Packard "Ask the man who owns one”

 Packard

"Ask the man who owns one” 

1933 Packard Eight Coupe Roadster 

Not many years after it’s founding in 1899, Packard Motor Car Company   established itself as America's premier fine car maker, as it claimed over 50% of the luxury market by the time the “Tenth Series” was introduced in 1933 as “the greatest Packards ever built.” 

However, the Depression brought with it slumping sales of luxury cars but Packard hoped to increase sales by stretching the product line into three distinct groups– the Eight, the Super Eight, and the Twelve.

Even as Packard's entry-level model, the Eight was still well and truly a full luxury car. With a 320-cubic inch 120-horsepower aluminum-‘L’ head straight-8 cylinder engine with down-draft carburetor and full synchronized transmission, the 1933 Packard Eight provided exceptional performance and was considered a performance car of the era for those who could afford them. 

The sales price for the 1933 Packard Eight series automobile started at $2,150, at a time when the average family earned $2,956 annually in taxable income, and for comparison, a new 1936 Plymouth Six sold for $445. 

   

Fewer than 5,000 examples of the “Tenth Series” Packard were produced and of that total, only 1800 Packard Eights were built,  spread over fourteen different body styles. 

As displayed at the Blackhawk Museum, this two-tone red 4-passenger Coupe Roadster, a body style which was offered only in 1933, rides on a 127-1/2 inch wheelbase features a rumble seat, side-mounted spare tire, white wall tires and Trippe driving lights.

Trippe lights, sold and installed by Packard dealers, were mounted on the bumper bar and were fixed as opposed to the more expensive “self-steering” Pilot Ray lights which moved in concert with the with the front wheels through a series of linkages   

This car, which was listed for sale for $325,000, previously received the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) National First Place Award and a 100-point Senior Award.

1934 Packard Super Eight Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton

In 1934, Packard introduced the “Eleventh Series” which maintained the three distinct products lines – the Eight, the Super Eight and the Twelve. This car also displayed at the Blackhawk Museum is a Super Eight, ,shared the same chassis as the twelve-cylinder cars, and in the case of this car, rides on a 142-inch wheelbase.

This car is powered by the Packard 385-cubic inch straight eight cylinder L-head engine with aluminum alloy pistons that produced 145 horsepower connected to a three-speed synchro-mesh transmission. Packard factory literature indicated that customers could expect to travel ten miles per gallon of gasoline under average conditions. 

Before leaving the factory 'Super Eight 'engines were run-in with an electric motor for nine hours then run on a dynamometer for one hour and 15 minutes. After the engine was installed in the chassis, the car was given a road test at the Packard Proving Grounds 

The striking four-passenger deluxe dual-cowl sport phaeton body was built in the 22-acre body plant inside the mile-long Packard factory.  As is typical of the era, this is not an all-steel body rather kiln-dried hardwoods are used for the supporting structure of the 19-gauge (7/16th inch) steel body panels. Packard literature stated that a composite body was lighter than an equivalent all-steel body and less prone to rattles and squeaking.

This car, retailed from the factory for a base price of $3,440 is equipped with chrome plated wire wheels which sold for $32 each and a pair of side-mounted tire mirrors at $16  for the pair.  

The dual trumpet horns were a standard feature introduced for the eleventh series, and the new-for-1934 fender lights are mounted on the redesigned eleventh series fenders with improved gutter construction on the underside of the fender to prevent water being thrown up at high speeds.

Packard Motor Car survived the Depression and emerged from World War Two production in solid financial condition, but management made some key mistakes by using the same styling on the lower and upper priced models. 

Packard continued to lead in fine car sales until 1950, but as the decade of the nineteen fifties continued, Packard sales declined perhaps because Packard still offered straight eight engines while the market had moved onto V-8 engines. 

In 1954 Packard merged with Studebaker but that marriage proved disastrous, with the last “true” Packard was built in Detroit in June 1956, and the Packard brand name disappeared altogether in 1959.    

All photos by the author

1924 Voisin C4S Sport Tourisme

In 1922, French aviation pioneer turned luxury automaker Gabriel Voisin produced a small lightweight car the C4 as opposed to his first cars the huge V-12 powered C2 or its follow-up the C3. Due to its size, the C4 was nicknamed the "petit voisine" or "little neighbor."

Like all the other Voisin automobiles, it was powered by a sleeve-valve engine, but in this case a four-cylinder 1328 CC (81 cubic inch) displacement engine with the dynamo/starter motor mounted directly to the front of the crankshaft.

The starter motor is visible directly below the grille shell which is topped with the characteristic Voisin radiator mascot a stylized art deco version of the figure of the winged Egyptian goddess Isis.

This Voisin C4S Sport Toursime shown at the Blackhawk Museum is fitted with a miles per hour speedometer as it was ordered United States delivery and was shown at the New York Automotive Salon at the Hotel Commodore in Manhattan in either in 1924.  

This C4S Sport Tourisme, with its patented disappearing top and trademark Ecossaise (plaid) paint scheme is one of just two known to exist. The C4S was only built through 1925, with perhaps 900 built in total.  The company produced a number of striking designs and innovations through the years, but Avions Voisin, described as "the most idiosyncratic of marques," dropped out of the automotive market in 1939 after limited production of the C30.

Photos by the author

Mazda's first "rotary rocket" 

On display at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville is a stunningly restored example of a 1968 Mazda Cosmo 110 A Series 1 coupe, the first car produced by the Japanese automaker that used the eccentric rotary design Wankel engine which the company made famous.

The Wankel rotary engine was envisioned German engineer Felix Wankel, who patented his engine design in 1929 and produced his first working prototype in 1957. Wankel’s creation offered the advantages of compact design and lighter weight over conventional connecting rod/crankshaft reciprocating engine designs. Wankel’s employer, the German car manufacturer NSU built the first Wankel powered car but also licensed the engine design to Mazda in 1961.

Mazda introduced the prototype Cosmo coupe at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1964, and after solving reliability problems with the engine production began in 1967. The first Cosmos were powered by a twin-rotor engine that developed 110 horsepower (thus the name of the car 110A), but in 1968 introduced the Cosmo series 2 which was fitted with a more powerful rotary engine that developed 126 horsepower. All Cosmos featured manual transmissions, the series 1 cars, a 4-speed box and the series 2 cars equipped with five-speed transmissions.

Mazda raced the 110A Cosmo Series 1 in only one race, the 1968 Marathon de la Route 84-hour endurance race on the torturous German Nürburgring circuit. Two Cosmos were entered to prove the rotary engine’s durability. One car, driven by an all-Japanese team, did not finish after an axle broke, but the second car piloted by a team of Belgian drivers finished the 84-hour grind in fourth place, albeit 12 laps behind the winning Porsche 911.       

The car shown at Blackhawk is a rare series 1, one of only 343 series 1 cars produced. The car is white with a black trimmed interior with black and white hounds-tooth cloth seat inserts and right-hand drive. The car was “resto-modded” in Japan in 2008; while it appears stock on the exterior, this car has an upgraded RX-7 engine, transmission and disc brakes and is fitted with aftermarket 15-wheel alloy wheels.

By the time Mazda ended production of the 110A Cosmo in the Fall of 1972, 1,176 of the hand-built cars had been built.  Mazda would go on to build nearly 2 million rotary powered cars and use a rotary powered car to win the 24 hours of LeMans in 1991 but produced its last RX-8 sports car in 2012.  

photos by the author   

1957 BMW Isetta 300 “Bubble Car”

Recently on a visit to the Blackhawk Museum, the author spied on display a restored 1957 BMW Isetta 300, a micro-car that due to its unique shape is known as a “bubble car.”  Originally designed by Iso in Italy the Isetta powered by a two-stroke motorcycle engine was first shown to the public in November 1953, the tiny seven-and-a-half-foot long car was a sensation. Iso made a few hundred of these cars, but most production was by license to manufacturers in France, Brazil, Argentina and Germany.

The German manufacturer, BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) introduced its version of the Isetta, known initially as the Motocoupe, in late 1955 with a single-cylinder four-stroke engine that displaced 250 cubic centimeters (CC) (15 cubic inches) and developed 12 horsepower. In early 1956 BMW added the larger 300 CC (18 cubic inches) that developed 13 horsepower to the product line.

Although the horsepower change is slight, and the top speed of 53 miles per hour (MPH) is unchanged, the 300 CC engine provides more torque and better hill-climbing ability. The engine is connected to a BMW 4-speed transmission with reverse that fed the rear two wheels and is cooled by a forced air fan. The nearly 800-pound Isetta was not designed for performance but fuel economy and a BMW Isetta could easily achieve over 60 miles per gallon of gasoline.  

Believe it or not, Isettas competed in the famed Italian road race the 1,000 mile Mille Miglia in 1954 and 1955. In 1954, Iso Isettas finished first, second, third, fourth and sixth in the economy car division and averaged over 43 miles per gallon with a winning average speed of 45 miles per hour.

a page from a BMW Isetta owners manual

As part of the licensing agreement BMW also purchased the body dies from Iso so the BMW cars are very similar to the Iso, but the deluxe versions such as the one on display in Danville, featured sliding side windows. The tubular chassis features independent front suspension with coil sprint, while the narrow rear suspension uses quarter elliptical leaf springs, and the car features four-wheel hydraulic brakes.   The design allowed a turning radius of 27 feet.

 

One of the most striking features of the Isetta is the front opening door with the hinged swing-away steering wheel and dashboard to allow passengers easy access to the bench seat. The author remembers as a nine-year old taking a ride in a BMW Isetta which was used by the local Rambler dealer, Dale Rambler, to ferry service customers home while their car was being serviced.   The BMW Isetta was marketed as an ideal suburban second car for shopping and picking the children up after school.  

After a peak of nearly 40,000 built in 1957, sales declined as BMW introduced larger cars - first the 4-seat 600 bubble car and then the model 700. In 1962, BMW manufactured the Isetta until May 1962 with a total of 161,728 built making it the most popular single-cylinder car ever built.

The fully restored 1957 BMW Isetta Model 57 Deluxe example on display at the Blackhawk Museum is finished in coral red and ivory with a folding black roof and gray and black interior.  The car is currently offered for sale at $35,000.

http://www.blackhawkcollection.com/

The show-winning French car
named after a whale

 

 

 

 

The 1947 Delahaye 135 M Figoni & Falaschi Narval cabriolet shown at the Blackhawk Museum is one of only seven cars built with this style coachwork but none of the seven cars are the same. The series was named ‘Narval’ after the car’s noses which resemble a Narwhale, the so-called “unicorn of the sea” because of the single tusk that protrudes from their head.

Designed by young engineer Jean François, the Delahaye 135 was produced from 1935 until 1954, and its low-slung chassis of the 135 made it an excellent candidate for custom coachbuilders such as Figoni & Falaschi and Jaques Saoutchik, while it 3 ½-liter (195-cubic inch) six-cylinder engine produced from 90 to 105 or even 115 horsepower depending on whether it was fitted with one, two, or three carburetors.   

A successful pre-war racing car which won the LeMans 24-hour race in 1938 (as well as finishing second and fourth) the Delahaye 135M production car continued to be built until the company ceased operations in 1954.

 

 

 

The car shown at the Blackhawk Museum, designed by Joseph Figoni and built with his partner Ovidio Falaschi, was sold new to Mark Dietsch of Cleveland Ohio, President of the Prima Shoe Company. As a manufacturer of fine women’s show, in 1954 this car was used in the Prima Shoe Company’s ‘Cover Girl flats’ advertising campaign. Known as the ‘Cover Girl Narval,’ it was found in Switzerland in the late nineteen seventies and purchased by Bob Atwell of Texas who had the engine replaced before he sold the car to collector Russ Jackson of Barrett-Jackson Auctions.

 

 

 

Jackson’s son Craig Jackson (now familiar to television viewers) restored the car and painted it black with dark red snakeskin leather upholstery. The car was sold at auction to a Japanese collector in 1989 but in recent years the car returned to North America where it was returned to its original appearance. at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours de Elegance, this car won the Postwar Grant Touring class and was awarded the French Cup as the most significant car of French origin.  

 

 

 Photos by the author

A pair of stately Pierce-Arrows

 

 

 

In the early part of the twentieth century, the Pierce-Arrow was one of America’s outstanding automobiles built in Buffalo New York. Beginning in 1901, the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company built an expensive line of autos that stressed style, grace, quality and durability which appealed to the upper classes of society.

 

Pierce-Arrow owners included President William Howard Taft, his successor Woodrow Wilson; actors Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, beer mogul Adolphus Busch, aviation pioneer Orville Wright, and baseball legend George Herman “Babe” Ruth as well as multiple members of the Rockefeller and Carnegie families.

 

 

Since 1914 the styling hallmark of Pierce-Arrow was the distinctive headlights molded in the front fenders which gave the car the appearance of a wider stance. Pierce patented this placement by designer Herbert M. Dawley with patent number 1096802, although the company also offered the customer the option of conventional headlamps. Another hallmark was Pierce-Arrow’s use of cast aluminum for the entire structure of their automobile bodies.

Pierce-Arrow’s factory at Elmwood and Great Arrow Avenues built in 1907 boasted nearly 1.5 million square feet of space on 34 acres, that employed almost 10,000 employees at its peak, began to slow during the nineteen twenties, as Pierce-Arrow stuck with their proven “dual valve” six-cylinder engine.

During its lifetime the company also built heavy trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, travel trailers, but finances became a crisis and in 1928 Pierce-Arrow merged with Studebaker through the Indiana company’s purchase of $5.7 million in Pierce-Arrow stock. This provided the needed funds to invest in research and new developments at the Buffalo factory, most notably a new straight-eight cylinder engine.

There is a popular misconception that Pierce-Arrow cars of this era were powered by modified Studebaker President engines probably because the new Pierce-Arrow engine blocks which used nine main bearings for the counterbalanced crankshaft were cast at Studebaker’s foundry in South Bend Indiana.  

 

The new Pierce-Arrow equipped with the largest 385-cubic inch engine fed with a single Stromberg UU-2 carburetor that developed 125 horsepower and fed through a three-speed transmission that could carry the car to 85 miles per hour attracted a lot of attention and Pierce-Arrow sales for 1929 doubled over the previous year.      

For 1930 Pierce introduced the A, B, and C models. The A was the largest and most expensive, while the C was the most economical of the three offering. Customers had multiple body styles and four wheelbases from which to select from that ranged from 132-, 134-, 139- and 144 inches. Three engine sizes were offered -the Model A used the 385 cubic-inch engine while the Model B was powered by a 365 cubic-inch while the Model C was equipped with a 340-cubic-inch 115-horsepower engine.  A pair of 1930 Pierce-Arrow automobiles displayed at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville California are beautiful examples of the automotive craftsmanship of Pierce-Arrow.

 

 

1930 Model A 7-passenger “torpedo” touring car on a 144-inch wheelbase chassis. Note the unusual orange color of the chassis.

1930 Model B 7- passenger sedan on a 139-inch wheelbase chassis.

While Pierce-Arrow’s financial prospects soared, despite the economic Depression, Studebaker’s did not and after the company filed for bankruptcy in 1933, the one-time Studebaker President and Pierce-Arrow chairman, Albert Russel Erskine, committed suicide. A group of Buffalo businessmen pooled their funding and purchased Pierce-Arrow’s assets from the bankruptcy court.

 

Unfortunately the new Pierce-Arrow Motor Corporation was on shaky financial footing from the start, and while over the next few years, the company produced some ground breaking vehicles (including a V-12 engine, vacuum boosted braking and the art deco Silver Arrow) the company became insolvent and closed in 1938 with most of the company’s remaining assets scrapped in 1942.

Surprisingly, remaining Pierce-Arrow automobiles are considerably more affordable for collectors than Duesenberg, Packard or Stutz cars of the same era.

 

Photos by the author

Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg history on display

At the downsized automobile display at the Blackhawk Museum which now only includes a single floor of classic automobiles, the author found two artifacts of the once-mighty Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg triumvirate.

Errett Loban (EL) Cord took over as the General Manager of the failing Auburn Automobile Company of Connersville Indiana and worked at no salary with the understanding that he could acquire controlling interest if he was successful. By lowering prices and re-painting the cars, Cord quickly turned around the company’s fortunes and used Auburn as the cornerstone of his Cord Corporation which by 1929 owned 150 companies that included Lycoming Engines, Checker Cab, Columbia Axle, Stinson aircraft, and Duesenberg.

 

 

The first item of interest on display at the Blackhawk Museum is this Duesenberg Straight Eight model J engine. This 420-cubic inch engine built by Lycoming in Williamsport Pennsylvania uses dual overhead camshafts to operate four valves per cylinder which developed a remarkable for its time 265 horsepower. Transmitting its power through a three-speed transmission, a Model J Duesenberg could hit 95 miles per hour (MPH) in second gear with a top speed of nearly 120 MPH.

This engine built in 1929 was originally fitted to chassis #2175 which has been lost through the years, although part of that short wheelbase chassis’ original disappearing top body built by the Walter Murphy Company of Pasadena California was used in rebuilding Duesenberg #2154.

 

 

 

The other fascinating Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg artifact at the Blackhawk Museum is this 1935 Auburn 851 supercharged “boat tail” Speedster. Powered by a 280-cubic inch Lycoming straight eight aluminum head engine fitted with Bohnalite aluminum pistons and a Schwitzer-Cummins centrifugal supercharger that turned at six times the crankshaft speed, the engine developed 150 horsepower.

 

 

That was enough power to allow David Abbott “Ab” Jenkins to set 77 worlds records at the Bonneville Salt Flats over a 24-hour period. The records witnessed by the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association included a mile at 67.0306 MPH from a standing start and 100.77 MPH for one mile with a flying start.

 

 

 

The latter run earned the Auburn Speedster the title of “the world’s fastest stock car” and every production 851 Speedster carried a dash plaque (Auburn part number is G5437) signed by Jenkins that certified that the Speedster had been driven over 100 MPH before shipment. It’s doubtful that Jenkins drove each car but there is no question that a supercharged Auburn Speedster could easily attain over 100 MPH.

This particular Speedster is equipped with a three-speed transmission single-plate clutch and two-speed Columbia rear end, which allowed the driver to switch between the in-city and open road axle ratio using a selector on the steering wheel hub.  

 

While this car designed by Gordon Buehrig was striking and with its “boat tail” design and chrome exhaust pipes was probably was the dream of many young men in 1935, the factory had to actually force some Auburn dealers to put a Speedster on display on their showroom floor.  The car had no virtually no room for luggage and with the top in place, getting in or out of the Speedster was all but impossible.  There were an estimated 500 Speedsters built in 1935 and 1936, but years later many Speedster replicas of varying build quality have been built.

Alas, the Cord Corporation itself collapsed in late 1937 - EL Cord sold out before the holding company entered bankruptcy and its various assets were sold off by the bankruptcy court.   Auburn renamed American Central fabricated parts for Jeeps and B-25 bombers during World War II and Lycoming remains in business today. 

After selling out, EL Cord moved to Beverly Hills where he had previously built Cordhaven, a ten-acre estate with a $2 million home that enclosed 32,000 square feet, had 62 rooms - 16 bedrooms and 22 bathrooms. EL made several more fortunes in radio, television and real estate before he died in 1974 but only after Cordhaven was demolished in 1963 and developed into twelve separate parcels.  His grandson Chris Cord was the 1987 IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) sports car champion.  

 

All color photos by the author