This must have been in my car a really long time.

[1935Packard]

I was working on my '35 Packard today and I decided to pull out the rubber pads in the door jambs that help the door close tight.  I found something pretty cool underneath it, and I thought y'all might be interested in the story.

 

First, some background.  My grandfather bought the car in 1942.  The only big cosmetic change my car has had was a really cheap 1978 repaint.  The rubber pads in the door had been just painted over in the 1978 repaint, so I know the pads predated '78.  And having taken part of the doors apart before, I know the doors are all original underneath; between that, the silver paint, and my grandfather's frugality,  it seemed highly likely that the pads were original to the car.   When I pulled it out the driver's side pad,  I was surprised to find something interesting: there was what looked like a folded up piece of paper jammed into one end of the pad: 

 

 

I pulled out the paper, and it seemed to be an advertisement of some kind for a line of hotels.  Here's the front side:

 

 

You can see it says "America's Most Popular Hotel," "Hospitality Headquarters," and "Travel the Country on the . . . Hotels" written on it.   Here's the back side: 

 

 

That's a list of hotels in different cities.   I googled some of the hotel names, and I quickly came across an excerpt from a 1920s book of corporations that described the "United Hotels Company of America," a hotel chain that (as of 1922) included most of the list of hotels on the backside of the paper.   

 

 

(Note that explains the "Travel the Country on the . . . Hotels" line, as you can now see that the ". . ."  is the word "United" in a pattern.  Here's the full pattern, again from the Wikipedia page, which is upside down in the second picture above: 

 

 

What is the piece of paper?  I gather it's the cover of a matchbook.  I found some similar matchbook covers on ebay:

 

 

You can see the "Headquarters" on the top that matches the "Hospitality Headquarters" on my paper, and what I thought was "America's Most Popular Hotel" on my paper is presumably just the beginning of the phrase "American's Most Popular Hotel System" as seen on the matchbook cover from Ebay. 

 

 I next googled "United Hotels Company," and there's a wikipedia page on it: It says that the company was formed in 1917 and went defunct in 1945.   

 

Of course, I'll never know how the paper/match book  got there, or exactly when.  Maybe the pad didn't fit correctly when new, and someone folded up a matchbook cover and stuck it in there to make it fit correctly.  Maybe the first owner put it in there (he owned the car until 1942), or maybe it was done at the factory?  Who knows.   But given that the company disbanded in 1945, this little piece of paper must have been in the Packard's door a really long time.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2018 by 1935Packard (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

I love these little treasures! Put it in a small framed glass along with the excerpts from Wikipedia, and display it with the car some times. It should be allowed to stay with the car always.

Thank you for sharing your discovery.

[Guest]

That's a great little piece of detective work!

[Restorer32]

While restoring a '59 Caddy convertible we found a pair of tickets from the CACTUS DRIVE IN THEATRE in New Mexico or Arizona, I forget exactly.  Provided a valuable clue as to the previously unknown history of the car.

[JACK M]

I make it a habit of pulling the back seats out of the old stuff that comes thru my hands.

When I was in high school a friend found a pistol under the back seat of an old car he had.

Best I found was a 1936 penny and some French fries.

Edited October 5, 2018 by JACK M (see edit history)

[Xander Wildeisen]

This is from under the front seat frame. It was found tearing down my 1947 Hudson coupe. $100.00 dollars seems like a nice prize for 1951.   https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=100&year=1951

Edited October 5, 2018 by Xander Wildeisen (see edit history)

[Big Beat]

That is really cool.

 

Recently I needed to replace the battery on my '79 Chevy. Jammed between the fender and the battery tray, I found the original cap for the washer fluid tank, which was missing when I bought the car 12 years ago. At the time, I just put on a junkyard replacement, but it always bothered me that the style didn't quite match the other caps. And all along the original cap was with the car and is now proudly in its place again.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

89 Mercedes SL, leftovers provide a glimpse into the prior owner's life.  I figure he must have been a "player" - lots of golf tees, but the funny part was when I decided to scope out the contents of the factory first aid kit, condoms!! ? (not thinking they are stock MB issue...)

[CHuDWah]

All I ever found in my old cars was mouse poop and various stinging insects!  ?

[1935Packard]

The other old  thing I once found in my Packard, incidentally, was a very old penny: It had fallen into the door and was wedged in near the drain exit, too big to exit the drain.  It had the 1978 paint on it,  suggesting it had been there a long time.  

 

The date on the penny was 1909.  (I still have the penny somewhere.)

[PFindlay]

This summer I got interested in, and eventually purchased, a 1910 Russell-Knight (Canadian car).  While researching, the only picture I could find of any 1910 Russell-Knight was on a 1962 postcard and it was the very car I was looking at.  Of course I was curious about how and why the car would be on a postcard.  When I got the car home I found about 25 such postcards featuring this car or a couple of others that belonged to the owner at that time.   They were Penzoil cards, common at the time, and had fallen down the crack in the door pocket sometime in the last 50+ years. 

 

Ironically, by this time I had already ordered the Russell-Knight postcard from the online seller, so it was a bit of a letdown when it arrived.

[wayne sheldon]

Oh so many years ago, I was doing some minor repairs to the rumble seat in the '29 Reo coupe I had. What appeared to be carefully surrounded by four upholstery tacks, under the original (carpet like) side panel was a 1929 Buffalo nickel. I sold the car a long time ago, and the new owner didn't want the nickel, so I still have it.

 

The '25 Pierce Arrow (series 80 sedan) I had years ago, I found a very small tablet of stickers (only about three remaining) for a Pierce Arrow service garage in San Francisco.

 

I also find a lot of rodent nests and poop.

[Curti]

10 hours ago, 1935Packard said:

The other old  thing I once found in my Packard, incidentally, was a very old penny: It had fallen into the door and was wedged in near the drain exit, too big to exit the drain.  It had the 1978 paint on it,  suggesting it had been there a long time.  

 

The date on the penny was 1909.  (I still have the penny somewhere.)

Check that penny for a  S under the 1909 , Then turn it over and look at the bottom . If there is a VDB there , it is your lucky day.   VDB + Victor D. Brenner the designer of the one cent piece.  

I have found money in the radiator tank, crankcase , under and in seats and in the doors and in the gas tank. Nothing valuable. 

[CarlLaFong]

1 hour ago, Curti said:

Check that penny for a  S under the 1909 , Then turn it over and look at the bottom . If there is a VDB there , it is your lucky day.   VDB + Victor D. Brenner the designer of the one cent piece. 

Little known trivia. All Lincoln pennies have VDB on them, not just the 1909 S. Look under Abe's shoulder

[1935Packard]

On 10/5/2018 at 1:55 AM, wayne sheldon said:

I love these little treasures! Put it in a small framed glass along with the excerpts from Wikipedia, and display it with the car some times. It should be allowed to stay with the car always.

Thank you for sharing your discovery.

 

Wayne, I decided to do just that, or close to it.   I bought the matchbook on Ebay above and put the two matchboxes side by side in a frame I can keep in the glove box. Thanks for the idea.

 

 

 

One other interesting detail.  There's one hotel on the matchbook I bought on ebay that is not on the list of hotels in the matchbook I found in my car -- the Brunswick.  I found an advertisement for United Hotels from 1938 that lists the Brunswick on the list of hotels by '38.   So that suggests the matchbook I found in my car predates 1938. Of course, could have been just an old matchbook lying around, you never know.

Edited October 18, 2018 by 1935Packard (see edit history)

[Buffalowed Bill]

Intriguing and provocative! When I travel to a large city, I like to search out the old hotels in the downtown area. They represent the character and architecture of a bygone era. Their survival, and the way in which they survive, or not survive, help tell the story of the city, then and now.  A quick search gave me a site where some of the hotels were pictured, great to be able to look at them but it was saddening to see how many no longer exist. 

[jeff_a]

On 10/18/2018 at 6:12 AM, 1935Packard said:

 

Wayne, I decided to do just that, or close to it.   I bought the matchbook on Ebay above and put the two matchboxes side by side in a frame I can keep in the glove box. Thanks for the idea.

 

One other interesting detail.  There's one hotel on the matchbook I bought on ebay that is not on the list of hotels in the matchbook I found in my car -- the Brunswick.  I found an advertisement for United Hotels from 1938 that lists the Brunswick on the list of hotels by '38.   So that suggests the matchbook I found in my car predates 1938. Of course, could have been just an old matchbook lying around, you never know.

 

1935Packard,

In the 70s, my Great Aunt Marie gave me a box of letterhead stationery from dozens of hotels she and her husband picked up travelling in the 20s-50s. He was an attorney known for writing unbreakable contracts and she just enjoyed  fine hotels like the Broadmoor in Colorado. The Roosevelt and Brunswick from the United Hotels list were among the ones I got. Most were about 5" x 10".

There was an article in Special interest Autos, October, 1980, about someone who bought a 1941 Packard Clipper in the 70s. He found $17 in collectible old coins under the seats & an old toy in the trunk that sold for more than the car had cost him.

Edited October 20, 2018 by jeff_a (see edit history)

[gungeey]

ththis was stuck behind the visors of a very original 65 riviera I wouldn't be surprised if added at the assembly line

Tuna salad wrapper , probably from a canteen truck ...look clOse ,,, it says " FLINT " there

Not suitable for framing tho, lol 

Steve

Edited October 21, 2018 by gungeey
LEFT INFO OUT (see edit history)