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I found a good interview that Gordon Buehrig did as part of an oral automotive history project. He mentions his time with packard, and briggs that was making Packard doors. Its a good read.

http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Design/Buehrig_interview.htm

"They called us the "Country Club Group". I remember one time we were experimenting with a convertible, and so we had a Packard convertible, and we had a Mercedes convertible, and we'd go to the Dearborn Inn for lunch, and we'd ride over with the top down. Well, evidently some jealous people high up in the company were worried that we were having too much fun at our work, and so the ruling came through that we could never go over to the Dearborn Inn anymore with the top down because it looked like we were enjoying our work too much. And, you know;"

"See, the way the custom body busi? ness worked was that a company would buy--and in our case maybe ten bodies; in the case of Packard, a hundred bodies--and those bodies would be stored at the body builder. Then, the salesman, in Denver or Chicago or whatever, would get an order for that car and would get the customer to select colors and interior trim. The bodies were always completed and stored in a prime coat of paint and muslin-covered upholstery. So, when the order would come in, they would send a chassis to the body com?pany. The body company then would take a body out of storage and paint it and trim it to the customers specifications and deck it on the chassis, and a custom body could be available by that manner in about a month's time, and that was the real backbone of the custom body busi?ness."

It's the kind of information you only get from people who were there.

Thanks for posting these, Don, particularly the Buehrig interview, the first hand personal accounts are fascinating. Interestingly enough I see in their collection they managed to get some time from Darrin but I did not see anything from Ray Dietrich, who I believe lived some time past the Classic era.

Great reading none-the-less.

Thanks!

I found them very interesting. It seems to me that there was alot of "cross pollination" going on amongst the designers. They were all pretty friendly, and knew eachother fairly well. I sure there were rivalries, but reading their interviews helps to understand the feel of the times in the design studios. I liked the Walker interviews as well because I love Fords also.

Thanks for posting the great interviews from that web site. I have booked marked that site on my computer.

Ray Dietrich was born in 1894 and died in 1980.

John F. Shireman

Check out this site to learn more about the great designers and the custom body companies of the Classic Era:

http://www.coachbuilt.com/

He mentions his time with packard, and briggs that was making Packard doors.

I wonder what era he was speaking of, and if his memory wasn't failing a bit. Briggs made more than doors, they made the entire body between 1941 and 1954. It was Budd who made the doors in the beginning of the 120 production. I don't know for how long Budd continued in the picture. There was a really good picture posted on this site some months back of a rusting hulk of an early 120, an alleged Capone car, where the Budd trademark was quite clear on an inner door stamping.

Or is my memory failing too?

No Owen, your memory is great. I screwed up and had to re read the interview. It's a good thing I don't write history books...

The Blackhawk Automotive Museum in Danville, California had some video kiosks on the main display floor that played interviews with many notable automobile designers. It was a great chance to see and hear them describe their work and the companies for whom they worked. I don't know if the kiosks are still there, but if so anyone visiting the museum should sit and listen to these men talk. Great stuff.