Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Home away from home
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Is there NO END to this General MacArthur
nonsense? Some of us recall the article about "General MacArthur's Packard Clipper" in Special Interest Autos back in the late '70s. SIA, to their credit, soon printed a retraction, apology for swallowing that malarkey. However, time passes, and we again have some avaricious Sun Belter, dressed in comic opera War II uniform, passing off a Packard Clipper painted olive drab, with a machine gun mount bolted to the dash, requisite sunglasses and corncob pipe resting on the back seat. Please. Here and now, might we have a moratorium on this hohum? No more General MacArthur, or celeb cars in general, without hard, vetted proof. And really, who cares even if it was MacArthur's? Harry Truman fired him. My pappy served in the infantry, island-hopping toward Japan, recalled MacArthur being carried on the shoulders of a pair of MPs into shallow water, where they gingerly put him down. MacArthur, like a Hollywood pro, cued the newsreel boys, who filmed him wading heroically the remaining few yards to the beach. "Old soldiers never die...they just fade away..." What a maudlin phony. Nixon must've taken lessons. On the Phillipines, MacArthur used a '42 Cadillac 75 limo owned by a sugar cane plantation owner. If you have to have a former general's car, find one owned or used by Omar Bradley or George Marshall. They were class acts, widely respected by combat troops. What would be nice is to see pictures of the 1946 or '47 Custom Clipper 2106 sedan Harry and Bess Truman used to go shopping in Washington. I've heard they were accompanied by only one unmarked car with a couple Secret Service agents, tho' perhaps a lone black and white city police car kept them in view. Those were the days. Heard as recently as the early '80s, Margaret Thatcher, hardly the most popular prime minister, often ate lunch in a public restuarant accompanied by only one unarmed bobby, but i'll leave the veracity of that to one of our Sceptered Isle Packardites. "There's a such and such on EBay. The seller says it was owned by so-and-so." C'mon.
Posted on: 2012/7/29 19:23
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Home away from home
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Quote:
The answer to this may be right down the road from you. It is in the South Bay. The current owner brought a former White House Custom Clipper to Salado a couple of years ago. They drove it there and back. Nice dark blue color and original interior. Not restored. Sorry, no photos of it. Owners are super nice folks too. (o[]o)
Posted on: 2012/7/29 20:37
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We move toward
And make happen What occupies our mind... (W. Scherer) |
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Home away from home
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Thanks. I'd heard the 1946 or '47 Super or Custom Super sedan Harry and Bess Truman used as their personal car in Washington was dark blue, but don't know whether Packard, Coral, Atlantic blue. The above sounds interesting, but it's hard to imagine a car used by the Trumans not having some surviving documentation, some scraps of paper, something.
If not for some family investments, Truman would've been in the poor house or old soldiers' home, his only income after leaving the White House his old Army pension of $112.56 a month. Truman was a class act, made some of the toughest decisions in Oval Office history, including the toughest single decision in human history. You'd think a grateful nation might've let him keep a used Packard.
Posted on: 2012/7/29 23:54
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Forum Ambassador
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Truman did finally receive a retroactive pension. And he deserved it.
snopes.com/quotes/truman/truman.asp
Posted on: 2012/7/30 13:34
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Just can't stay away
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Boys, my question was very simple: does any user of this website have any information about an 8-45 limousine that is alleged to have belonged to Douglas MacArthur, a video of which is posted on YouTube. Gunnison
Posted on: 2012/7/31 16:48
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Home away from home
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I agree MacArthur was a showman, but a few of his battle plans were really good. His worst hour was breaking up the bonus army during the depression. But the military is a system that is based on sucking up, so it only follows that there will be a lot of kooks. It's the same in the corporate world and everything else.
One of the problems with the high priced cars is that they were bought by well off hooligans. And a lot of today's collectors fancy themselves that way as well and make a big deal about what bum owned such and such car. To me it makes them less valuable. Once I was talking to a wealthy old lady and she remarked with utter disdain "Isn't he the one with the old cars?" There is no accounting for taste, but the more gadgets they keep hanging on today's cars the more I look back at the humble Model T and think so and so was right, that really is the ultimate. I would be suspicious of anybody who seems to specialize in cars owned by one type of crumb bum. And of course the greater the swindler the more personable they are. Just look at your typical serial killer or crooked politician - everybody loves em. Everybody loved Sandusky and his buddy Joe Paterno. I guarantee those two creeps would have nothing good to say about me.
Posted on: 2012/7/31 19:02
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Forum Ambassador
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Sorry gunnison, I have no knowledge of that vehicle.
Posted on: 2012/7/31 21:23
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Re: Gen. MacArthur's 8-45 limousine
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Home away from home
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"One of the problems with the high priced cars is that they were bought by well off hooligans. And a lot of today's collectors fancy themselves that way as well and make a big deal about what bum owned such and such car. To me it makes them less valuable"
You must be thinking of Cadillacs. They were the favorite of gangsters, crooked politicians, dubious businessmen, show biz big wigs and similar questionable characters. Never heard of Packards being associated with that ilk.
Posted on: 2012/7/31 21:39
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