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#17
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11-01-2012, 04:34 PM
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 My Rank: CORPORAL Poster Rank:1637 Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 335 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 31 Post(s)
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Re: Packard Car Plant!
My dad used to work for Packard Studebaker. He loved them damned cars. We moved from that area in 1960 and drove to California in a limited edition of one of those cars. Some collector has it now. I'm sure I could track it down if I wanted to. I think they tore up the test track not too long ago. He had a funny story about it. He said it was specially designed so that you could drive something like 110 mph and the track was banked just so that the car wouldn't go off the track. Well, they'd taken some Japanese businessmen out for a test drive. They'd get it up to speed, chatting away about it without holding on to the steering wheel or looking at the track ahead. He used to laugh so much about the looks on those guy's faces (eyes big as saucers, faces white as a sheet). They were so relieved when it was over!  I'd get out there with a metal detector while you're out there.  |
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#19
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11-04-2012, 01:10 AM
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 My Rank: GUNNERY SERGEANT Poster Rank:609 Female Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1,493 Mentioned: 1 Post(s) Quoted: 140 Post(s)
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Re: Packard Car Plant!
The Fastest (and last) Packard Ever Built  The 1958 Packard Hawk was the sportiest of the four Packard-badged Studebakers produced in the final year of Packard production,. Packard's plant in Detroit, Michigan had been leased to Curtiss-Wright (and would be soon sold to them), and Packard models in this dying-gasp year were all re-badged and re-trimmed Studebaker products. The 1958 Packard Hawk was essentially a Studebaker Golden Hawk 400 with a fiberglass front end and a modified deck lid. A smoothly sloping nose, and hood with a bulge accommodated the engine's McCulloch supercharger that gave the Studebaker 289 in³ (4.7 L) V8 a total of 275 bhp (205 kW). At the rear, the sides of the fins were coated in metallized PET film, giving them a shiny metallic gold appearance. A fake spare-tire bulge adorned the 1953-style Studebaker deck lid. 'PACKARD' was spelled out in capitals across the nose, with a gold 'Packard' emblem in scrip along with a Hawk badge on the trunk lid and fins. The interior was full leather, with full instrumentation in an engine-turned dash. As on early aircraft and custom boats, padded armrests were mounted outside the windows, a rare touch. The styling was definitely controversial, often described as 'vacuum-cleaner' or 'catfish' by detractors. Interestingly, the styling has come to be appreciated more today than in its debut. Only 588 were sold, with Packard's impending demise a likely contributing factor. Most were equipped with the Borg-Warner three-speed automatic transmission. Approximately 28 were produced with the B-W T85 3-speed w/overdrive manual transmission. Studebaker-Packard was the first manufacturer to popularize the limited-slip differential, which they termed Twin-Traction. Most Packard Hawks came with TT. It was certainly the fastest Packard ever sold, since it shared the majority of its components with Studebaker's Golden Hawk. The price was $3995, about $700 higher than the Studebaker model, but with a more luxurious interior. Electric window-lifts and power seats were optional extras. Its rarity and status as the best-regarded of the 'Packardbaker' final-year cars have made the Packard Hawk quite collectible. Values are roughly double those of the equivalent Studebaker, although they are still low by comparison with Corvettes and Thunderbirds. Because a Studebaker drivetrain was used, mechanical parts are more readily available, although body and trim parts are more difficult-to-impossible to find. While it is a unique car, current restoration costs almost always exceed the selling price. |
