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Cover
This issue of the Bulletin is largely devoted to The Packard Proving Grounds north of Detroit. We can read about the restoration work since the facility was declared a historical site and also the tale of a visit there in connection with Packard Automobile Classic's National Meet 2006. The oversigned, seen here in his 1956 Four Hundred in front of the proving grounds timing tower, also shares his reflections on American Packard museums.
Page 3-4
Packard reflections
By Ole Böök
There must be something special about Packard. What other company, the production of which ceased more than fifty years ago, can display not less than three real and serious museums, the exclusive purpose of which - each in their own way - is to save and preserve the legacy of the PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY. Packard has managed to unite people with a devotion and the financial clout necessary to create three institutions devoted to show present and future generations what Packard stood for, its products and its ideas. The three are very different in their profile, image and origin, but all of them have strong links to various aspects of the Packard company.
The National Packard Museum is thus located in the city of Warren in the north-east corner of Ohio, where the company that came to be PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY was formed in 1899. In its present guise the museum opened its door (shaped like a Packard radiator) in conjunction with the Packard Automobile Classic's arranged centennial of the formation of the company and its first automobile. The museum is located at 1899 Mahoning Avenue, N.W. and its next-door neighbor is Packard Park (established at the initiative of William Doud Packard and handed over to the City of Warren in 1915) and W.D. Packard Music Hall, the construction of which was financed by money from Packard Trust, formed after William Doud Packard's death in 1923. Packard Music Hall, however, was not built until after WWII and the death of his widow.
National Packard Museum is housed in a modified and expanded building belonging to the City of Warren. The museum has its strength in Packard's early history, "The Warren Years" between 1899 and 1903, when the company moved to Detroit. The museum's archives contain extensive correspondence and other original documentation from the company's first years, including a trunk-full of documents after George Lewis Weiss (1862-1945) who together with the Packard brothers in August 1899 formed the partnership (Packard & Weiss) that on September 10, 1902 changed its name to Packard Motor Car Company, which was the company's name until the merger with Studebaker in 1954. The driving force behind the National Packard Museum is the well-known Packard profile Terry Martin.
The second institution is America's Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio, located at the south-western corner of the state. America's Packard Museum also goes under the name of The Citizens Motorcar Company, which was Dayton's Packard dealer and in whose building the museum is housed. The museum was founded in 1992 by Robert E. Signom II, a Packard collector and attorney in town. The Citizens Motorcar Company was established as early as 1910, built this new dealership in 1917 and operated as a Packard dealer, and Packard automobiles were sold and serviced there until WWII. After the war the facility was used for other auto brands and finally the building served as a regional depot for an auto parts distributor.
Much of the original equipment from the Packard era is left intact and has been refurbished to work as intended, the elevator to move cars between the floors for instance, the plumbing for evacuation of exhaust gases, the lifts and the spray booth. The collection includes a number of "important" vehicles, including many original, unrestored examples, some Signom's own, some donated, and some vehicles on loan. America's Packard Museum also has a number of Packard limousines which are rented out for weddings and similar occasions to aid in the financing, which is also supported by the sale of parts form the museum's own trove of donated parts. The museum also houses the Robert & Sonia Turnquist Packard Library, which contains Turnquist's collection of Packard literature and fills an entire room.
The third "large" Packard museum is The Packard Proving Grounds, the background and formation of which is dealt with at length in Bertil Dimander's article about Utica in this issue of the Bulletin.
As indicated, all of the "large" Packard museums display not only cars and objects in conjunction with the manufacture of same, but also contain other things relating to PMCC's operations, such as aviation engines, marine engines and stationary engines. In an effort to complement the marine exhibits the oversigned has donated a cosmetically restored eight cylinder 1M-356 engine to each of the museums and a six cylinder 1M-245 engine to the museums in Dayton and Warren (PPG already had a six, which, however, I have paid for the restoration of) and a Stokes Marine Supply Company- converted Packard V-8 marine engine donated to the PPG museum.
We stated initially that there are three "large" Packard museums, namely those described above and in Bertil Dimander's article. But there are also a number of other permanent exhibits devoted to preserving Packard's legacy. Perhaps the first one to be mentioned is the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana, not because the number of Packards on display is particularly large, but for another reason that the reader of these lines knows full well. The Studebaker museum has a half dozen Packards, but also substantial parts of what remains of PMCC's archives.
In Florida we have Fort Lauderdale Antique Car Museum with 22 Packard vehicles and an extensive collection of automobile paraphernalia of every description. The founder, retired florist Arthur Stone, has received a grant from the City of Ft. Lauderdale to expand the museum building from 18,000 to 25,000 square feet.
The Kanter brothers' large building in Boonton, NJ, a former silk mill and handbag factory from the late 19th Century, also contains a collection of some 20 Packard cars (and a converted tow truck), as well as a plethora of other goodies, such as a Packard V-12 PT boat engine and interior details and displays from the premises of Packard dealerships in all of eastern United States accumulated in the quest for NOS Packard parts at the end of the 1950s and into modern times.
Several collectors possess significant collections of Packard cars. Here can be mentioned Eugene Tareshawty, whose Packard Youngstown Motor Car Company holds a fine collection of 1940 Packard Darrins and an exceptional array of 1940 Packard accessories. When it comes to Packard Darrins, Mr. Tareshawty is neck-and-neck with Ralph Marano (used car dealer in Garwood, New Jersey, specialized in better used cars, such as Maybach, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, etc.), who has a Packard collection of close to 40 cars. In recent times the collection has been broadened to include close to half a dozen of 1950s experimental cars, type Balboa, Panther and Pan American. Another collector with a specialty is Robert Bahr in Oxford, Maine (right next to the town of Norway, Maine) with several buildings filled with exclusive vehicles, including half a dozen Duesenbergs and a small armada of 1932-34 Twin Six and Twelve Packards with Dietrich bodies, one of every type made during these years.Harrah's large automotive museum in Reno, Nevada, at one point included a separate building devoted solely to Packard. William Harrah's ambition was for the collection to include at least one car for each of the years 1899 and 1958, but this wish never quite came to fruition. I recall that representatives for the years 1899, 1903 and possibly one or two other years were missing. At its peak the collection contained some 100 Packards, but is now "only" half as large as all cars that could bring in fast and "real" money have been sold off by the new owner, the hotel and casino operator Holiday Inn.
Last but not least we have Graeme Crawford's museum in Anawharta, Whangarei, New Zealand, which is said to contain between 50 and 100 Packards. The number is somewhat uncertain. Go there and check it out!
Page 6-11
Unique Utica
Text and photography: Bertil Dimander
In the summer the news spread that there was a possibility of saving Packard's famed test and development department at Utica north of Detroit. Of primary concern were the buildings housing living quarters, garage, laboratory, etc., but also the water tower, the timing tower and a small portion of the actual test track. In Bulletin 97 from October 1999 we carried a small notice that the timing tower had been saved. The Packard Motor Car Foundation was formed to save the Packard Proving Grounds.
The rest of this article is a synopsis of articles that have appeared in the PAC's Cormorant quarterly magazine and other sources.
Page 12-17
"And suddenly I was there myself..."
Text and photography: Bertil Dimander
I have had a deep interest for the testing facility at Utica for many years. In part because it has been so important to American auto and motor industry, but also because to confirm Packard's reputation, not only as a luxury car but also as a product of high quality. Many experiments were carried out in laboratories and on test tracks, some of which resulted in inventions that became the standard of the auto industry in general. Aviation and marine engines were also developed, especially during WW II. When PMCC's President, Henry B. Joy, presented the plans for a test track in 1915, the board wondered why Packard should spend money on such an object when America's entire road network was at the company's disposal for testing cars. The future nevertheless proved that Joy was right; modern and confidence-inspiring car production demanded that vehicles could be tested under all conceivable conditions.
I wrote the preceding article about Packard's testing facility and its resurrection in the fall of 2005. The November issue of PAC's Cormorant News Bulletin contained an invitation to PAC's national meet and I told wife Maddi that if there was one meet I would like to participate in, this was the one. The reason was that the meet was going to be held in Detroit and would include a visit in Utica. At that time it was just an unrealistic dream, but in the beginning of 2006 an invitation to a wedding in Canada landed in the mailbox. Could these events be combined? Of course! The flying time between Toronto and Detroit is a mere 45 minutes.
The joy and usefulness of friends
We had an eight hour layover at Newark on our way to Canada. How nice and practical to have Berit and Bill Hirsch half an hour away from the airport. We were able to spend an evening in Toronto ten days later in the company of Ann and Bob Corcoran. Tip to members: always bring along your NPOC [and/or PAC directory] when traveling.
Leaving Maddi to fly home to Stockholm on her own, I arrived in Detroit, or actually in Pontiac 40 kilometers north of downtown Detroit on July 3rd. I was going to share room with Ole Böök, but could find neither him nor his 1956 Four Hundred. It turned out that the transmission on Ole's car got stuck in reverse outside Cleveland so the car had to be flat-bedded the last 186 miles. But the world's best Ultramatic expertise was on hand at Pontiac so the problem was solved in rather short order.
Excursion to PPG
Americans love abbreviations. And sure, it's a lot easier to write PPG than the Packard Proving Grounds, so that's what I'll do going forward.
All of Tuesday was devoted to an excursion to PPG with lunch and an interesting program. The 64 page thick program contained explicit directions and the trip there was individual with arrival no later than by 10:00 a.m. Just before PPG certain cars were assembled for special assigned positions within the PPG complex. For instance, 1956 cars were placed in a large semi-circle around the large tent were lunch was going to be served. This in recognition of the fact that 1956 was the last year for Packard at PPG, exactly fifty years ago.
And suddenly I was there! The feeling when we drove through the well-known gates is difficult to describe. This was the Fourth of July so the Star-spangled Banner was streaming from the new flag-pole at the entrance, placed exactly were it had been at the time. We drove past The Lodge, adjoined to the experimental garage and the laboratory buildings. The newly renovated water tower could be seen to the right and in the background we saw the timing tower, the so-called pagoda. Breaking off from the above mentioned buildings was the manufacturing plant that Chrysler Defense Engineering had built during WW II to manufacture tanks and the Lindbergh hangar which had been moved and now lies close to the other buildings.
We now had a couple of hours to acquaint ourselves with the area and in several of the buildings there were guides who could tell what the various premises had been used for during PMCC's time and what was planned for the future. Professional photographers were on hand and those who wished could have their Packard photographed at the timing tower.
In the yard between the lodge and the garage a real old Packard from the years in Warren and a fire truck from the teens flanked a lectern and two Pan Americans, Packard's beautiful show car from 1952, the car that inspired the 1953 Caribbean. One of the Pan American's was the personal car of Ed Macauley, head of the design department at PMCC from 1932 until his death in 1955. Indoors, one could see the two marine engines, one of which was donated and both restored by Ole Böök, plus PT boat engines from WW II and the Korean war.
Two speakers from Packard's active time at PPG
Lunch was served under two large party tents, after which we got to hear two very interesting persons. First Roberta "Bobbie" Vincent Mocabee spoke on the subject Life at the Packard Proving Grounds, illustrated by many interesting photographs. She is the daughter of Charlie Vincent, who headed PPG, and she lived at the Lodge during her entire childhood. "Bobbie," an elegant and alert lady of 75, told us that she still has the furniture from her childhood home and that she now, together with a lot of other Packardiana, was donating everything to the Packard Motor Car Foundation, the entity formed to manage PPG. She also paid for five of the elm trees in memory of her parents and two sisters, and one for herself, to commemorate the collision with a tree when she was learning to ride the bike in her childhood. She closed her remarks by handing over a check for $ 10,000 to the foundation.
Next up was an alert fellow, especially considering that he is 97 years old. Carl Altz was a test driver for Packard 1934-1956 and his memory is crystal clear. He told us in detail about interesting, exciting and amusing events and he remembered well which persons were present on the different occasions. I saw him a few days later standing and studying in detail the engine of a 1910 Packard in the shade of a tree - without glasses. Carl Altz, who still lives in the home in Utica he bought in 1934, is said to visit PPG on an almost daily basis.
At three o'clock the official program ended and half an hour later the gates were closed. A lavish buffet was set up in the experimental garage for a number of specially invited guests who gathered in front of the aforementioned lectern. Speeches and tributes to benefactors, all those who have spent time and money to restore and maintain he facility to its state in the 1940s according to the goal set by the foundation. Ole received a plaque for the donation of one and the restoration of two marine engines. Many individuals and companies have given money, tools and equipment for the restoration and maintenance of PPG. One useful donation was that of a brand new Husqvarna riding mower for the huge grassy areas at PPG.
Praise for NPOC and the Bulletin
Wednesday was devoted to various seminars and meetings, among them the Editors Meeting, i.e. a meeting for the local editors of PAC's regional member publications and newsletters. As former editor of the NPOC Bulletin I participated in this meeting and handed out a number of the two most recent issues. Everybody was impressed by the high quality and the many color photographs. Bud Juneau, who led the meeting, gave me a lot of time to tell about NPOC and our member publication. George Hamlin, a well-known Packard profile and member of NPOC, extolled our club and how it functioned, also praising the quality and the content of the Bulletin.
The rest of Wednesday didn't offer anything of particular interest to me, so time was spent kicking tires and mingling among the 160 or so participating Packards assembled in a reserved section of the hotel's parking lot. I also paid a visit at the indoor flea market, where all manner of Packard parts could be bought and where I also met the very engaging Jim Hollingsworth, author of PACKARD 1940 a pivotal year, of particular interest to me as owner of an 1807.
Judging of cars and admiration of clothing
The next excursion was scheduled for Thursday July 6 and now was the time for Scripps Mansion. This magnificent building and its generous surrounding park had been chosen as background for the judging event for owners aspiring to get a trophy for a shelf in the garage. Cars were divided into 14 classes with 30 sub-divisions. I think I prefer NPOC's founder's, Harald Jonsson's, concise comment in the context: "A Packard is a Packard!"
Scripps Mansion was built in 1927 by William E. Scripps, son of the founder of Detroit News. The connection to Packard is that Scripps was one of the founders of Detroit Automobile Club, together with, among others, Henry B. Joy and Russel A. Alger from PMCC.
After lunch, again enjoyed under a party tent on a big lawn outside the mansion, the Fashion Show was staged. We thought this might be an occasion for Packard owners to show off garments they had acquired form their car's year of manufacture. But no, this was something entirely different. We were offered a professionally arranged show where the clothes were the garb was geared to history and where several of the models arrived in Packard cars form the appropriate period. A 1937 Twelve even suffered "engine failure" and two "mechanics" had occasion to show what Packard's master mechanics' shop coats and overalls looked like. The hour-long show ended with the arrival of Miss Packard in a 1956 Caribbean Convertible.
Friday, Ford and feast
Friday morning was dedicated to the Ford Museum in Dearborn. The name might lead you to believe that this is an exhibit of just Ford cars, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is a place where you can follow U.S. history of every era. And see all kind of objects, from tools to turbines, from agricultural machinery to airplanes and locomotives. And, of course, some Packards: Henry B. Joy's camping car from 1916 used when he led the building of the Lincoln Highway and a 1929 Speedster Eight with a roadster body. Those who find nothing of interest at the Ford Museum aren't interested in anything, as a friend of mine said. I agree.
Friday and the national meet ended with the traditional banquet, at which I collected a plaque to bring home to Hans Schmidtz for the best member publication of a Packard club outside the United States.
More cars
The trip home on Saturday started with a trip back to Dearborn and the Michigan chapter of Classic Car Club's annual meet. Nice to see some cars other than Packard, such as Pierce-Arrow and the threesome from Indiana: Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg. After that all we had to do was to find Interstate 80 East and drive about 600 miles back home to Ole in New Jersey, and then SAS took me home to Stockholm.
A fund raising drive among the participants at the meet raised $ 42,000 towards the restoration of PPG. This sum was doubled by a group of directors of Packard Motor Car Foundation. Additional donations made brought the week's total to $ 125,000 to the foundation's coffers.
Page 18-19
It's a Gubitz!
Research and text: Ed Miller
Translation and editing: Bertil Dimander
Has it ever happened to you? You have sacrificed 12 years of work and a lot of money to restore the Packard of your dreams. And finally the big day arrives. The car is ready and you drive your gorgeous 1930s car to a Packard meet. The other participants are impressed by beautiful car and the magnificent restoration. You stand there beaming with pride when somebody taps your shoulder and asks: "Is this car designed by Dietrich?" How do you respond?
Raymond Dietrich left the company that carried his name in the spring of 1931 after having completed the design of Packard until 1934. It's true that some cars had the little "Dietrich, Inc." plate until 1937, but they were not designed by Dietrich. Do you respond: "No, it's a regular standard body."
When speaking of the automotive great designers from the classic era, names like Brunn, Brewster, LeBaron, Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, Darrin and, of course, Raymond Dietrich, come to mind. But has anybody heard the name of Packard's most important designer from this era? His name was Werner Gubitz.
Werner Hans August Gubitz was born in Hamburg July 29 1899 and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1905. As a young man he worked for Fleetwood, then LeBaron and finally he joined Packard in 1927. He quickly became chief designer under Ed Macauley. Gubitz ha strong influence on all cars produced from 1930, including the Light Eight and all the cars of the Custom made by Packard cars of the 1930s. He had a lot to say in the design of the Clipper, although much of the credit went to Howard A. "Dutch" Darrin, who was hired from the outside for the job. Werner Gubitz died in 1971.
Next time someone asks who designed the body of your car from between the wars, you can safely say: "It's a Gubitz."
Ed Miller is president of The Florida Packard Club, a region of PAC. The first part of the article above appeared in the August 2006 TFPC member newsletter, The Caribbean Courier.
Page 20-21
Rally Packard West 2006
Text: Ingrid Löwgren
Photography: Suzanne Behr, Hans Schmidtz
The twelfth of this meet was staged September 12 in Western Sweden. The tour included visits to a Rolls Royce museum in Rolfstorp, which also includes a 1908 Renault, licensed and ready to go, but with the registration restriction that it cannot be driven after dark or in tunnels because its acetylene headlights are deemed inadequate.
A visit was also paid at Stegered, a farm where the owner has impressive collection of horse-drawn carriages of every description, from exclusive landaus to fire-engines. In the yard was also a Rolls Royce with tag CLOUD1.
Back Cover:
Taxi
Text: Hans Schmidtz
Photography: Bertil Dimander
In 1946 Packard for the first time presented a factory-built taxi, the 21st Series Clipper Cab. Packards, of course, had been used as taxis and by limo services long before, but this model was built especially to serve as a cab. Due to varying state laws, they were built in two versions, one with assault protection for the driver and one as a regular sedan.
Basically the car was a Clipper Six with more robust chassis components for greater durability. Seats were in leather and interior panels were made of phenol plastic laminate, also known as Formica. The chassis was equipped with the Super Eight rear axle, a high capacity (40 Amp) generator, closed crankcase ventilation and heavy duty brakes.
Windows were metal framed and the car was equipped with a luggage rack that looked rather crude compared to the sleek models featured during the 1930s. The roof taxi sign was an accessory. This Clipper model is the only one with a backlight that could be opened (electrically) for passenger comfort.
On the instrument panel, next to the rear window control, was a warning light that showed if a door was ajar. Technology should be used for passenger safety!
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