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I recently received my Hemmings Classic Car magazine(my favorite), and read an interesting bit of trivia. Henry Ford,Harvey Firestone & Thomas Edison used to go on camping trips. Some of those trips were taken in a Packard. They had a photo of them sitting in it.

Also, The last car Henry Ford ever rode in was a Packard....Hearse. Henry's last ride was in his funeral procession in a Packard.

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Guscha,

Great story about the man Henry Ford, thanks for that.

Guscha-

Thats a great story. I respected Ford for alot that he did. I would love to have been on some of the camping trips with Henry, Thomas Edison, & Harvey Firestone. Also, I understand President Warren Harding would accompany them sometimes. Could you imagine some of those conversations?

Here is a story from Time magazine Apr. 21, 1947 talking about him riding in the Packard Hearse:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853084-1,00.html

"All day, the day before, the body of Henry Ford had lain in state in the lobby of the recreation building at Greenfield Village, while 105,000 people had filed past. Now, inside St. Paul's, the Very Reverend Kirk B. O'Ferrall read the service. The crowd filed out and a Packard hearse carried the body of Henry Ford out along Joy Road to the small family cemetery beside a four-lane highway. Henry Ford had never ridden comfortably in any car but one of his own make; he wouldn't have liked it."

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The story around Detroit was that the Ford family and the FoMoCo folk looked high and low for a Lincoln hearse nearby, there was not one to be had, as Packard and Cadillac had the majority of that business. At one point they gave up and said, "well, a Packard will have to do, we won't have a Cadillac"

Ford and Packard always had a sort of mutual respect for each other, many people who lost their jobs at Packard were welcomed at Ford, a memo was sent out instructing managers to hire any ex-Packard employees looking for work.

We had a great old time Packard mechanic here that hated Henry Ford with a passion. This guy was a second generation Packard mechanic since 1929. Anyway, one day while over at his house while he was working on my Packard, the subject of Henry going to his grave in a Packard came up. He stated that it was the only good thing "the miserable old ---tard ever did in his life. I just shut up, I wanted him to finish working on my 55 400. He also said a Ford was made to work on, "with a damn hammer". This great mechanic has long since passed away but his hatred of Ford is still remembered. Personally, I believe Ford and Packard probably co existed quite well. Remember the ad Ford took out congratulating Packard on their golden anniversy.

If you are referring to Ford's antisemitism it is only fair to point out that he did not hold such a position for very long. In 1927 he repudiated his former views and even burned a valuable library of antisemitic books. This in spite of the fact that Jewish scholars argued that they ought to be preserved.

It may be fair to criticize Ford for his antisemitism but it is also fair to give him credit for NOT being an antisemite the last 20 years of his life. I don't believe there is any sign of antisemitism in the first 50 years either.

I don't particularly like Ford or his cars, both are over rated in my opinion. But fair is fair.

I was not refering to antisemitism. This mechanic just did not like Ford products or the man who invented them. In 1975 this mechanic tore apart his Rambler transmission for repair. He got very upset when he cleaned one of the castings and saw the fomoco logo. He went on an on how no one cared anymore what they put in automobiles. I then pointed out to him that the transmission had 268,000 miles on it and the casting he had cleaned was just fine. He just grumbled.