Does anyone still drive a Packard?

[night-timer]

I ride bikes, not cars, so I wouldn't know. They are 'before my time' anyway.

Whenever I've seen a Packard in a photo or a movie [[like James Mason in his black Packard in Salem's Lot) they look so tasteful.

[Sandhouse]

No. No one drives Packards any more. The last guy I knew who did, gave up because he couldn't keep the transmission from leaking. I guess "56packman" no longer reads this bulletin board.

But they do show them off at car shows, like the high-rent Concours d'Elegance coming up at Plymouth on the 29th. If you buy your ticket over the wire ahead of time it's $37, a bargain to my way of thinking. I wouldn't miss it. Special feature this year: floppers.

Plus there's the congenial Concours d'Lemons the day before in the parking lot of the Inn at St. John's, for free. When did you last see an AMC Gremlin or that many Corvairs? It's an excellent dose of car culture.

[3WC]

I had a good friend [[RIP) who owned a 1938 straight 8 Packard Phaeton [[I think I described it correctly); it won Best of Show at the Concours d' Elegance several years ago when it was held at Meadowbrook in Rochester.

Packards just couldn't compete successfully with Cadillac. It eventually merged with Studebaker [[great cars) but of course neither survived.

I don't remember seeing any at the Woodward Dream Cruise.

[EastsideAl]

I was just talking this weekend to someone who worked with my dad at Packard [[3 generations of my family worked there at different times). He was talking about the wildcat strike when Packard workers walked out because a black worker was promoted to the aircraft line [[it was during WWII). Only picket line my dad ever crossed. He left for [[integrated) Hudson the following month.

The only person in my family I know to have ever owned and driven a Packard was my great grandfather, who owned a 1909 Packard Model 30, like the one in this photo. Unfortunately, it was totaled when it got nailed by an interurban car at Gratiot & 9 Mile in a driving snowstorm, an accident that unfortunately also totaled great-grandpa.

[Richard]

In 2011 at 102 she was still driving hers,I hope she still is.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1165000

[night-timer]

Thanks for the responses so far. This Arizona company is manufacturing new Packard automobiles, but they may not have any real link/s to the original Packard company, and Arizona is quite a distance from Detroit:

http://www.packardmotorcar.com/index.php/introduction/

[Hermod]

Packard is the one for '51
Ask the man who owns one!

[Richard]

Thanks for the responses so far. This Arizona company is manufacturing new Packard automobiles, but they may not have any real link/s to the original Packard company, and Arizona is quite a distance from Detroit:

http://www.packardmotorcar.com/index.php/introduction/

If I am not mistaken that company was for sale in Canada some years back,with the same car.

Not that I am a professional critic but it looks like they stuck an 80s
Lincoln grill in there.

The 1920s Rolls Royce dash is a nice touch but when you stick a
80s stock GM headlight switch and $5 A/C vents in there and the 1960s Jaguar Mark2 interior,it kinda kills the whole
yea I would pay $300k plus for that.

Packard was innovative and had things nobody else had,and the
early ones just screamed style and class,that one looks like a movie prop for 10,000 leagues under the sea.It looks confused
and does not know if it wants to be a Bentley or a Rolls Royce.

Scrap the body and interior and show me something sexy,powerful
Classy and something that would make me want to sell my first born to acquire.That would live up to the name.

I would love to drive a pre 50s Packard as a daily driver and enjoy every minute.

It gets chopped up because in mobile when you quote something the attached link shoots into the next room and you cannot tell where the box ends.

[Pam]

They used to have car shows at this place with lots of Packards. You could take a ride in one.

https://packardprovinggrounds.org/

[CassTechGrad]

1932 Packard seven-eights left side view, parked on drive, owner Hollywood screen actress Jean Harlow.

[pkbroch]

Pam; they still have car shows at the Packard Proving grounds each year.

Richard; Margaret Dunning passed away several years ago in California at a car show where Jay Leno was the host. She fell and never recovered.

[Zacha341]

^^^ She did not make it to the Leno event, fell on stairs en route to... 2015.

https://journal.classiccars.com/2015...ia-auto-rally/

[Richard]

1932 Packard seven-eights left side view, parked on drive, owner Hollywood screen actress Jean Harlow.

See,that is a car that you could go get the groceries in and then park it in your living room as a work of art.

[SyGolden48236]

Thanks for the responses so far. This Arizona company is manufacturing new Packard automobiles, but they may not have any real link/s to the original Packard company, and Arizona is quite a distance from Detroit:

http://www.packardmotorcar.com/index.php/introduction/

That vehicle looks absolutely hideous. It looks like a platypus.

[Zacha341]

Maybe they still have a few in Cuba........

[Richard]

^ They did have a Hotel Packard,built in the 1920s but they renovated it by sticking a big box on the roof and demolished the rest.

If you expand the picture you can see the Packard word in the same script as the car.

https://www.trover.com/d/1rDVu-hotel...rd-havana-cuba

[Honky Tonk]

That vehicle looks absolutely hideous. It looks like a platypus.

!?!?!?!?!?

[gnome]

No. No one drives Packards any more. The last guy I knew who did, gave up because he couldn't keep the transmission from leaking. I guess "56packman" no longer reads this bulletin board.

I think he was booted during one of the purges. He was on ... . We’re Facebook friends, I’ll ask him if he is still driving his Packard.

[Honky Tonk]

^ They did have a Hotel Packard,built in the 1920s but they renovated it by sticking a big box on the roof and demolished the rest.

If you expand the picture you can see the Packard word in the same script as the car.

https://www.trover.com/d/1rDVu-hotel...rd-havana-cuba

The Packard Motel is still in business.

[56packman]

I think he was booted during one of the purges. He was on ... . We’re Facebook friends, I’ll ask him if he is still driving his Packard.

No, I didn’t get booted.

[Packman41]

Well, I drive a 1941, 4-door convertible and my wife drives her 1941 businesswomens coupe. And a lot of my friends drive a Packard, too. BTW, I also ride bikes.

I’ll try to answer some of the comments noted above.

Night-Timer: They look tasteful because they were designed that way. The PMCC advertised that their cars were “built for gentlemen by gentlemen” meaning skilled craftsmen. Over the span from 1899 to 1958 they only built a total of 1.6 million cars with the best year, 1937, with just 109,500 built.

3WC: Actually, Packard owned the luxury car market before WWII, always out selling Cadillac and in some years outselling Cadillac and Lincoln combined. It wasn’t until after the war that Cadillac was able to gain market share. Packard was still married to a very reliable straight eight and the body shape was that of an inverted bathtup. Meanwhile Cadillac moved onto a V8 and had a lowered body style and the start of aircraft-inspired tailfins. All of GM [[including Cadilac) was better funded and able to take huge advantage of their economies of scale.

Additionally, you don’t see a lot of Packards at the WDC because it’s like showing up to hoe-down in a tuxedo. The WDC is all about the cruising era of the 1950s and 1960s. So, for the WDC I’ll be driving my 1960s muscle car.

Pam and pkbroch: The Packard Proving Grounds is a owned by a non-profit, 501c[[3) foundation dedicated to preserving the last remaining 17 acres of once was nearly 600 acres. Five of the six buildings were designed by Albert Kahn and the largest building was designed by William Kapp – same architect as Meadow Brook Hall.

The foundation hosts 2 car shows annually – “Cars-R-Stars” is held on the second Sunday in June and the free, Open House is the third Sunday of October, this year October 21. And yes they still offer rides in a Packard.

To pay for the restoration of the buildings the site is rented out to car clubs for their shows [[Easy Rodders is this weekend) and for weddings http://packardweddings.com/classic-packard-cars/ and corporate events.

Who drives a Packard? In order to get more exposure for Packard, the local Packard Club is promoting “Ten Days of Packard” this summer, running from August 17^th to August 26^th. The purpose is to use your Packard as your daily-driver and get them out for the public to see and not just at car shows. So maybe you’ll see some more around.

[gnome]

No, I didn’t get booted.

Oops. Bad intel. I blame Putin or his puppet

[EastsideAl]

There are also a few old Packards [[the car, that is) still rolling in Cuba.

[Pam]

Good to hear the car shows and open house are still going on at the Proving Grounds. I enjoyed it the times I went.

[night-timer]

The Packard Motel is still in business.

That place is on Grand Boulevard a block from the Packard plant. I can't imagine who'd stay there, or why.