"1927 Packard Found in Abandoned Philadelphia Factory Sitting for Over 40 Years"

[1935Packard]

This is pretty cool.

 

 

[Restorer32]

Years ago we restored a 1919 International that was found on the 4th  floor of an abandoned toilet paper factory in Philadelphia.

[DLynskey]

Not really abandoned. The family who owned it were obviously proud of it and kept it there respectfully in fairly favorable conditions. Maybe we'll see it soon at an AACA meet.

 

Don

[Marty Roth]

This is a SURVIVOR, and deserves to be maintained as a PRESERVATION CLASS - or HPOF _ Historic Preservation of Original Features.

Under the 1940s/1950s style aftermarket seatcovers, the original upholstery may even be in surprisingly good condition, given that the window shades actually roll both down and back up again!

 

Just one opinion, butI appreciate survivor vehicles like my all original and unrestored 1937 Buick Roadmaster 80C Phaeton (convertible sedan)

[Restorer32]

Would be interesting to know how the engine came to be painted white.

[1937hd45]

I've often wondered how many pre WWII cars is still in city garages, what a great find. Back in the 1970's Tiny Gould pulled a MILLER race car out of a Philadelphia garage. 

 

Bob 

[Walt G]

Bob, you have posed a good question. There is a great awareness now among the general public about " how valuable old cars are and you have to be rich to own one" ( but of course those that have that opinion  never consider how many hours, months and  years you may put into one to get it back on the road) . When I worked for Austin Clark in his library at his house in Glen Cove, NY he would get letters and calls from people who had cars and were interested in 1) what's it worth 2) How do I get rid of the car that is in the estate of my uncle who passed away and we never knew he had.

One of these inquiries concerned a 1934 Chrysler Airflow sedan that was in a parking garage in N.Y. City. It was deep in a corner with no windows or light to see it so we took flashlights. Pretty nice car but covered in about 30 years worth of dust and dirt. Austin took some photos of it while held the flashlight but if I recall they didn't come out that great and he was an excellent photographer ( this was in an era when there was no digital cameras, phones etc it was all Kodak 35 mm roll film) He kept in contact for a while with the heirs and tried to help but they really didn't understand what they had to do to get the car sold or even seen by someone that would be interested to buy it. I can't recall exactly where it was or  on what street and building, but it was in a parking garage, I think on the upper east side of Manhattan.

[1937hd45]

I'm going to guess it was 20-30 years ago, time flies a lot faster now, that the McGowan Brothers pulled a Duesenberg out of Harlem, in NYC. Nice car, had a luggage rack on top, they had it at a McGee Brothers event in the fall one year with a collection of pumpkins on the roof, great times. It got restored, sold in a Dragone auction a few years back. Restorer32 mentioned an International truck found in a toilet paper factory, I think that was an Austin Clark find, why I remember him writing about it in old Cars weekly is anyone's guess. Bob 

[Walt G]

Bob , I believe the car Austin Clark found was made in a toilet paper factory , but I believe it was his Pungs Finch car or perhaps a 2 cylinder Buick  , at any rate  not exactly the place one would even think of to look for a early vehicle.

[1937hd45]

I've always liked the Pungs-Finch, I think it grew a new four passenger body, must be a fun ride for four people. Bob 

[JV Puleo]

The late Steve Delano had a 1907 Renault Limousine - a big car too - that he bought for unpaid back storage, I think on Martha's Vinyard. He never restored his cars and this one didn't need it. A bit frowsy around the edges but astonishingly original. Effectively, it had had only one owner at least the last time it was in regular use.

[chistech]

When I was a kid I took a trip to NY city with my dad down to the waterfront, the Fulton fish market area. A family friend with the last name “Luciano” (yes, he was a relative of you know who) had purchased  an old warehouse, it had some meat packing house equipment stored in it, and we went down to pick it up. My family owned a federally inspected slaughter house and we were expanding so the rails and things were needed. Mr. Luciano took my dad and I over to a corner of the warehouse that was full of all kinds of old stuff that was cargo in crates that had never shipped. They were in the process of cleaning everything out of the building. Still in a crate was a 32’ Chevy roadster, blue with black fenders. The wheels were off of it and layed  flat underneath it. The crate didn’t seem like it was more than 4’ high. The windshield was folded along with the roof. (Writing this I just realized it could have been a Cabriolet too) The car had been covered with what seemed like oiled canvas and cosmolene was on the axles because I remember them talking about it. Don’t know if the car was new or what ever happened with it. This was around the mid seventies, I was like twelve or thirteen. I’ll never forget seeing it with the sunlight coming in the windows around the top of the corner. It was pretty cool. 

[Restorer32]

On 1/26/2019 at 11:07 AM, 1937hd45 said:

I'm going to guess it was 20-30 years ago, time flies a lot faster now, that the McGowan Brothers pulled a Duesenberg out of Harlem, in NYC. Nice car, had a luggage rack on top, they had it at a McGee Brothers event in the fall one year with a collection of pumpkins on the roof, great times. It got restored, sold in a Dragone auction a few years back. Restorer32 mentioned an International truck found in a toilet paper factory, I think that was an Austin Clark find, why I remember him writing about it in old Cars weekly is anyone's guess. Bob 

 Must have been a different car or different toilet paper factory. The late Wil Markey (guy who drove the Moxie horse around)  was in the trucking business. One of his drivers spotted the International while driving past a steel framed building in Philly that was being dismantled. Wil paid a crane operator to lower the International. We later restored it as a chassis for his one of a kind child's carousel

[mercer09]

wonder if this Packard came out of the Packard showroom in Philly?

 

That is now high priced condos....................

[Irontrap]

On 1/25/2019 at 10:43 AM, DLynskey said:

Not really abandoned. The family who owned it were obviously proud of it and kept it there respectfully in fairly favorable conditions. Maybe we'll see it soon at an AACA meet.

 

Don

 

The video says the factory was ABANDONED. The car was sort of forgotten about until they recently went into negotiations to sell the property and needed to get any property out that the family wanted to keep. No need to try and split hairs.. just be happy another old car is saved and we were lucky enough to document the car as found. The family wants to get the car drivable again and don't plan to fully restore it at this time. It now safely rests in a garage across the city and we'll update as they progress on it. 

 

Thanks for the share and comments everyone, it really was a neat moment to see it out in the sunlight for the first time in so long. 

 

-Matt/ITG

[md murray]

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 12:16 AM, 1937hd45 said:

I've often wondered how many pre WWII cars is still in city garages, what a great find. Back in the 1970's Tiny Gould pulled a MILLER race car out of a Philadelphia garage. 

 

Bob 

The obituary for the Long Island auto collector Philip Wichard makes reference to his discovery of a NYC warehouse full of cars once owed by the famous 7 Santini Bros. Another old article also makes a quick reference to this discovery saying that the cars were all carefully packed and preserved-  Wonder is anyone knows the story?