color. Could anyone tell me what is actually correct?



Let's clear this up. Regarding this question: ALL Packard front fenders 1951-1956 were originally mounted on a fixture at the factory and painted in black primer. I have shown original factory color photos to evidence this in past issues of The Packard Cormorant magazine going back to the 1970s. So this is not new information. Of course the front fenders were painted both in primer and final body colors prior to attachment to the car body and chassis.

HOWEVER... if a 1956 Caribbean was painted in normal factory-spec colors and not custom-ordered, then the splash wells and engine compartment were white. How did they get to be white? The first paint step upstairs (YES... UPSTAIRS IN THE MYTHICAL SINGLE-STORY PLANT) at Conner Avenue was to spray the entire front fender assembly white. On the engine compartment side, this amounted to white color fogged on about half-way down (look at any V-8 car). But on the outside of a Caribbean fender, this meant a full spray of Dover White, including the rear of the wheel well which was exposed during spray painting. This area was not normally masked. IF in stock colors, two Caribbean paint stripes were then added.

IF the Caribbean was ordered in custom colors, then the splash wells ended up in whatever the main color was.

For non-Caribbeans and special dealer or distributor deliveries, sometimes it appears that splash wells were either masked or re-blackened. THIS was done either at the distributor or during dealer-prep at the dealer. Thus these were at the discretion of the dealer or distributor. SOME were also at customer request.

These areas were also blackened when either factory or dealer undercoating was ordered.

As a final note of clarification there were SOME 1955 and 1956 Packards that were hand-painted for various reasons with much more masking done than took place on the assembly line. Some of information and cars will be further revealed and explained in an upcoming article in The Packard Cormorant magazine. One of these was the 1955 Howard Hughes/Jean Peters Caribbean for which I wrote the original history for TPC in the 1970s.

HERE is a factory 8 x 10 press photo (with original negative) of a 1956 Caribbean from my collection. Take a look...



Click to see original Image in a new window



Also got more examples... here is a 1955 Clipper 8 x 10 press photo (which may have been retouched by Packard) but showing a darkened rear splash well panel. And then a very good look at the same panel in a light-colored 1956 Clipper press car. The later 8 x 10 photo was taken by a private news photographer at the Packard Proving Grounds in late 1955.





Click to see original Image in a new window





Click to see original Image in a new window

Posted on: 3/10 14:42
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Re: 55-56 Windshield Interchangeability
#4
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Leeedy
Quote:

Packard Don wrote:
I have two windshields for 1956 and was told that they were the same for all models. Not true in 1951-1954 but I am not sure for 1955-1956.


Oooooo! Sorry... but this is just not true. I have owned several Caribbeans over the years and a gaggle of other Packards.

1955 and 1956 Caribbean [i]convertible
windshields are shorter/different from other Packards of the same time period. This ought to be common knowledge after all these years. So I am surprised to see that people don't know this fact.

I supplied the windshield for the restoration of 1956 Caribbean 5699-1001. I can assure you the convertible windshield is indeed different...AND furthermore, the hardtop and convertible do NOT share the same windshield– no matter how many rumors may claim so. Nor is there a different size for the sedan.

The only differences for the non-convertible 1955-1956 Packards are the tint or no tint and shading.

Let's please, please correct this notion.

[/i]

Posted on: 3/10 13:08
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Re: 55 Caribbean
#5
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Leeedy
Quote:

humanpotatohybrid wrote:
As long as it's done properly I'm confident it would raise the value. None came from the factory like that and doing your own conversion is difficult and expensive. V8 manuals are extremely rare (about 3% of total production, all Clippers) so they have some level of desirability.


Heaven help us all– and our poor Packards if "resto-mods" actually "raise the value." What a ghastly notion. How does one customize "properly?"

I realize the present generation happens to find no issues with modifying and customizing vintage cars, but OMG! If customizing and "resto-mods" actually "raises the value" of a Packard, then it's all over.

I was just talking with a long-time Packard collector and he was saying that he hardly has involvement with Packards anymore beyond his own collection. "I talk to these guys today and all they wanna do is modify everything and customize stuff! What do we have to talk about if keeping the car original is meaningless?" He has a point– at least as far as I'm concerned. Modifications make it more valuable? That's frightening. I can hardly not wait to see a Tesla-ized electric Caribbean. Sorry...

Posted on: 3/10 4:09
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Re: 55 Caribbean
#6
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Leeedy
Quote:

Packard Don wrote:
The wire wheels look quite different than others I’ve seen and even different than the set I have. Did they change the design from 1954 to 1955 or are the ones on this Caribbean aftermarket?



The wire wheels shown on this Caribbean are not factory wheels.... not even close. EEEeeeeek! Awful. Certainly not even close to being decent reproductions. How revolting.

This is what happens when authenticity no longer matters and the history is on a par with fingerpainting. Everybody wins. Everybody gets a trophy or a ribbon. Stuff like this is MADE and sold... and then presented as if– oh yeah– this is legitimate and to be taken seriously. Why? This is what we have come down to.

No...all postwar Packard wire wheels were made by Motor Wheel Corporation and the design did not change. The center cap design would have changed for 1957 and I have the only known example of a 1957 prototype center cap. I showed this center cap prototype several years ago when I gave a talk at a Packard Club National Meet.

Posted on: 3/10 3:52
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Re: Packard Plant
#7
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Leeedy
Quote:

Mr.Pushbutton wrote:
Quote:

bkazmer wrote:
Thanks for the great summary! The city’s corruption over a long period has had consequences

I lived near Detroit for a while until very recently
There are some revitalized areas and some sad ones. Indian Village always strikes me as a clearly once nice area fallen on hard times. And I’ve been to the Packard factory. I agree with MrPB - the entrance, the emblem off the body bridge, and some of the office materials have been salvaged. The rest needs to go


The corruption took place while “the good mayor” Dennis Archer was in office.
I work in Indian Village. It hasn’t gone downhill one bit. It’s every bit as nice as it has ever been at any point in my six decades in the city.


Ooooo! Sorry Mr. Pushbutton... wow. While I agree with most of what you are saying... the statement that "Indian Village hasn't gone downhill one bit. It's every bit as nice as it has ever been at any point in my six decades..." etc. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ohhh. Ohhh. Sorry but I'm just plain gonna have to disagree with that one. Hope you don't really believe that wildly optimistic assessment. EEEeeeek! I'm older than you and I've been in and watching that area longer. I have had friends and relatives in IV for many decades. What I see today is kinda-sorta okay... by Detroit's present standards, I guess. But to an old Detroiter very familiar with IV... sorry. Heartbreaking. Indian Village has slid a long, long way down from where it once was– even in the 1960s-70s. I know. I can still remember when Detroit's TV stars and people from Hollywood lived there.

In the 1970s, I was having holiday dinner at a friend's home there ... and we were stunned to have armed thugs BREAKING IN to the rear of the house WHILE WE WERE HAVING DINNER!!! My friend gave up and moved to California shortly thereafter. Many of the businesses along Jefferson Avenue where I used to shop are boarded up and/or gone... or too scary to go to. The boat dealers where I used to go with my grandpa are LONG gone. The beautiful ornate building on Mack Avenue that stands boarded up and abandoned for decades was once the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). It was like a palace in there. Now? OMG. There ARE several residences presently abandoned... and at least two with their front doors standing open when I last drove though a few months ago. Sad. Just a few years ago, more dear friends who are former classmates had to give up the ghost and move out of their beautiful mansion. I won't say why. They have been there at least since the 1960s.

And let's not mention Indian Village adjacent. Growing up, I attended private parochial grade school and high school less than ten blocks north of Indian Village. I was invited back to attend an anniversary memorial Mass a couple of years ago. How comforting (shocking) it was to find a uniformed private guard parked across the street from the church entrance. He was armed with what looked like an AR-15 and a Glock pistol. Ahhh. I guess that's the way to worship in the new "normal" of today's Detroit. But... same as always? Not so much.

An old Detroiter who loves Packards and who once lived both in Indian Village and in Boston-Edison areas.

Posted on: 3/7 19:48
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Re: Packard Plant
#8
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Leeedy
I owned commercial property along Mt. Elliott adjacent to the Packard Plant on East Grand Boulevard in the 1960s to 1980s. My father before me did likewise going back to the 1940s.

WHY? WHY? Why do they put TV cameras in front of relative newbie local yocals who seem to know nothing about the neighborhood– despite claiming to "live" there? (HOW LONG is "all my life"...10 years?).These folks who want to make it seem like this horrid ghetto will become a paradise simply by tearing things down. The one woman ACTUALLY says it would be so nice to see "people moving instead of buildings." OMG! WHERE will the heroin needles, crack addicts, hookers, garbage piles, old mattresses in vacant lots, scrappers and just plain criminals disappear to? That disguised "jail" they have built off of Concord Avenue that nobody talks about?

Then the mayor gets up and makes ridiculous empty political cheese-covered-jibberish empty statements. "We're keeping a promise here!!!!" Please. Nobody wants to say how the area got the way it is in the first place. It certainly was not because of Packard!!!!!

Why do ill-informed young persons in TV studios make outrageous statements about the plant as if these things are FACTS? After all these years... newscasters and newspapers are still smearing feces on the real history of this place. It is a LIE that the "plant closed for good in 1958"... a pure, bold-faced lie. Why do these "news sources" keep repeating such FICTION? And nobody challenges what they say????? Then it gets repeated again?

The Packard Plant on East Grand Blvd. was no longer manufacturing cars there as of the end of 1954 model year production. But administration and other operations continued there. And yes, Packard ceased operations in the plant as of 1958. BUT... HUGE COMPANIES like Essex Wire and Stone Container Corporation began operations in the plant. Studebaker-Packard still had operations in and around the plant. Studebaker took over one of the former Packard buildings and made it a ZONE OFFICE. The plant itself was still storing huge amounts of machinery left over from clearing out the Utica engine/transmission facility and more. THIS stuff was still at East Grand Blvd. in the 1970s! I took photos myself! And there were numerous, numerous small businesses operating throughout the plant... generating salaries, jobs, taxes. Lots of trucks and cars and people coming and going. In the 1960s there were TWO big-name supermarkets OPERATING on the property along with a discount department store IN the plant. Making the plant sound abandoned and derelict as of 1958 is not merely a mistake... it is a stupid and vicious lie.

It wasn't Packard that abandoned that plant. It was the city government. Perhaps I am the only person left who remembers... but I can assure you people of TODAY... the "history" is nothing like you are being told. No wonder old people get so cranky and frustrated. They know it's all oleo...

Posted on: 3/7 18:24
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Re: Packard Bikes
#9
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Leeedy
And... here is some of our original literature for one of several versions of these Packard pedal cars. There was a whole series of these made with amazing, varying details.

Also note in the details that this one has real suspension, windshield wiper, tilt steering wheel, adjustable spotlight, combination tail light and brake light... and more. Oooo! It also had a special sound effects device called a "Hummer" (no relationship to the modern military vehicle) to make it SOUND like a motorcar!

Original literature courtesy of National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA.com).

Attach file:



jpeg  PackardPedalCarLeonDixon.jpeg (1,503.46 KB)
1249_65e21b253d888.jpeg 2189X3145 px

Posted on: 3/1 13:15
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Re: Can anyone identify this part?
#10
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Leeedy
ALL of the info, the video and the motor are ALL from front fender-mounted antenna only.

Rear-mounted antennae are different in both shape, motor, mast and service procedures.

Also. the video does not show the spanner wrench to remove the chromed bezel cap nut nor does it show punch tool alternate removal technique to get the cap nut off! Using pliers or a Stilson wrench will certainly destroy the cap nuts (these were usually made of soft metal like brass). Nothing else can take place unless the cap nut is removed.

Posted on: 2/27 12:54
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