Throwback Thursday and A Quarter Of A Million

Somewhere in this post is the 250,000th word I have written on Disaffected Musings. (Maybe it’s this one or this one.) If in the roughly 21 months I have been writing this blog I had half as many views as words then I would be happy, well maybe less unhappy.

******************

While my wonderful wife and I were at the National Corvette Museum I entered a raffle to win a 2019 ZR-1. Here is the car, picture from the NCM website:

 

 

A maximum of just 1,500 tickets will be sold. Here is a question: if I actually win the car do I keep it and sell my 2016 Z06 (I don’t have room for and don’t want two Corvettes AND I will have to pay taxes on the ZR1) OR do I sell the ZR1—for somewhere north of $100,000—pay the taxes and then upgrade my Z06, etc.? What would you do?

******************

On this day in 1964 the number one single on the Billboard charts was “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison. By the way, that is the correct title of the song.

Orbison was very popular in Great Britain. From August, 1963 through December, 1964 he was the only American artist to have a number one single in Britain; he actually had two, “It’s Over” and “Oh, Pretty Woman.” He toured the UK in 1963. His opening act, although some times he opened for them, was the Beatles.

Of course, 1964 was the year the Beatles entered the consciousness of the US. I am not a big Beatles fan, but I appreciate their significance and the fact that they changed popular music forever. On the April 4 Billboard Hot 100, the Beatles occupied every position in the Top 5! In the next chart, April 11, they had 14 songs in the Hot 100. Between January 18 and October 24 the Beatles had 28 different titles on the Hot 100.

When the Beatles phenomenon began their former record labels realized they had quite a treasure trove. While their first “big” American label was Capitol Records, “She Loves You” was recorded and released by Swan Records and “Love Me Do” on Tollie Records, a subsidiary of Vee Jay. (By the way, much of this information is from The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson.)

******************

Of course, 1964 was the debut model year for the Pontiac GTO, considered by most to be the first modern muscle car. Also of significance in the auto industry (some understatement never hurts) was the debut of the Ford Mustang in April, 1964. However, continuing my obsession with defunct American makes I am going to show this car, instead:

 

See the source image

 

From classicregister.com an obviously recent picture of a 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertible. Apparently, I have shown a picture of and written about a car like this before. I guess after 250,000+ words I can’t remember everything I’ve written.

The Daytona was one model that survived the closing of the main Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana in December, 1963. The wonderful Avanti and Gran Turismo Hawk were not as fortunate. I think these cars (the Daytona) have quite an appealing design. Only 702 1964 Daytona convertibles were produced, 647 with a V-8 and 55 with an inline six-cylinder engine.

 

#ThrowbackThursday

#250000Words

#CorvetteChoice

#1964

#RoyOrbison

#TheBeatles

#1964StudebakerDaytonaConvertible

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

 

 

 

Advertisement

The “End” Of Packard; More From The AACA Museum

Thanks to 56packardman for making the effort to post a link to yesterday’s Disaffected Musings entry on the Studebaker Drivers Club forum and thanks to the avid followers of that forum for clicking on the link in such numbers that the number of views yesterday was the highest in over a month. (Yes, that’s a run-on sentence.) As is my penchant and one of my weaknesses I can’t resist poking the world in the eye with a stick; I think that the number of blog views for yesterday should be at the low end of the usual range for this blog and not the high end.

******************

On this day in 1956 the last Detroit-built Packards rolled off the assembly line. From Packard: A History Of The Motor Car And The Company edited by the late, great Beverly Rae Kimes, “On that sad day, June 25th, 1956, twenty-four Clippers and eighteen Packards were run through the body shop and completed. Altogether, there had been 28,835 cars built for the 1956 model year—18,482 Clippers, 10,353 Packards.”

The “official” end of Packard in Detroit came on July 25th when Roy Hurley, President of Curtiss-Wright which had taken de facto control of Studebaker-Packard through a management agreement (that, technically, wasn’t approved by the Studebaker-Packard board until the next day), announced that he intended to recommend the continuation of the automobile manufacturing part of the Studebaker-Packard business, but only in South Bend, Indiana—the Studebaker headquarters. The next day upon formal approval of the agreement with Curtiss-Wright, James Nance, President and General Manager of Packard, and Paul Hoffman, Chairman (he had also been President of Studebaker from 1935 to 1948), resigned. Studebaker-Packard faced the end of operations if the board hadn’t approved the agreement.

How much blame Nance bears for the end of Packard is another topic for another day. 56packardman is free to offer his opinion on the subject as is anyone else reading.

******************

 

A picture of a 1955 Packard Caribbean convertible that I took during our recent trip to the AACA Museum.

I dare anyone to tell me why this next car looks dated. To me it doesn’t look much different from its contemporaries at The Big Three.

 

 

This is a 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertible of which only 703 were made. I don’t remember if this car is owned by the AACA Museum or on loan. I discovered that the museum does sell 3-4 cars a year. Their basic donation agreement stipulates only that they must keep the car for a minimum of three years.

I have asked this question before, but what is the source of my obsession with defunct American car companies? I really don’t know so I am willing to read any answers you might offer.

 

#TheendofPackard

#AACAMuseum

#1955PackardCaribbean

#1964StudebakerDaytonaconvertible

#Obsession

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.