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

I was surfing the web for a Packard desktop wallpaper when I came across the following site...

oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Packard/1940.html

On that page is a picture of a 1941 Packard 160 station wagon.

Do any of these exist? I hope so, because it's one of the most beautiful woodies I've ever seen!

The pic on this site almost looks like a Packard ad or promo, though, so that's why I made this post.

Packard didn't offer a station wagon on the 160 chassis; there is a green 160 woodie from the Connecticut area that's been around for years and photographed and written about in various publications. I don't recall the details but it's not a factory-original car, though bodied in the factory style. I believe the one you're refering to is a custom-bodied shooting brake bodied in England or the Continent on a 160 chassis and yes, it or one very much like it may still exist somewhere. I don't recall just where I've seen the photographs, perhaps an old issue of "The Packard Cormorant".

EDIT: Correction, the green 160 station wagon that I recalled is a 1940 and was written up in the Spring 1975 issue of TPC.

I didn't think they offered a wagon on that chassis either, but the picture on that website is absolutely gorgeous. Another custom-bodied chassis, perhaps?

Does the green Connecticut car resemble this one, or is it a more 'conventional' woody?






This is the image I'm referring to...

The green car is conventional. I saw the red car at the 100th anniversary meet in Warren in 1999. It's one of those cars that stops you in your tracks. It was gorgeous!

I apologize for remembering that the British-bodied shooting brake that I referenced above was of the 1941 vintage. I have found the photo of it in The Packard Cormorant, Volume 90. The car apparently was originally a 1934 1101 coupe (717) bought from UK concessionaire Leonard Williams though records of who did the coachwork were apparently lost during the war. There is a lovely little story about the car in that volume.

I also enjoy some of the earlier station wagons and will show two others, the first a 1934 that was shown at the Warren Centennial and then bought by a New Jersey collector and thankfully repainted (it was a sickly green at Warren) in the course of a meticulous restoration. I knew this car since my adolescence, it was local to me in Englewood, New Jersey owned by Paul Lamb at that time. Of course it was not a factory offering, the bodywork is by Bridgeport but I forget if the chassis is an 1100 or 1101; one story I've heard is that it was converted from an 1100 sedan, another that is was on a purchased 1101 chassis. Easy enough to determine by measuring the wheelbase, I've just not had the occasion to do so.

The last photo I have to apologize for as well, as it is not Packard but a 1934 Piece Arrow 8 bodied by Cantrell. Photo by this writer at Steve Babinsky's shop in New Jersey.

Hope you enjoy these.

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MIDon
That's a beautiful website that John Macdonald has set up there. I found that when I was first looking at Packards last year. I think he is just an avid classic car lover with web space to spare.

He is not as innovative as our own BigKev, however.

DanL

Flattery will get you everywhere!

Owen
The correct term for station wagons is "break." As researched by a curator from the Smithsonian's division of transportation, the term came from the "skeleton carts" that were used to exercise and break horses, instead of training them on the expensive carriages.
Sometimes horses, while being broken, kicked the hell out of the training vehicle, thus the skeleton chassis. As it evolved, makeshift coachwork was used. Later, "breaks" were used for hunting parties and picnics, carrying dogs, food and ammunition under the seats... thus, "shooting break."
You will, of course, now find "brake" in the dictionary as "n. a break (carriage)." But break is also listed as "n. a large, four-wheeled carriage for six or more passengers: also spelled brake."
I tend to use first spellings. I also tend to misspell a lot of words...

There are many words in the dictionary that were added because they've been used incorrectly for a long time.
George Hamlin wrote a great piece for the Packard Cormorant a few years ago on this.

Thanks for the correction and clarification, West, it's a dull day that you don't learn something new.

You're welcome. It will be an extremely rare article where you actually see it spelled correctly.