If you are planning to make some videos, feel free to message me about it. I've been making YouTube videos for years and have around 250k combined views, so I know a bit about it and it would be cool to maybe do some sort of collaboration, if you would want. Or if you just have any questions about filming, editing, uploading, recording commentary...
Unrelated but IIRC BigKev and Ross were thinking about doing some collaboration at Ross's shop. BigKev already has a channel with a lot of woodworking here. So it may be worth seeing what they think.
Thank you for that information. I always enjoy the knowledge you bring to light. Given your passion for Packards, why dont you make some videos to post on Youtube for the masses to be educated on the matter of Packards?
Videos are the new media people are using to share information. So why not set the record straight on some common misconceptions with Packards so there can be a greater appreciation for the vehicles?
Hello,
That's Leeedy (with 3 e's). You are most welcome.
Yes, I know about YouTube. I just neither have the time nor the energy to ramp up for doing videos on YouTube. I gave up regular work when I retired. During my career in the auto industry I worked for an extended period putting in 10-15 hour days 6-7 days a week. And tons of travel. Did this for a lot of years. And I am a Vietnam combat veteran... I won't tell you what those years in the jungle were like. And before any of this, I was appearing on stage in professional music performances at places like the Fox Theater and Latin Quarter in Detroit starting at age 9. So while I still have a lot of projects going today, I'm ready for less work, not more.
As for videos being new to me... nope. I was writing scripts for corporate videos in the 1970s. I did one seen by many thousands of people (beginning at the Long Beach, California Convention Center). It was for the bicycle industry and was entitled "Pedaler's Progress." I wrote and copyrighted the script and provided ALL of the visuals. Participated in the editing. It was seen coast to coast. Long before the widespread access to the Intrnet as people know it today.
I also studied for several years under famous actor, Gordon Jump (WKRP in Cincinnati) in voice, acting, video and more. Yes, I have certificates. I have appeared in numerous commercials, in movies, radio and TV (NBC, ABC, CBS, CBC, HBO and more).
So I know how to write, edit, narrate and appear in videos. Just don't have a desire to do them.
And I have learned the hard way over many many years. One thing I've never been able to do is stop automotive myths. Videos or no videos. People are just going to persist with myths. And that's that.
To my amazement, there are still people around today who believe that Chrysler Gas Turbines (I wrote the first full history of the program in the 1970s for Hemmings) melted pavement and other things. Absurd.
I was at Amelia Island this year (this year, yes, bless their hearts too) and the announcer pipes up during the big awards, "...and here's a 1956 Packard Caribbean... you know they had that air bag suspension and those heavy front ends..." And then somebody there topped it all off by claiming the Caribbean had "Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels." Wow. Of course the Caribbean rolled out past the review stand with its rear end hiked up in the air (probably from maladjusted or malfunctioning Torsion-Level). I cringed. Wow again. Need I say for the umpteenth jillion time that Caribbeans did NOT have airbag suspension? Nor were they supposed to be sitting hiked up in the rear (there's another one on eBay right now with the rear hiked up)? Nor was the 1956 Caribbean inordinately "heavy in the front"? Nor was there "lead in the hood"? Nor were the wire wheels made by "Kelsey-Hayes"? How many years has all this been going on? And how long has it been with me trying to set these records straight to no avail?
Even almighty Motor Trend magazine claimed in the 1970s (when they surely should have known better) that the 1955 Howard Hughes/Jean Peters Caribbean had "air bag suspension"... OMG!!! Look up the article. I corrected them and they just got angry and ignored the corrections. And auction companies have repeated the "air bag" story countless times. And ohhhhh, whoa be unto you if you correct the almighty auction companies! Their word is GOSPEL– right? Where does all this silliness come from and why does it persist? Why are accurate corrections considered insulting and then ignored? Why is it acceptable for some people to make up and say anything they please (often with folks jumping to defend this stuff), but correcting these fantasies draws out venomous reactions?
Want more Packard myths? Here's a great place to start. Look up just about any "history" of Earle C. Anthony's original Packard neon sign! Look at the silliness on internet sites and in "museums." Compare the many locations it supposedly had (none listed are true) or what Mr. Anthony originally paid for the sign (do the math). Or the pictures of the sign supposedly taken in 1923 (but showing a building that was not built until 1929). Or how many signs Mr. Anthony originally bought (NONE of the numbers you'll see on the internet and magazines are accurate). And on and on. After all these years, people are still lined up to argue about this topic. And people are still making up absurd stories about it– some that even get published by major magazines and big newspapers!
Look up articles on Packard Pan American in just about any magazine, anywhere– except for Packard Club's "The Packard Cormorant" magazine. One big magazine plopped a photo of a second-series Pan American on the cover and boldly claimed it was the first one built! Wow. Not even close. Then ignored a correction with explanation. They were dead wrong, but nobody else knew it. So?
Look up articles on the Packard Panthers– take your pick (except for "The Packard Cormorant" magazine). Evvvvvvverybody's got a silly story about Panthers. And don't I dare correct them! Only problem is... I actually knew people who worked on making the Panthers at Creative Industries of Detroit– back when the cars were new. But what could I possibly know, huh?
Look up the "Wiki" write-up "history" of the Packard Request that claims this one-off concept was actually a failed series... that supposedly several of these were made and "left sitting on showroom floors" (they actually said this) when rejected by the public that supposedly refused to buy them. Well.
The facts don't matter. People choose who and what they want to believe and who they want to recognize– as evidenced right here in this thread!
Packard made video presentations back in the day. Some, like the demonstration of Packard Torsion-Level suspension are actually on YouTube today. But has that stopped anything? Does what Packard said count more that what somebody says at an auction, or car show or in a magazine today? No.
By the way, I still have an unsold feature-length movie that I wrote years ago. Now, that is something I would consider doing!
