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My knowledge of Presidential Packards has been enhanced tremendously having previously been solely from my recall of ancient newspaper photographs. In my old age, "My memory is like a steel trap; rusty and full of mice."

There have been several very informative articles on White House Packards in the PAC magazine The Cormorant over the years, in particular I recall a few by Chuck Flinchbaugh who is a bit of a historian on this topic. Some of the photos he used have been seen before but there was one that was new to me and I'll try to see if I can find it and post it here later, it's FDR emerging from a 41 or 42 limo, at the Lincoln Memorial I believe. What caught my eye on this photo was the scuffed and blackened front right whitewall tire, no doubt the result of the chauffeur trying to get as close as possible to curbs to easy FDR's exit and entry.

Gerd,

You've brought this thread 'back to life' so to speak.

Because of that I'll now unleash an unproven Packard connection with General Douglas MacArthur. Seems that when MacArthur was in Australia after leaving the Philippines a car was "requisitioned" for him and is believed to be a '37 Packard Super 8. It's also thought to be the '37 Super 8 that Harvey, the guy who woodgrained my dash, now owns. Trouble is it's history can't be tracked or verified during that time. But it's original bail radiator cap does bear the scars of having had an attachment to it for mounting a pennant or flag. The Super 8 has also been restored and any military markings it may have had cannot now be found. My understanding is that there is also reference to this car in an authorative local publication but nothing specific enough to positively identify the Super 8 as having been used by MacArthur.

And another lesser connection to the US military, also unsubstantiated, is my '38 Eight. Story goes it was a Hire Car in Melbourne, was "commandeered" by the US military early in WW2 and used on a fortnightly mail run from Melbourne or Adelaide to Darwin. Decent roads were mostly non-existent and sometimes conditions necessitated driving on railroad tracks, dry creek beds, through scrub and bush. The round trip from Adelaide was about 3,600 miles and from Melbourne about 4,500 miles. Blew an engine on one trip which was replaced with a '37 engine in Darwin. And the gears in the transmission were very worn tending to be "knife edged" when restored about 20 years ago.

A couple of interesting anecdotes which if substantiated would make the history of either Packard just a little more "special".

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That 37 Packard (12?) with the vintage body style on the Life Magazine cover looks very familiar, I believe it was for years in a museum down in Tennessee or Arkansas. If it's the same car it was owned by some wealthy family who so loved their late teens or early twenties Pierce Arrow that they had the body remounted on the Packard chassis. At the time I saw the car (maybe 30 years ago) it was a very dark maroon. Given some time I may recall the name of the owner when new, or perhaps the name of the museum.

Somewhere I have an old Kodachrome transparency of it, perhaps I'll be able to find it.

UPDATE: Found the slide, I'll have a print made and posted tomorrow. Must be the same car (how many could there be like that?). Slide is marked "37 Packard with 1917 Pierce Body, Petit Jean Mountain Museum, June 1970".

That is one strange hood ornament also. Looks like a Pierce Arrow archer holding an open umbrella or satellite dish? I looked up the Petit Jean car museum and no Packards listed so I guess they no longer have it. A very unusual Packard for sure.

While I wait for the slide conversion on the Petit Jean museum car, here's another photo from many years back; another case of older coachwork being installed on a current chassis, a more common practice in England with RR than here. I believe this was a former Barbara Hutton car, I forget the details on the origins of the body but mounted on a 1935 Packard Twelve chassis. That may be the rear of my 34 sedan over the headlight. I've looked at this picture a number of times and only this time noted the wings are missing from the cormorant. Hope you enjoy this one. As the car survived into the beginnings of the collector era perhaps it's still with us, West may have further information and if not certainly Jim Pearsall does. If anyone has further interest, let me know and I'll get it.

EDIT: This photo is credited to Jim Pearsall, noted prewar Packard historian. Take about 1965 or 66 at a CCCA event in New Jersey. The body was by Brewster and removed from a Rolls P-I. And yes, it was a Hutton family car.

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Back for a moment to the link Gusha gave us to the Life Magazine cover with photo associated with Eisenhower's inauguration, I'll put up that picture (hopefully w/o copyright problems) and a closeup from my photo of a similar portion of what surely must be the same car taken at the Petit Jean Car Museum in Arkansas in 1970. As I remember the body was from a 1917 Pierce Arrow, but I'll probably have some more complete details in a few days.

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Dave,

Thanks for the pic's of the ex Barbara Hutton '35 and the '37 with the '17 Pierce Arrow body. The transplanted bodies from earlier era's certainly seem right at home mated with their Packards, in fact I'm quite taken with them. I did notice in your museum pic that the Pierce bodied car has a Cormorant in lieu of the Archer in the Life pic. Also notice in your pic it still has small cowl lights.

Isn't the 35-12 Hutton car pictured on the old Packard classic era poster in brewster green? just asking from memory...

As promised earlier, here's the full-image picture of the 1937 Twelve fitted with early (1917?) Pierce Arrow coachwork. Photo 1970 at the Petit Jean Mtn Museum by the author.

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