packardaustralia.com

G'day all, The first packard which I ever saw was in 1967. I had just written off my 39 Chev and heard about an instructor who had a registered car for sale at HMAS Nirimba, where I was an apprentice. it was a totally original 37 115C and I purchased it for $A40. I was totally amazed at how well it went compared to the earlier Mk 4 Jag, 2 1/4 Riley, 39 Chev and 34 Dodge that I had owned previously. I then met Gwen McRae whilst driving around and stayed at their home in Gladesville, underage apprentices had to have an "Approved" address to stay off the base overnight. Gwen and Eric were really nice people and their enthusiasm and the great performance/reliability of the Packards really got me hooked. Best Regards Peter Toet

My first memory of Packards is as a 9 year old in Jakarta Indonesia in 1955 when you would occasionally see President Sukarno's motorcade passing. My dad identified the limosines to us kids as Packards and Cadillacs and these were between a squadron of MP's on Harleys fore and aft. My next and most impressionable memory was in 1964 of a blue '37 Packard in a service station on Victoria Road down a bit and almost opposite the Balmain Leagues Club. For years my memory was that this was a coupe but Sam Irwin corrected me last year that it is in fact the '37 120 sedan now owned by Wade Hawker and formerly owned by the motor racer and dealer Ron Hodgson. My early hands on car involvement was with Model A Fords and hot rods and drag racing. Through that time though I collected Packard gearboxes and at one stage had 5 including a later overdrive gearbox converted to the floorshift top by Pendlebury's and used in a Packard powered jeep by them. My mate started building a hot rod for me with a '56 Pontiac V8 which was going to use the O/D box but it was never finished. Then the same mate built me a 289 Ford V8 powered dragster and of course this incorporated a Packard gearbox using only 2nd and top. With this car we won the A/Dragster class in the NSW Championships in about 1970 with best ET of 10.37 seconds and Top Speed of 137 mph. The O/D gearbox I sold to a hot-rodding mate back in the sixties and although I followed up with him in 1995 he couldn't recall what became of it. The other gearboxes I kept until I ran out of storage space because I was building a new house in 1995 and I sold them to a guy in PACA. Who it was I don't know but I met him at an NRMA Motorfest in the Rocks one year, and I've lost his card since that time, but I wanted to ensure they went to a good home. If you recognise yourself from this please let me know as I'm interested in how and where the boxes ended up. The Packard flame flickered dimly for over 30 years but was always alight and then in 2007 I saw in a Shannon's Sydney Auction a '29 Packard Coupe. This Coupe had been made from a sedan and I ended up bidding on it but was not successful reaching my limit before it eventually sold for $36,000. Next I contacted Barry Brown and made enquiries about joining PACA as well as asking if anyone in the club had a Packard for sale. Barry put me on to Peter Peters who had 2 for sale and I bought his dual sidemount equiped '38 1601 Eight Sedan. I believe his '40 110 Sedan is still for sale. I also discovered the delights of the Internet and eBay at that time and found a '41 120 Coupe in Idaho which I bought. To read a more in depth account of that, click on the link below

http://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modul ... 9&forum=10

A great write-up Mal! The 35-38 Packard gearboxes were very popular with dragsters and that e.t. is very good even today. A 10 second car is very very quick. Peter

peter packard wrote:A great write-up Mal! ........... Peter

Peter,

Thanks, but unless some more come on board here and start contributing to the posts we might have these Forums more or less to ourselves!

I know you're out there! There have been a lot of views of most of the posts. So first thing to do is join as a Member, pretty easy to do. Then you're on your way, maybe just put in a short "G'day" in the General Forum saying hello. Then contribute in whatever way you want, big or small, and help make this Site the success it deserves to be.

Just so you know who's talking here, I'm including a pic of myself, one taken after a hard day spent under the '41 scraping off half of Idaho.

I got hooked just recently whilst reading the History edited by Beverly Rae Kimes, and became full of admiration for the company and those who worked there, and their commitment to excellence.

I will soon receive a memorial book on Alvan Macauley with a letter signed by his wife, a fitting memorial to a great man and his efforts in producing the Packard Automobile.

I should introduce myself, I'm John Clements (Adelaide) secretary of the Studebaker Club of SA, and don't have a Packard as yet, only a Studebaker, hopefully a Packard one day.

I look forward to learning about the cars from the forum, maybe attending a meet sometime.

Packardlover wrote:I got hooked just recently whilst reading the History edited by Beverly Rae Kimes, .......I should introduce myself, I'm John Clements (Adelaide) secretary of the Studebaker Club of SA, and don't have a Packard as yet, only a Studebaker, hopefully a Packard one day.......

G'day John and welcome to the Site.

Hope you get your Packard soon and when you do let us know on the Forum and share a picture of it so we can all enjoy it with you.

In the meantime, you could think about joining Packard Automobile Club of Australia (PACA) as there's no need to own a Packard to be a member.

All the best

Hi Mal, thanks for the welcome.

I emailed Barry Brown and await details re cost of membership before joining.

It will likely be a few years before I could get a car, didn't imagine getting a Studebaker either until some members sold me a good one for a reasonable price which I am still paying off.

As I live in an apartment complex I can only have two cars, but when my Parents pass on I will sell the house and maybe get a small warehouse in which I can store the cars.

Regards

John

Packardlover wrote:Hi Mal, thanks for the welcome.

I emailed Barry Brown and await details re cost of membership before joining........John

John,

I believe Barry is presently on holiday and will be for a while. So I suggest you direct your queries to the David McCredie the Membership Secretary. I'll PM you his email address and phone number.

All the best
Mal

Hi all,
This is my first post and is prompted by an e-mail from Mal's regarding his suggestion to John that he join PACA. There is no doubt, John, that if you are interested in buying a Packard you are better to join first then your chances of finding one are much better as a PAC member, I look forward to hearing from you.
I liked reading about how you guys got hooked on Packards and so I thought I would tell how I got hooked. I grew up in the late 1940's - 1950s amongst a bunch of mates who were all car crazy and we reckoned we could tell the make of car from its sound without seeing it. Packards were not on my radar at that stage.
I always liked building scale model cars of all makes and in my 20's the thought of restoring a real car began but at that stage it had to be an early Silver Ghost RR! Needless to say they were about as available and affordable then as now. Mortgages etc intervened for many years and then my brother in law at the time and I decided to bid for a derelict A Model Ford coming up at a farm auction. We figured that the other bidders would only be after the farm equipment and the car would go for a song. Instead I think the entire A Ford community turned up, however we got carried away and won it. It was missing the rear of the body and while searching for a body we came across a 1926 Buick in much better condition. We sold the Ford and I bought and restored the Buick.
My first exposure to Packards occurred at a combined clubs car day at Warwick Farm around 1972-3 (now held at Eastern Creek) where a 1930 Packard 733 sedan was on display. It was owned by either Jack Hockstadt or Ben Bronk both of whom are unfortunately no long with us.
I was hooked! My next restoration had to be a vintage Packard but every lead I followed up lead to something well outside my means until I met Barry Smith who had the remains of a 1922 6 cyl. Packard Sport Tourer in need of a huge amount of work. I bought it, then spent the next 10 years restoring it and still have it.
When it was finished I could not face another basket case restoration, but once your hooked your gone and when a derelict 1929 633 Roadster plus parts car came along I had to have it. I sold the Buick to help fund it. That one took 16 years to restore and was finished in 2003. The parts car was a 1929 7 passenger sedan that had been "uted". Two very successful trips to Hershey for 1929 bits and finding a correct 633 sedan body in NZ made the sedan a restoration possibility. Now retired and working on it full time I hope to have it finished soon.
I do not have any other Packards and and am not planning on any more, enough is enough!
So, can I claim to be "unhooked" well not quite, I have bought a veteran (1912 Maxwell) but this time all of the work has been done by someone else. Time to quit completely.
Now does anyone know where I can find a complete restorable veteran Packard of around 1910-12? Dream on.
So let's hear your story.

David

Great story David. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Lovely story David, and I can confirm that being in a club makes locating a car easier.

I work for TollFast as a Courier on a Modest income $35K or so depending on work and joined the SA Studebaker club 3 years ago. Imagining that I could never get a car I spent far too much on ebay purchasing brochures etc, and have about 200 Studebaker ads and soon about 100 Packard ads.

Earlier this year, I spoke to our President about a car I had seen on ebay that I thought I could afford, but it was rough and I wouldn't have bought it. he said he had a 1962 Battleship Gray Lark 4-Door sedan with good upholstery, and he had had it serviced, radiator flushed out, new drum brakes, Ford rims with radials, all up $3000 that he had in it, so I accepted and am paying it off. Fortunately it's in better condition than many Stude's as the floor isn't rusty (many of them you can see the ground through the old floor).

Prior to looking on Hemmings' website I imagined that Packard's were multi hundred thousand to multi million dollar cars, but realized that a "driver" could be had for around $10-12,000 or so, and the dream is achievable.

So, I joined the US forum and club as I looked up Packard Car (not Automobile) club of Australia on the net and found nothing, a couple of days ago I saw that the club was Automobile not Car and found it. What a difference to the US site. So far 30 or so people have looked at my intro not one bothering to say hello.

Whilst I'd like probably a 18th Series or one during the Nance era, despite what some may say, from the Kimes book it seems nobody worked harder to save the company, however as Curtiss-Wright had a management contract they decided to shut Packard down as their sales were miniscule compared to Studebaker, the rest we know.

Now, the 1957/58 cars are interesting and I guess a good try when there was no other option, but not really comparable to a "True Packard." I saw somewhere (probably the book) where a Studebaker executive (I think) said that once the Lark is selling well, we'll concentrate on the Hawk, then when they are selling well a Packard, alas Studebaker sales nosedived after the 1959 Larks appeared and the big 3 brought out their compacts, resulting in the end in 1966.

Anyhow, thanks to the two of you for your welcome and we'll catch up soon.

Bye for now,

John

I remember as a child my father complaining bitterly over his sister. She had asked for money from my dad as she was in dire straits at the time.

He grumbled that they had had enough money to trade for a new Packard every two years for twenty years, so maybe if they had saved some of that money.....

Questioning him, no Packards weren't bad, they were nice cars, but then I got the lesson on how cars depreciate rapidly.

I suppose as a child, I came out of that with two lessons. I learned about depreciation (sort of). And I learned that Packards must somehow be somewhat sinful.

I think I bought an old Packard because, when I started looking at oldies, I wanted something that had been well built originally, and had some intrinsic value in today's world.

Time will tell.

I can't comment re: depreciation, but Packards - at least those up to WW2 and I presume after, were made to last many years, so there was no need to get a new one every two years or so, maybe it was just a case of wanting the latest one.