Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I wish to apologize to Dave and anyone out there who likes any particular brand of automobile. We all have a right to like whatever we like and I have no business belittling or casting aspersions at any one's choice.

No offense taken. My father's side of the family bought and used Packards from the 1920s to after WWII. Then it became Buicks for the rest of the family, and Pop began buying new Chevies every two years. Packard lore was still rampant when the uncles got together, so my respect goes way back.

Packard remains special to me because I was taught from an early age by my father that nothing sounded or felt like the purr of a Packard straight eight. My 27 year old BMW 635 CSi tries real hard, but Detroit still out smoothes Munich. And nothing rides quite like Torsion Level when it's behaving. Given a bit more time, I might learn to think Packard rather than Chevrolet when someone says "327." And in our BMW club, the guys still laugh when someone says they're sure that those letters stand for Big Money Wasted.

Remember what they say about German Autos-you can buy better quality but you cannot pay more!

Since this thread is about the proper use of English I did not wish to hijack it by commenting on the merits of any particular car make following the post by Mr Bumble. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and most of us car enthusiasts usually have some strong opinions about which makes or models are better than others.
I also own a 28 year old BMW 635csi and my experience with the car is that I really enjoy driving and owning it. Since I do all my own repairs and maintenance I do not find that it is much more expensive to maintain than say my Ford Crown Victoria although it is, by comparison, a more complicated car to work on.
The 3.5 litre engine is a marvellous engine which reminds me of the 356 Packard engine. It certainly is not as smooth at idle as that old 356 and it certainly revs much higher but being a long stroke inline engine with 7 main bearings it has that same low end torque I so much admired in my old Packard. In some ways especially from an engineering stand point I think the two companies have much in common. They were and are both respected as master engine builders of both automobile and aircraft engines and leaders in the manufacturing of luxury automobiles.

Or as we would say in the Hudson's Bay Company.
"Yesterday's goods at tomorrow's prices" or " Cheap at half the price !"

Hi

Proper English usage is an ongoing challenge for most of us. As a help, I keep a dictionary at hand when composing, not only for correct spelling but also for those infrequently-used words learned in vocabulary class decades ago.

After each edit, I read what I've written aloud to better hear it as the reader will hear it in his mind. Many times what sounds fine in my mind by simply reading it aloud exposes inelegant, inept phrasing and grammatical errors.

I hope this little trick, as well as careful proofreading and spell-checking before hitting 'Submit' will help.

Steve

With English being my 2nd language it sometimes blowes my mind how some people can absolutely butcher spelling & grammar. That being said I'm absolutely not impressed with the school system (and my kids go to the best isd in the area). There's more time for goofing off and learning irrelevant things than basic math and language skills so it is no wonder that our language goes backwards with leaps and bounds!

The book, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves - The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" by Lynne Truss is a fun read. I mostly enjoyed her part about the use of the comma; hence, the title and the cover illustration with Panda bears.

I used to own an 'M' edition BMW 318 Ti. Wolfgang, the German mechanic I used to take it to for service and repair in Walnut Creek, said that the 'M' stood for money.

(o{}o)

I used to own an 'M' edition BMW 318 Ti. Wolfgang, the German mechanic I used to take it to for service and repair in Walnut Creek, said that the 'M' stood for money.

That comment reminds me of a commercial in the 80's where one of the US mfgs was making fun of a "Fine European Car" that always had to go see Dieter, the mechanic at the dealership for some minor service or another. The thrust of the commercial was how much the owner could have saved if only he had bought the mfgs fine American car.

Unfortunately, the "Fine European Car" is probably worth more today than the American car the mfg was promoting.

Let's eat Grandma!
Let's eat, Grandma!

Punctuation saves lives!