Packard Forum Index » General

That Packard Taxi story certainly blows a lot of bubbles. I remember pulling postwar Packards out of garages that burned valves at 45,000 and whose owners just let them sit broken in the garage until they died.

The car in the picture is definitely a Taxi model.

People I knew who owned Packards after the war had little of charity to say about them. Although Charlie Clancy's pop did manage to get 90,000 out of a 55 Patrician he bought new.

I knew somebody who was an AG Vet and got special gas ration allowances as well as a new car immediately after the war. He drove Ponitacs 100,000 miles per year and sold them to used car lots who spruced up the mechanicals and sold them as year old used. The first car he got after the war did have a lot of workmanship issues. However, those Pontiacs didn't let him down in the middle of the night when going to take care of sick livestock.

That poor family and those cars being wholly out classed by the likes of Terraplane is the saddest story I've read. Too bad he couldn't get Plymouths instead.

If the FWD car is from the Harrah collection in Reno, Nevada, I have some photos of it somewhere taken in the '70s along with one of the placard attributing its design to Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky.

Sounds like the one, Don. My understanding is that there was only one fully running car with the Count's specially designed body. Would love to see any pics you could share.

Wish they would have put the traditional ox yoke grill on the car. Maybe they didn't want anyone to recognize it as a Packard when they were out testing away from the proving grounds.

To my knowledge the 1932 FWD prototype has been owned by Bob Bahre of Paris, ME since before the 1999 Packard centennial. It was at the Centennial and shown by Mr. Bahre. Was it at Harrah's before that?

I can't speak for who owned it in 1999 but it was definitely at Harrah's in the '70s and I recall it specifically due to its non-Packard grill and lack of other Packard nomenclature. It was roped off so I was unable to see inside but I seem to recall that there were mirrors underneath showing the driveline. I've moved several times since then, though, including just recently so photos are still packed somewhere but if I can find them, I'll post in a new thread.

I am nit convinced the car in post #115 is a taxi model. The wheel beauty rings, roof mounted radio antenna, the lack of a roof light, and no taxi markings lead me to believe that it is a six cylinder Clipper passenger car. The 1947 taxis were built with many heavy duty features like springs, brakes, clutch, generator, regulator, rear end, six ply tires, and smaller turning radius than the Clipper passenger cars. If it is a taxi he must be going to pick up a hunting party in the woods. Ask the man who owns one. lol Packardtaximan

Here it is at Pebble Beach in 2008 (I think). I walked past it the first time not realizing it was the prototype front wheel drive V-12. Nothing Packard looking in the styling.

Quote:

Attach file:

---

  (209.77 KB)


  (292.96 KB)


  (249.21 KB)


  (234.42 KB)

Packard's soon-to-come streamlining applied to this car's proportions would have made for something fairly mind-boggling.

This just appeared on the Hemmings Daily Blog in their Car-Spotter series, its San Francisco, Ellis and Taylor Streets, March 1958. Pretty yellow and white '55 Patrician, the 22nd Series Eight at the Chevron station looks tired.

Steve

Attach file:

---

  (138.47 KB)

I'm willing to put up a cash wager as to the Clipper story being an actual taxi model.

Taxi models weren't anything special. They might have a few up fitted parts from heavier cars, but there were no specially formulated steels being used. That would drive costs up and fleet sales down.

Too bad that story didn't go into greater detail as to the service problems. Rotten in service percentages hit the operator three ways. Lost revenue, bank loan payments on out of service equipment, and payroll overhead to retain qualified drivers.

I'll bet the parts department was taking very poor care of the guy and the transmissions were falling out of those cars. GM, Ford, and Chrysler were using transmissions specifically designed for a column shift (read side loader) whereas Packard stuck with it's mickey mouse floor shift conversion.

The location of that picture does present a lot of questions and was likely a unique situation warranting a photo.

Attached is a period photo of a taxi fake being used in a movie. Probably an employee's car made up for the scene.

Attach file:

---

  (40.63 KB)