Why Did You Choose

[Guest]

What influenced you to own the model Packard you have now.

[Guest]

In the case of my 55, it just was available at the right price and at the right time. I wanted to get a Packard so I could attend the centennial event No old famiy ties or sentimental reasons just timing. Same on the other 2. As for Packard in general, I have always wanted one. There was somthing about the name that always intigued me.

[Guest]

I always like the cars from the late 20's to the mid 30's, the big gangster types, so when I saw my 36, 1404 club sedan advertise in the paper, I had to go look at it. When I was there I made an offer 3/4 of what the lady was asking, then an older men came to look at it, he started to pick the car apart, pointing out everything that needed to be fixed, it got the lady so "T" off that she took my offer, right after she told me "I can't let that SOB have my car." I really didn't know that much about Packard's, other then they were well built cars and I like the way it look. So you can say, it was the right car for the right price, and for me, it was being in the right place at the right time.

[Guest]

Interesting subject. For me, I have always just liked the looks of Packards, but the 1953 came about less than six months after we purchased the 1954 Kaiser Manhattan wherein I was watching some Rose Bowl parade or the like on the TV and they had not just one, but several Packards of the 1951-54 variety in the parade. I saw the grille and the shape and just admired it. Then within a week or two an ad shows up in the local paper for this 1953 Packard. We went to look at it, negotiated a price down about half from that advertised and drove it home, leaking transmission, fading brakes, and all. Then we restored it over the next couple of years.

[Guest]

Now the '55 is a different story. I have always liked the '55-56 Packards for as long as I can remember. Just always thought those models and the 1956 Lincolns were the prettiest cars ever made. Still stick with that even with owning the awesome '54 Kaisers.<BR>But the 1955 Patrician came to us by fate I guess. We were on our way in the '53 Clipper to a car show about 120 miles away when problems developed about 30 miles out. Turns out it was plugged fuel line from a poor lot of gas tank sealer, but as we were waiting for the rollback, this guy comes along and says if you are interested in another Packard, I have one up at my house about 10-15 miles from here..."I'm not sure what the model is but it is P something." Well, we took down his name and number and in about 2 weeks drove over and looked. I spotted the big bright yellow Packard from the little traveled 2-lane road approaching the house and said that's a 1955 4-door so must be a Patrician. Seems the car had just been hauled back from Texas along with a 1937 Buick, that was actually in better shape. The only history on the car was that it was found outside a barn and restoration had started some time ago but never co0mpleted and the history just lost. No papers came with the car other than a slightly damp service manual. We pondered for a couple more weeks, then went over and negotiated a price and had the roll back go over and get the car soon thereafter. The car obvioiusly had been sitting outside for awhile and the right back side in some creekbed or the like as we removed a gallon jug's worth of little rocks and pebbles from the undercarriage and the right back brake system was rusted locked up. But after a several years now, a good paint job is really all that is lacking.

[Guest]

Hello to the List:<P>I bought my 1939 Super 8, unrestored and running from <A HREF="http://www.pipecreektrading.com" TARGET=_blank>www.pipecreektrading.com</A> <P>In a showroom full of beautiful vintage cars it had presence. Would I do it again, absolutely, but now I probably would only consider Packards. Wherever I take this car, or vice, versa, wherever it takes me, I get very favourable comments, such as grand daddy had one, etc, etc.<P>Expensive to maintain, yes, but to me, worth it.<P>Rgds,<P>Paul Edwards<BR>New Jersey, USA

[Guest]

Hello to the List:<P>I bought my 1939 Super 8, unrestored and running from <A HREF="http://www.pipecreektrading.com" TARGET=_blank>www.pipecreektrading.com</A> <P>In a showroom full of beautiful vintage cars it had presence. Would I do it again, absolutely, but now I probably would only consider Packards. Wherever I take this car, or vice, versa, wherever it takes me, I get very favourable comments, such as grand daddy had one, etc, etc.<P>Expensive to maintain, yes, but to me, worth it.<P>Rgds,<P>Paul Edwards<BR>New Jersey, USA

[John N. Packard]

I couldn't buy anthing but a Packard! My dad's first car was a 1946 Deluxe Clipper. I have a 1947 Custom Clipper. I bought it from Packard Parts Unlimited (Roland Crawford) up in the Greater Boston, MA area. I flew to Boston, went out to Mr. Crawford's place, and drove it home. My brother, who lives in the area, thought that I was crazy. That was 35 years ago. My dad's second car was a 1954 Super Clipper. I have a 1954 Patrician. It was advertised in the Cormorant News Bulletin by Howard Lumsden of Knoxville, TN. My wife and I drove down to Knoxville in my Dodge Dakota pick-up and I drove the Packard home with her following behind me. Packards are meant to be driven! The cars that I knew as a kid are the ones that appeal to me.<BR>jnp

[Guest JT]

When I got the bug to buy another old car (after years of being out of the hobby) I remembered a 39 Packard limousine my best friends older brother had. I was about 10 or 12 when I was introduced to that fine old car he bought for $25. It had belonged to the Duke family and had been neglected for years but to me it was absolutely beautiful. The memory of that car stuck with me forever and so when I started looking, it had to be a Packard.<BR>The car I bought (40 -120) was a local area one that I was able to obtain the complete history on. It had been garaged and well cared for all of it's life. I am now in the process of a engine rebuild and hope to be back on the road by spring.

[Guest Randy Berger]

Great question! I learned to drive in my parents 52 Mayfair hdtp - learned to hotwire it when I was 14. When old enough to buy my own car, I bought Packards because as an orphan their value was down, but you got a lot more car for the money. I had a 56 400 as a daily driver from 62-65 for which I paid $150. Some woman took out the whole passenger side when she got her 57 chevy caught between me and a Buick Roadmaster. A friend found my current 56 400 from an acquaintance at his worksite. I paid $100.00 for it in 1972 and finally finished it in 1993. I made the 1999 Centennial, but was around the perimeter not in the circle.<BR>If you email me I would gladly send a picture of the 400.<P> There is nothing like a Packard! <p>[ 01-13-2002: Message edited by: Randy Berger ]

[Guest]

They were always the favorite brand of my father, with whom I share an intense interest in old machinery of all kinds. <P>Built in a time when mechanical engineering involved intuition and genius as much as slide-rule computation, Packard excelled in putting a beautiful and competent machine on the road. <P>From high school, I always had an old car of some kind, usually under repair; occasionally it was my only car. Somehow, my barn is full now, mostly with pre-war stuff. My favorite is a slightly dowdy but still elegant Packard sedan. <P>P.S. Is it quiet and respectful around here or is it just the calm B4 the storm?

[Guest Albert]

For me I had found a 47 packard clipper close to Thunder Bay, and was interested in it's body style, while looking for parts on the net I found another 47 in Trenton Ontario<BR>for $100 as the owner just had to get them off the property, by the time i got there the car had been sold, but he had a 54 Packard clipper special (5482) that had been sitting since 1959 (due to tranni problem) also got it for $100. Then Last year while looking for parts on e-bay (needed windshield and other bits) I found a 54 clipper deluxe which i got for $350us (last driven in 85) and towed back from mass to Toronto behind a 4cyl pontiac tempest, only to find out when I got back the car would run!

[Guest]

Ah...fun and interesting question that our fellow chatter '53 Packard proposes....well..here's MY story.<P>As a child, I never really thought about cars. Until one burning hot day. We were crossing the Great Mojave Desert coming up from Tucson to California. The War was just about over, but we were still faced with a 35 mph national speed limit. Our '36 One Twenty was just purring along with a bunch of other nondescript cars, oh...maybe 40 mph. There was a gradually increasing high pitched scream in the distance (which we now know is the sound of a Packard Twelve fan running wide open) then a thunderous BOOM as this big black monster flashed passed, going well over twice our speed. "What"..I asked my father...."was THAT"...."That"..my father said knowingly, with a certain tone of awe in his voice....was a PACKARD TWELVE"...<P>Well...that was it..I HAD to have one. And I had to have one JUST like the one that flashed by us at such blinding speed on that burning hot day in early 1945 !<P>Of course I learned years later that there were very few black 1938 Packard Twelves (ten times more...than there were Cadillac V-16's..but that is a story told elsewhere..!)...and I learned that ONLY a high ranking federal official on govermment business could have driven like that.<P>Now...you guys want to hear something REALLY corny ? My own '38 Packard Twelve formal, which I bought in 1955, has TWO license plate stand-ups, one on EACH rear tail light. That extra one on the RIGHT side of the car was for the "official" plates the original owner, a high ranking army officer, (Walter P. Story) had. Thus it is VERY possible that the big black Packard Twelve that passed us that day in 1945...is the VERY car that sits in my garage !<P>( Can you imagine...the cheap S.O.B. did NOT order the marvelous factory option forced air heater... ! )<P>Pete Hartmann<BR>Big Springs, AZ

[Guest]

Like most young people, I had heard vaguely of the Packard, but had never really been interested in them. A buddy of mine called me up and had an interesting proposal. He wanted to buy a 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado from a junk yard. The problem was, the old guy was getting rid of everything at the yard and would only do a "package" deal. Along with the 66 Olds, was a 53 Dodge pickup, and lo' and behold, a 1951 Packard 200 deluxe. The package was for $2000.00 for all three. The buddy was willing to pay half for the Olds, and the truck and Packard would be mine for the other $1000.00. It was definitely not love at first sight when I went to look at my half of the "bargain". I had not owned any classics in my life, and I had enough trucks to do what I needed. The dodge truck was very interesting, very solid, and very close to being all there. The packard upon closer inspection was a BIG green giant! And it has affectionately been named the Jolly Green Giant!<P>I hit the internet, and really started doing some research on the Packard. I was insatiable for knowledge on this mystery of a car. I found the Packardclub.org site and then I really was intrigued. I gathered information on the year, make, model, engine, color code, how many were made and all sorts of information. After reading, and this might offend a few of the "old timers", about the quality of the Packard name, I decided to jump in and buy the truck and Packard.<P>I guess I have spent close to 200 hours on the internet looking for the smallest scrap of information posted about Packards, from ads selling cars, to ebay, to the Packardclub.org site. I was amazed at the amount of information and the thrill of finding parts and information on MY NEW PACKARD!! I have driven to Missouri, Florida, and Texas to pick up parts cars and good deals. I have enjoyed meeting the people here in Atlanta with Peach State Packards Club, and from all over who want to talk about Packards. I have read hundreds of articles, several books, and eventually several repair manuals in order to become familiar with my car and the Packard in general.<P>My wife fell in love with the Jolly Green Giant instantly, and wanted to buy it from my friend. I told her that we could probably buy it from him for $400.00 and she was very happy! I didnt tell her I already owned the car! I was still trying to figure a way to ease into telling her I bought it....I see a few people nodding out there, so I guess you might have had this predicament as well! As the story goes, my buddy eventually bought the dodge truck back, in order to sell it to someone, so all I had left was the Packard. Now my wife has a few stories about how I have found a good deal and need to go and tow it home! We are currently collecting parts and money to restore a 55 constellation and a 55 panama. My wife has found her a car she wants, and I think we will eventually buy it for a driver while we are restoring the others.<P>Packards are just interesting, that is what if boils down to, a bit of an enigma, hard to find information on in some cases, and most people have never heard of them (younger generation). When they see them they are curious about the make and model and want to hear about the car that they know nothing about. It is fun relating the story of the Packard automobile and, you old guys close your ears again, the quality and engineering that went in to them. For the most part the comraderie of the people who own Packards is also very nice to be around, I have noticed a distinct difference though in some collectors, and a few people here have reinforced that assumption, that divide up the Packard make into a good Packard and a Packard. They are all beautiful to me....

[Ed Miller]

I obtained my first American automobile at the age of 37. I had always favored British Sports Cars. I liked the pre war Classics, but felt if you couldn't drive them. In 1985 I obtained my first American car, a 1930 Pierce Arrow. What a revelation, it was driveable! I only had the Pierce for a year but was bitten by the bug. I lusted after a 1933 Pierce Arrow 1247 V12 LeBaron Convertible Sedan. I searched for a year without any luck. I didn't realize there were only three extant. So I "settled" for a 1933 Packard 12 Convertible Sedan in 1990. I have been better educated in the "Classics" since. By the way all three Pierce Arrows have changed hands since my acquiring my Packard. I have no regrets owning the Packard. I have driven and ridden in many Classics in the last 12 years including Auburn, Duesenberg, Franklin, Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes Benz and many other Packards. I still find the Packard to be the best all around Classic.