Packard – CARS-YDSE.com

1932 Packard-Like New

On Friday August 16th, the City of Pacific Grove held its annual classic cars on the street. As usual, one of our main streets was the landing zone for about 100 classic and luxury cars and trucks. The cars lined Lighthouse Avenue 4 deep in most of the 10 or so blocks of the exhibition.

To me, one or two vehicles “stole the show” and were clearly heads above the others. That was the case for the 1932 Packard pictured below.

Click on the picture to Z O O M in.

The gentlemen with the straw hat is the father of the owner who is to his left in a blue shirt. I was told by dad that his son bought the car from a family that owned and stored in a garage for many years. The son did some restorations and cleaning , but not much because the car was in really good shape.

Click on the picture to Z O O M in.

This car was right out of a film about Al Capone.

Also, I have over 50 pictures from Street Car Day 2019 in Pacific Grove. Just trying to figure out the best way to present them. Stand By.

1955-1956 Packard Patrician

Click on the picture to Z O O M in.

It was during the summer I went away to Boy Scout Camp that Packard released this series of cars. I lived in a large urban complex right across the river from New York City and one of my friends and my pass times was car hunting. We would ride our bikes around the city and spot the unusual cars as they drove by or were parked. One of the new features on these cars was the Torsion Level suspension and related road leveling technology. This allowed the car to be close to level as it went up or down steep hills. When we found one parked, we would stand on the front or rear bumper and allow the car to lift us up to level the car. Then we would jump of and hear the leveler take over again and move the end of the car back to level again. Luckily, the batteries were good enough to have enough juice left to start the cars when the owners got into drive away.

Click on the pictures to Z O O M in.

This car marked the last car that Packard made under their name. This last-gasp vehicle tired unsuccessfully to save the brand with new innovative engineering and new features. It did not work. The link below has some interesting information on this, the last of the Packards.
Click Here for more information.

The video below concentrates on this era in the life of The Packard Car Company and its demise.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT1l8raV8wM&w=560&h=315]

Also, have a look at the following vedio which centers more on the car in this article. View the 2nd clip in this video it is about the 1955-1956 Packard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgUaSwO0bV8

1956 Packard, It’s Almost Over

Click on the picture to Z O O M in.

Click on the picture to Z O O M in.
Tens years after the war, the U.S. car market was more than the “Big Three” There were other manufactures trying to compete with GM, Ford and Chrysler. Kaiser Frasier, Willies, Studebaker, Packard, Crossly, Rambler and probably a few I don’t remember. This 1956 Packard was really the last of the big car models released by Packard. They did have 1957 models but only sold about 4700 cars in 1957. Packard had already merged with Studebaker by that time but Cadillac had really taken over the luxury car business and it was too late for Packard in 1956.

For 1956, Teague kept the basic 1955 design, and added more garish touches to the body. Headlamps were hooded in a more radical style in the front fenders, slight shuffling of tinward distinguished the ’56. “Electronic Push-button Ultramatic,” which located push buttons to control the automatic transmission on a stalk off the steering column, proved to be trouble-prone, adding to the car’s reputation as a lemon which would soon become an orphan. Model series remained the same, but the V8 was now enlarged to 374 cubic inches for Senior series. In the top-of-the-line Caribbean, that engine put out 310 horsepower. Clippers continued to use the 352 engine, however.

More Information, click here