thanks JWD
Sometimes people do things that mess with my mind, and this morning a Packard dealership picture takes me back generations into real life.
Once or twice already I've told about the day, probably fall 1950,
when my father brought home a car brochure.
He had been into the Packard dealership, which was on Grace Avenue, to look at and price the new 1951 Packards.
They were a total redesign from the 1950 Packard,
which was known as the bathtub Packard,
following the prewar 1942 Packard & military
that had been started back up as soon as WW2 was over,
and offered as 1946 models for a couple years.
And as I've written, that day in 1950
I was sure that Bubba was going to be driving
a Packard. But it never happened.
So, having been stirred into memories,
today's blogpost is
simply a rehearsal
of some of the
Packard motorcars
that I grew up with
and seeing downtown on Harrison Avenue
but especially in Pensacola
and around Gainesville
in those days
of being a car-loving boy.
For the most part,
the Packards pictured here
were
those I admired.
The )1932-1957) Packard Cormorant or Pelican
and the distinctive shape of the Packard radiator (later front grille)
and the Packard hubcap with the red hexagon made Packards instantly identifiable even to folks who had no interest in cars.
The ultimate blasphemy was what was done
to Packard when they finally had to give up
and unite with Studebaker
and the pathetic product was as shameful as
if one's mother had been turned out of home
and sent down to the red-light district.
It was 1957-1958,
the end of Packard cars
for all time.
