1940 Packards in the service

[Jordan Baker]

Hi everyone

Does anyone have any info on whether or not the Canadian Army would have used 1940's Packards at all. So far what I can find is Fords/Chevs and a few Buicks.

Ive looked through the rest of the site but all that I could find was a photo showing a Packard leading a convoy in the desert.

Any help is much appreciated.

[Bill Murray]

This is probably British, but as close as I could get. The Brits did use Packards and so did the Aussies and of course the US.
Bill

[Bruce MacMillan]

Can't help you with Canadian use but the Brits certainly used them. In 1940 MI6 bought the entire stock of Packards from UK distributor Leonard Williams Ltd.
All colours and styles (dropheads too) were converted to mobile radio stations for a secret wireless group.

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks for the info on the Packards.

[Bill Murray]

Hi Jordan:

I really wish I could help more, especially considering that soft skins are my "thing" and especially US make vehicles used by other countries.

I can verify that Ford, Chevrolet and Buick sedans were "catalouged" official vehicles used as staff cars by Canadian Forces but you probably already have that info.

The problem that you run into with these civvie vehicles is that many of them, particularly if we are dealing with "Flag Rank" officers, were very much an ad hoc affair.

As you no doubt are aware, the Germans and the Japanese confiscated virtually the entire civilian vehicle park in the countries they conquered and occupied. This included, amongst other vehicles, thousands of US make vehicles that were either used by the troops or in the case of luxury vehicles by the Brass.

As the Allies took back these countries, the luxury vehicles that were left and running were in turn confiscated by high ranking Allied officers and put into their service.

The picture is further complicated by what Bruce describes. the outright purchase or requisition of large numbers of dealer's stocks, not only in the UK but also in Canada and the US and I suspect many of the Empire countries.

From a research point of view, these vehicles are a real headache as they for the most part are not carried "On the books" but are just folded into the mix.

Even if they are given official registration plates or military ID numbers on the vehicle, I doubt if we could ever completely track down these ad hoc sort of situations.

As a New Years Eve present, I can say that I would bet that the Canadian Forces had at least a few Packards on charge at some point in time during the 1939-1945 period. Just can't prove it tonight.

Happy New Year.

Bill

[Lang]

Dredging up an old thread. Found a photo of Douglas Macarthur at Strathpine near Brisbane in 1944. His car is a special Packard (they had stopped car production) supposedly only two built - one for him and one for Eisenhower in Europe. I believe this is incorrect and more were made for the highest level officers but have found no more photos.

Lang