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Yes, the first time I'd heard of a Fifth Wheel was in 1965 when I was pulled over by the CHP for doing over 75 mph in a 65 mph zone on the Bayshore Freeway. My Packard was already 25 years old, so when I told the officer the speedometer might be off, he didn't give me a ticket, I was just a dumb kid, and told me to have it checked with a 5th Wheel so I would know next time how much I might be exceeding the speed limit...which I know you won't do.

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...And Packard was still doing it with 1956 pilot production cars (this one appeared to be painted in a 1955 color) at the Packard Proving Ground!

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For Schwinn bicycle fans and your holiday reading... how about a 1921 Schwinn-Built PACKARD bicycle?

This is just one of thousands of brand names that appeared on Schwinn-Built bicycles. SOME of these brand names were from a factory inventory of brand names (such as listed on this original 1921 literature) and others (most) were not.

In this case, "PACKARD" was a brand name in the Arnold, Schwinn & Co. inventory of brands. This does not mean that ALL Packard bicycles were Schwinn-Built because -as we have said many times-they were not.

There was not just one design of Schwinn-Built "Packard" branded bicycles, but rather, many. And over many years...

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Slogan sound familiar??? Another use of the famous Packard Motor Car Company slogan in the bicycle world of the 1930s shows how the bicycle industry revered PMCC and the Packard mystique.

People in the bicycle "hobby" will tell you this stand was only for an Elgin brand bicycle, but that's not true. While it came standard on the fabulous 1937 and 1938 Elgin Bluebirds and some other Elgins, it was sold as an accessory for any bicycle. This was during the era when most bicycles had stands that pivoted from the rear and were clumsy to park and to retract.

The bicycle shown here is an Iver Johnson-which was a first-class bicycle and rather expensive (I have both a boy's and girl's mint original Deluxe "Mobike" with tank, headlight, horn. etc. along with other Iver Johnsons and almost all of the company's bicycle catalogues going back to the 1800s). Iver Johnson also made guns and motorcycles. This is an original photo from the late 1930s courtesy of NBHAA.com.

What did "B.C." stand for? Barry Cohen.

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Ever heard of Packard tires for bicycles and cars?

I'm betting that most of you didn't know they made these for automobiles and bicycles! But here ya go...

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And... for your further viewing pleasure... an early oval-style "PACKARD" bicycle headbadge. This one was from Arnold, Schwinn & Co. and would have been fitted on the Schwinn-Built bicycle I showed you earlier from 1921... but not only that year, of course!

Compare this one to the much later shield-type headbadges for Arnold, Schwinn & Co. that I posted earlier in this thread...

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Hello Leeedy

Very interesting, as usual.

This is the first I heard of somebody else "appropriating" any of Packard's trade names (other than the name "Packard" itself). That may just be my ignorance. Did anybody else pick up things like "Torsion Level"?

I guess Packard turned a blind eye to this. Maybe even saw it as a back-handed compliment.

Cheers

Brian

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Hello Brian,

Thanks for your interest. Missed your question earlier. I was on a Packard trip.

NOW. Are you ready for this one? There were several instances where Packard terms and names and even slogans were used in other arenas. If you read back through this thread, I've included a few in the bicycle industry.

Now... coincidental to your mention of "Torsion Level" there were at least two instances in the bicycle industry where this almost happened (in fact did in a prototype). I can't post a photo of this one (even though I have photos of one experimental version). One version had adjustable ride firmness on the suspension. Another version of a bicycle designed by a famous car designer had self-leveling full suspension. Yes. They made ONE (out of magnesium)... and it never got to production afterward. And the intended slogan? "Let The Ride Decide!" The bicycle company DID change this to another slogan for another version of a third suspension. This All happened in the 1950s... of course!

There were some pretty wild things being done with bicycles in the USA between the 1930s and 1960s... or what I call the era of the Classic Bicycle (versus "cruiser" or "bomber" or "thrasher" or any of the inglorious names they were being called up to that time).

I wrote about this in a bicycle book I tried to publish with a major automotive book publisher in 1981. They turned me down flat (I still have the rejection letter from 1982) and told me they had no intention of publishing a book on what I called "Classic Bicycles" (yes, I copyrighted the title and the term along with definition in 1977-these were published in a trade magazine). The book publisher reminded me that they were a CAR BOOK publisher and weren't interested in old bicycles. Today they are the largest publisher of books on vintage bicycles. You might even see a title similar to the one I submitted 40 years ago.

Nobody cared about vintage Classic-Era American-made bicycles back then. But they sure do now.

Anyway, I still have the manuscript that they clearly reviewed in 1982 (they never explained, asked permission, apologized, nor even MENTIONED me in their book of the same subject matter and nearly the same title). One of those things that makes me go... Hmmmmmmmm. And I still have the photos (including ones of the wildly styled magnesium bicycle with the suspension). Perhaps someday this stuff may yet get published-even if I'm not around to see it.