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Leeedy

A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Since many Packard fans are presently cooped up doing social distancing at home, I thought I would break out an image from my files to share with you.

This photo was taken in the early 1970s in Southern California. You can tell a little about the time period from the cars in the background.

I can tell you more about the occasion later. But for now, I'll let you take a look and see what you can find here.

Also, an important thing about this particular Panther with the 1955 cathedral tail lights-and its sibling bronze and black car: these two cars are NOT "Panther-Daytonas"... no matter how many times this is stated. NOT Panther-Daytonas. Just Panthers.

As indicated in the book, "Creative Industries of Detroit- The Untold Story of Detroit's Secret Concept Car Builder" there were two distinct flavors of Packard Panther. The first two Panthers were rechristened "Panther-Daytona" because of the record-setting speed run made in Panther #2 at Daytona Beach, Florida. Those two cars had 1954 Clipper tail lights and superchargers. As Panther-Daytonas they were both painted a bright orangish-red hue.

The second two Panthers (and that makes a total of four, folks) absolutely did not have the features of Clipper tail lights (at least not more that a hot minute) and never had superchargers and were never known as "Panther-Daytona" and never said so on either car. This despite every mention of these cars claims they are "Panther-Daytona"... no way. No how.

The Panther shown here belonged to Creative Industries of Detroit... and later, over the years, a string of other owners. I knew it personally from new and I had friends who actually worked on building the Panthers, including this one. The General Manager of Creative Industries, Rex Terry, who was a friend, drove this car around Detroit in the 1950s and I saw it many, many times.

By the way, I drove Panther #2 years ago and rode in the Panther you see pictured here. And for you fans of Detroit's famous Woodward Avenue, this Panther was often seen at TWO locations on that wondrous street of cars:
1.) The Totem Pole Drive-In restaurant
2.) The Brass Rail Bar & Grill

The lines of this car were repeated on the De Soto Flightsweep cars (and Virgil Exner is praised for that design by those who never looked at-or don't want to see-the similarities). Of course, there are those who seem offended when this fact is pointed out. Richard Teague kept a design office at Creative Industries and it was Richard who came up with this re-design of the original.

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Posted on: 2020/4/11 10:46

Packard Don

Re: A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Nice and being pulled by a Packard pickup!

Posted on: 2020/4/11 12:08

All generalities are false.

Don Pierson
Packard / IMPERIAL page
CA DMV Licensed Vehicle VIN Verification

1951 Henney-Packard 3-Door Long Wheelbase Air Force Ambulance
1954 Packard Patrician
1954 Packard Patrician Parts Car
1956 Clipper Custom Sedan

Leeedy

Re: A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Quote:

PackardDon wrote:
Nice and being pulled by a Packard pickup!

Ahhhh! You noticed!

And that pickup has been manually lowered in the rear for loading!

Posted on: 2020/4/11 12:58

ECAnthony

Re: A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Did "Doc" McKnight own that pickup? I saw that Panther around 1973 at his shop in Palms, Calif., before he moved to the desert.

Posted on: 2020/4/11 13:43

Leeedy

Re: A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Quote:

ECAnthony wrote:
Did "Doc" McKnight own that pickup? I saw that Panther around 1973 at his shop in Palms, Calif., before he moved to the desert.

Yes... the man once known as "The Packard Doctor", D.S. McKnight, owned this Packard pickup with torsion-level suspension. Yes, it was often seen at the shop in Palms. And later it was moved with the rest of the shop out to Mohave.

No idea what happened to the pickup after the owner evaporated.

In those days, a member of Earle C. Anthony PAC Region (Vic Erenberg) owned this Panther and it was occasionally serviced at the shop in the Palms area of Los Angeles. I got to see it fairly often.

Posted on: 2020/4/11 13:53

Let the ride decide

Re: A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Ok,
Leeedy or ECA,

Was the PU made from a Patrician, or a 400?

Did it use a Packard engine?

Twin Ultramatic, or standard overdrive?

Thank you for posting the interesting picture.

Posted on: 2020/4/11 14:20

Leeedy

Re: A Packard Panther on the Street...

Home away from home

Quote:

Let the ride decide wrote:
Ok,
Leeedy or ECA,

Was the PU made from a Patrician, or a 400?

Did it use a Packard engine?

Twin Ultramatic, or standard overdrive?

Thank you for posting the interesting picture.

Hello,

You are welcome. I have thousands of Packard photos I took back in the 1960s through 1980s or so. I even took a couple hundred in the Grand Blvd. Packard Plant when it was still pretty much in a piece and operating with small businesses. I was allowed to roam around in there pretty much at will. Even was given my own Packard ID badge-which I still have. At one point, the federal government also had an installation there.

And SoCal in the 1970s was a Packard Paradise! Tons of photos from back then. I kept Kodak and film developers in business! Even Polaroid.

The Packard Doctor pickup was made (as I recall) from a Four Hundred. And yes, of course it had a Packard V-8 in it. The transmission varied. This is one of the fellows who taught me how to rebuild Ultramatics way back then. So he wasn't afraid of Ultramatics and didn't run them down all the time as some did. He rebuilt LOTS of them. And they worked.

I do recall at one point the pickup had an Ultramatic. But another time when I saw it there was what we used to call a "stick and over" installed (manual transmission with overdrive).

Posted on: 2020/4/11 15:29

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