superior1980

Surfing the internet discovered photos on Flickr of a 1942 civilian Packard ambulance that apparently was at a car show in California in 2012. The photo album is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmentd1/albums/72157629909167707 Specifically, these two photos might be of interest: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmentd1/7117706683/in/album-72157629909167707/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmentd1/6971627756/in/album-72157629909167707/

If you noticed, I had said that was a photo taken as found, not as it exists today. My point was with the current, and in my opinion, overblown, importance placed on patina, barn finds, all originals, I could have done nothing to the ambulance, saved A LOT of money, displayed it as-is while bragging about the patina and its originality, and then just watched it continue to deteriorate. But hey, look at that patina, and its all original! And all the rotted wood body framing pieces that were on the floor whenever the car got moved were also all original.

I think it looks awful. For starters, rust isn't shiny, so it looks wrong even for what its supposed to be. I completely fail to understand the desire to want your car to look like a junker. I personally think the patina, barn find, all original stuff has gotten way out of hand. To my eye, patina, barn find, all original only counts if its still presentable. If it looks like a wreck, then it needs to be restored. I'm attaching a photo of my 1942 Packard ambulance as found. I am currently almost six-figures into having it professionally restored. I suppose I should have ignored the rust, missing parts, rotted wood framing, and all around neglect so that I could proudly have it shake itself to pieces every time it got transported to a show just so I could brag about it being all original.

I have a story that I was refraining from telling because I wanted to keep the thread clean, but since its deviated, I'll follow suit. I have a collection of vintage hearses and one of the most common and most annoying questions I get is "have you ever had sex in the back?" After finally hearing this one too many times, I figured that a stupid question deserves a stupid answer, and I replied with "That depends. Do you mean with living people?"

I can think of several stories, but one that comes to mind right now involves my 1985 Packard-Bayliff. What's a Packard-Bayliff? There was a company during the 1980s called the Bayliff Coach Corporation that was customizing new GM products into his idea of what a modern Packard might have looked like. Anyway, my car started out as a Buick Riviera, and they turned it into a four-door car by stretching it behind the firewall and adding the front doors from a Cadillac Seville. Underneath all the customizations, the car retains its Buick VIN tag and is titled and licensed as a Buick. So when I bought the car, the power rear view mirrors weren't working, so I went to my local Cadillac dealer. I pulled into the service center and a nicely dressed serviceman in white button down shirt and tie comes over with his clipboard and starts writing down the car information. Then he asked what the problem was and I told him the mirrors weren't working. We go over to his computer and he tells me the VIN comes back as being a Buick Riviera. I said yes, but the front doors are off a Cadillac Seville, and gave a brief story of the car. He just looks at me with a blank stare and repeats that the VIN comes back as being a Buick Riviera. And again I try to explain that yes, I know, but the part he needs to deal with is from a Cadillac. He clearly didn't get it, and said, "Let me call over the service tech who will be working on your car so you can explain it to him." So the tech comes over from the car he had been working on and asks what the problem is. I said my power mirrors don't work and they're from a Cadillac Seville. He looks at both of us and says, "Okay, so what did you call me over for?" And I replied, "Because the suit couldn't think beyond his computer screen." Another one from when I was a bus driver. One day my regularly assigned bus was down for maintenance, so I was assigned to a substitute bus and the dispatcher gave me a key. I went to the bus and the key wouldn't work. Fiddled with it a few times and still wouldn't work. I then took the key out and looked at, and realized that the key had a Ford oval on the head but a Chevy bowtie was on the steering wheel. So I go back to the dispatcher and said you gave me the wrong key. She looks at me puzzled and said, "No, that's a bus key." I replied, "Yes, but this is a Ford key and the bus is on a Chevy chassis." She just goes, "Um, um, go talk to the mechanics, maybe they can figure it out." So I go to the head mechanic and explain that the dispatcher doesn't understand the difference between a Ford and a Chevy and so I was told that I need to borrow his key for the day. This one happened just last week. I currently have two cars at a restoration shop. One is a Packard, and one is a 1981 Chrysler Imperial. I found a local Chrysler dealer that still had Imperial trim pieces in stock, so I went and bought them. I told my mom how happy and surprised I was to be able to find NOS pieces still at a dealer, and she innocently asked which car they were for. With a straight face I just replied, "They're for the Imperial. I couldn't find the Packard dealer."

I wouldn't think that the car still being legal in 1938 is that hard to believe. That's only 20 years. My 1987 Lincoln Towncar is the newest car I own and is my daily driver. That's 31 years and still counting!

I suppose some people choose to spend their money having kids, and some choose to spend their money on toys for themselves.

Broadway is still in business as I looked into them as a possible solution to my title issue, but I decided not to go with them. Their own website has the disclaimer that they are no longer able to do titles for Alaska, Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Implies to me that some states think there's something fishy, and I also noticed that their website now lists them as having a Maine address. In any case, their fee was in the neighborhood of $1000, which I thought was just obscene.

I am no expert on this subject, but I am currently dealing with my own title situation and can tell you what I've done. In my case, I bought a car in November where the out of state owner mailed me the title and bill of sale. What he didn't tell me was that the title was still in the name of the person that he had bought the car from, he signed the back as the new owner, but never put it through for transferring into his name. The result was there was no place for me to sign the title and my state wouldn't recognize it. An internet search brought this company to my attention http://www.titlerecovery.com/index.html . I decided to give it a shot and just this morning in my email inbox, I received notice that my application was approved and my registration and license plates were on their way to me. In my case, the company charged me $158 for their services, and my registration and plates are coming from Vermont. I do not live in Vermont, but checking the Vermont DMV website, Vermont doesn't require you to be a resident or have a Vermont drivers license in order to register a car there. They are also a no title state for cars over 15 years old; your registration is your proof of ownership. Vermont did charge me $510 in sales tax, but of course that amount is based on either what you paid for the car, or what the current NADA value is, whichever is higher. I figure I'll keep the car registered in Vermont until the registration gets close to expiring, then as the now-recognized owner of the car, transfer it into my home state. I think what saved me was at least having a bill of sale, but even if you don't have that, you may want to at least contact them and see what they have to say. For me, the process lasted about two months and took place entirely via online, the telephone, and the US mail.

I believe the company was Century Coach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They also did Oldsmobiles in this same manner. Something like ten years ago, one of the Oldsmobile versions appeared on a used car lot in the city of Elgin, Illinois, and I stopped and looked at it simply because the uniqueness attracted me, but I couldn't stomach the ugliness. Someone did buy it though, because for about a year afterwards, it was sitting in a residential driveway near Naperville, Illinois, but has since disappeared.

Thank you for the information. I shall give that a try!

Please let us know if the part works. I need the same thing for my 1977 Mercury, and have been looking without success trying to find a good one off a junkyard car. By the way, given the age of your car, Lincoln dealers are useless. I used to work on a friend's 1979 Mark V and tried my local Lincoln dealer at first as a parts source. The dealer told me that Lincoln trashed all their parts records from 1979 and earlier, meaning that the dealer can't even look up a part unless its from 1980 or newer.

I think you were just a victim of a show run by jerks, nothing more than that. I have a collection of vintage hearses and I've encountered more than my fair share of car show jerks myself, ranging from your basic cold shoulder to outright being asked to leave. I don't think there was an objection to your camper, rather I think that anything out of the ordinary confuses some people to the point that jerk mode sets in. Personally, I love it when I come across a vintage camper or vintage boat behind a similar vintage tow vehicle, and it happens so infrequently that I doubt there's any need for concerns about them overrunning car shows.

I would suggest contacting Bruce Biancalana at cadambrus2@yahoo.com. Bruce lives near Rockford, Illinois and has a collection of 60s and 70s era Chicago Police Department cars. Bruce could also put you in touch with friends of his who have even more police cars. Among them is Dave Weaver, who I'm sure Bruce could put you in touch with. Dave has a superb Chicago Fire Department chief's car from the mid 1970s.

I can look at Halloween cars any day of the year, just by walking out to my garage and seeing my collection of hearses. This is the only time of year I get invited anywhere, and I know its not me that they're inviting, its the car. But my hearses spend Halloween safely locked up inside. I don't need them sitting outside being targets for misguided ideas of "fun", especially after my Packard coach got egged one year.