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I received an e-mail from Stuart Blond this evening that Ed Cunningham passed away on Wednesday, March 28.

http://www.shulerfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/shuler0/obit.cgi?user=601788Cunningham

Ed was a Styling Manager with Packard and was there in the bunker with guys like Dick Teague when the Detroit plant closed in 1956.

If you never had the chance to meet Ed then you missed meeting a true gentleman. He had a tremendous sense of humor, a multitude of stories about Packard and an expansive knowledge of color, styling and design. I learned something new every time I saw him.

I am sorry to hear about this and he will be missed.

--Roger--

Never met Ed Cunningham, but read one of his reminiscences of a practical joke played on a fellow Packard employee in a CCCA quarterly years ago. Didn't realize he was allied at one point with S.H. "Wacky" Arnolt, one of the first importers of sports cars to the US in the '50s, responsible for the Arnolt-MG, Arnolt-Bristol, etc. Ed sounded like an
interesting gentleman, catholic* in his automotive tastes.
Godspeed, Edward J. P. Cunningham.


* be assured, JW, we are using lower-case catholic in
the secular sense above

Hi

I never met Ed Cummingham either, but greatly enjoyed the anecdotes he related of his Packard years. They brought to life the day-to-day joys and woes we could only imagine. That he shared them with Packard and CCCA members was generous and reveals what a true gentleman he was. His great sense of humor came through in all his writing. The tale of developing color names, including Parthenon White still never fails to make me laugh.

So, farewell Mr. Cummingham, you done good!

Steve

It was just plain dumb luck that I happened to meet Ed Cunningham many years ago at one of the Perrysburg (OH) meets, and I didn't even know who he was at the time.

I was admiring a '56 Caribbean Hardtop (MES) on the show field, when the owner passed by and struck up a conversation with me - said he had worked at Packard. He popped open the trunk and proudly showed me a paint and trim chart that he had worked up for 56th Series, but was a bit disappointed that it didn't find its way into the dealer showroom album. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to talk - each headed in different directions.

Years later, when I found a 55th Series album with paint chips intact (typically missing), it included a chart that immediately evoked a recollection of my encounter with Ed. The 1955 CLIPPER and PACKARD Color and Interior Chart was a brilliant depiction of paint and trim availability by each model and all of the paint schemes, shown in a relatively concise 2-axis chart. Ed had extended his concept to the 56th Series, but that year's album went in a completely different direction (and supplier).

Ed was clearly a man of talent and an asset to the organization. Yet, he was very easy to talk with and had a great sense of humor. The story of "Phartedon White" (sound it out) has to be one of the funniest things I ever heard, but not the only bit of fun he had. He must have been one of the youngest executives at Packard at that time; can't be many of them left now.

Sad that both he and the Perrysburg Meet are no more.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Ed, but over the years he authored 7 articles in PAC's quarterly publication. I think this is an appropriate time to dig them out and re-read them.

Ha-ha-ha-he-he....Phartedon White....he-he-he-he!!!!!!

Thanks Mr. Cummingham, it's a classic!

Steve

Phartedon!...LOL!!!...I would have never guessed! sounds like typical office humor has been around awhile but to hide it in a name that the entire world will see and still not have the slightest clue as to how an executive could arrive at such a name is hilarious!...pretty neat that some of you had the opportunity to know the man and can pass at least some of his legacy down. Does anyone know how many of the original and more familiar Packard Executives are still around?

That moniker, "Phartedon White", was intended as an inside joke. Ed slipped into meeting materials, but it almost made it into the books when a secratary prematurely picked up those materials after the meeting for distribution! Fortunately, he caught up with her just in time - else, his career with Packard might have been a lot shorter.

That prank was inspired by a new offering from a leather supplier. The hide was lacquered in an off-white base color, and then a brown glaze was applied and wiped off so that it only remained in the creases, with the intent of an antiqued look. Try picturing it in your mind's eye.

Ohhh!...O.K., still, it's hilarious and sounds like the gentleman had a very outgoing sense of humor. I'm picturing it alright!...hehehe!

Before thing spiral out of control maybe I need to tell Ed's story before things get carried away by vivid imaginations.

Ed was a true raconteur and only he can tell the story as he did. I only hope I can do it justice.

Ed starts the story about explaining how each year the design staff had to give names to the new colors being introduced that year. PMCC always tried to sell "up-market" and find luxurious or exotic sounding names for the colors used in both the interior and exterior of the car. Think Aegean Blue, Persian Aqua or Tangier Red.

This was time consuming as there were many parts that needed new names and they tried not to repeat from prior years. During brain-storming sessions together they tossed out names and Ed would write those names in a box that pointed to the part on a large board. Late one night, after a very long day of thinking up names they grew pretty frazzled. This was the day before the name project was due. They thought they were done and started to head out the door. Then someone noticed that one name box was not filled in.

That box was (as the story goes) for the new leather seats in the latest model that had an ivory color. But new this year was a technique called "Spanishing"- it was a dark dye that was wiped on and then wiped off in order to highlight the grain that you can only find in real leather. It was supposed to be an "antiquing effect" and convey a sense of old-world money. [Ed never spoke about a smearing effect as one poster (wrongfully) concluded above].

Anyway, they are anxious to get home and they start throwing out names. Earlier in the day they had been on a Mediterranean theme (again, think Aegean) and someone wrote in the box the "fictitious" Greek city of Phartedon. They all had a good laugh, got brain freeze and decided to go home and think about it overnight. They would fill in the last box early in the morning, just before the deadline.

So when the staff comes in the next morning they discover the color board missing. A little checking reveals that someone from "mahogany row" was in very early, saw the "completed" color board and took it with him back to his office. Further checking reveals that the color names have been passed onto the printer for use in the color brochures to go out to dealers and customers. Everyone on the staff is shocked into silence and collectively they decide not to bring it up ever again.

Time goes by and everything seems to be OK. Then one day the executive (unnamed) from mahogany row appears and he is red as a (Tangiers) beet. Steam is coming out his ears and he demands to know who in the blazes named the new leather seat color Phartedon.

With purely innocent faces they feign surprise. Some asks, "how did you pronounce that?" "It's not pronounced that way - you've saying it all wrong." Another one, turns the blame on the exec and says "you can't tell the customer the seats are farted on!" Another staffer says that it is a Greek city and goes off to look for a map of Greece. Straight faced they deny everything and get a "don't let this happen again" from the exec as he frustratedly heads back to his office. Silence from all and they dodged that bullet.

How true this all is I will leave up to you - you know how raconteurs can be.

Best, --Roger--