The really sad story involves the end of the war in the Pacific. While these boats were fabulous with their Packard engines, they were real gas hogs. They were engineered by Packard to produce tremendous horsepower and to perform like Fighter plane engines, so they ran on expensive aviation gas, and they only got something like 1-2 MPG! They were definetely purpose-built engines. The U.S. Navy didnit foresee any market or use for these expensive to operate boats post-war. Plus can you imagine finding someone to work on these engines. So the U.S. Navy collected almost all of them together and had a huge bonfire (their structure was made from plywood) and destroyed them. I don't remember if this was done at Pearl Harbor or at Subic Bay. Only a small number managed to survive to this day, usually in maritime museums.

There used to be a bunch of the PT boat engines available on the market for years as war surplus after the war, brand new, on skids, because the Navy ordered extra engines from Packard and they were held in supply depots as spares.

The best MTB movie ever made is "They Were Expendable". Robert Montgomery, the actor and star of this movie along with John Wayne, was actually a PT boat commander in the Pacific during several years of the war. Later on he was the Captain of a Destroyer involved in D-Day in 1944.

I have quite a few PT Boat Packard WWII ads in my collection, which I've uploaded to the website, and I'm always looking for more ads.
Jim Reed (423REED)

Hey Kev!
Would anyone be interested in a folder called "Boneyard Packards", which would have a variety of photos of Packards in junkyards across the country. I have over 100 pics of these Packards which I could upload. I find them very sad, but still interesting. Like looking at the current Packard factory pics.

Jim Reed
423REED