Car and Parts

51hornet · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject: Car and Parts

Growing up I used to buy two car magazine. Car & Parts and Car Collector. Used to go down to the store every month to pick them. I would get home and read them from cover to cover many times over. If I saw a part I needed or information I wanted I needed to write a letter to inquire. So everything took weeks to find out. None of this high speed access to information we have now. Plain old letter in an envelope and off it went 3 weeks later I would maybe get a reply.

It those days you could pick up a nice Packard 120 for 5 grand and that would be a solid driver. 38 Buick business coupe was maybe 3k. Unfortunately Hudsons were not on my radar then. I wanted either a Cord or a Packard. I would have settled for a 30's-40's Buick. In my travels and searchs I passed up so many good cars it amazes me how I could have been so stupid. I was laser focused on getting my favourite cars. Of course I also had a small budget that help focus me.

Car & Parts was much thicker then than it is now. C&P is a pretty poor magazine now.

Car Collector had the best writers the stories were amazing I loved Thomas Murrays columns they were pure genius. He could write about cars and evoke the era so completely you wanted to go out and buy one that same day. I guess I liked Murray because his Dad always bought Buick just like my Dad.

The nice thing is I still have all of those magazines. All in protective bags. Now that I look through them they are filled with Hudson stories. Even one by Murray explaining how brilliant the Hudsons were. The Car Collector mag today is as poorly done as C&P.

The only magazine I buy now is Hemmings. It is very well done and the car descriptions and features are very well done.

hudsonkid · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:55 pm Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

I don't buy any magazines now, but my favorite seemed to be Special Interest Autos. I always liked collecting them. I also bought a bunch or Car Collector, and Car Classics, and Car Exchange. I have a pretty decent library of these back issues, and the reference is great.

I think that Special Interest Autos is now what Hemmings' car collector magazine is, just modern, with great color.

I was trying to figure out how old you were at this point, talking about Packards, and Cords. geez...

My favorite car, when growing up, had to be (and this is freaking odd..) was a 1937 Pontiac 6 cylinder convertible sedan. I thought that owning one would have been the end all. I think about it rarely, but still what a cool car.

Reason I like these so much, is that we were going to this junkyard in the late 80's into the early 90's before they crushed it, that had one, albeit a cowl, and what was left of the body structure, but I still dreamed of having one.

Now, unfortunately, I would likely street rod one if i had one, mainly updating the driveline, but other than that, I would keep it sort of stock. I like those convertible sedans.

Funny, my library of Cars and Parts covers from 1968 to 1981, absolutely complete, and I got a ton of issues from 1981-2002~

Dave53-7C · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

Kid,

I have never been a fan of any particular magazine. If one had something of interest to me, I'd buy it. I think the Net is hard competition for magazines and swap meet sellers.

Back in the day, I was just like you guys. I had visions of 30's era cars. The closest I've come is my Hudson. Although there's no denying the thirties were the golden era for car designs, they were supposted to be a bear to drive.

BTW, he's as old as dirt but, heck, he's a nice guy.

51hornet · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:56 pm Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

Not that old Kid. Just loved older cars. I loved the Cord 812. Was a big fan of Buicks. We had all types of 70's muscle cars in my Dads garage those were old hat to me. I wanted older cars. The Cord was my dream car. Funny enough so was the 37-38 Buick Business man coupe I loved that car.

When my Dad was younger he owned a 1937 Packard Limousine it was imported into England an belonged to a diplomat. Somebody sanded the engine oil and the owner could not get it fixed. Dad bought it cheap and rebuilt the car. So he was this young guy who had moved from Ireland to work in England and he was driving around in a car 27 feet long. He would tell me about it and I loved the talk about the large headlights and the smooth running straight 8. When I got older I just wanted one or a Cord or a Buick.

I would still go for a 120 love those.

Dave53-7C · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:42 pm Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

Have you ever seen the TV show Classic Car Restoration? One series was about the restoration of what I believe was a 1938 Packard 120 coupe. Although the name of that segment's host escapes me, he is supposed to specialize in Packard restorations. I found the manner in which he presented the segments to be interesting. The guy looks like he's in his fourties, but is supposed to be almost seventy! Just goes to show you what this hobby will do to you.

51hornet · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:15 am Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

I have not seen this show. Packards were another orphan brand with excellent engineering and styling. In 53 Packard approached Barit to discuss a merger which I think would have been a great fit. The President of Packard and Barit did not get along so it fell through. Would have liked to see that merger as Packard had a great engineering and test facility plus a developed V8 program.

Both companies realized the Ford and GM price war was eventually going to kill them and that merger was the only way to survive. Unfortunately Hudson merged with the wrong company. By the way I have the merger documents that were distributed to shareholders they give a complete summary of both Hudson and Nash and are a very interesting read to say the least.....

Oh, if wishes were.....

Dave53-7C · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

A merger between Hudson and Packard would have been interesting. But whether it would have breathed life into either is up for debate. However, I think Hudson could have helped Packard with styling and performance and Packard's V-8 would have been a nice compliment to Hudson. If we could only go back in time, think of the mistakes we could correct and money we could make!

51hornet · Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:18 am Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

What do you mean "If" obviously you have not put your foot all the way down to the floorboard and tuned the radio to 540 and turned the foglight toggle backwards two turns......

Dave53-7C · Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:48 am Post subject: Re: Car and Parts

Nope, never tried that. Must be something in the owner's manual I overlooked.