A Most Unusual Vehicle

We often accompanied my father to  antique auto events. In 1950, my father was given a car he dubbed the Packard-Pierce by a Mrs. John D. Gordon of Norwalk, Connecticut. It was a 1917 Pierce-Arrow limousine body on a 1937 Packard chassis (with only 3,000 miles on it)—and to me it seemed half a block long. The tonneau (that's a fancy name for the rear seating compartment of an automobile—and believe me this car deserved fancy names for its parts) had crewelwork upholstery, cut glass flower vases, and gold-plated hardware. The body was painted deep maroon with black fenders and had wide white-wall tires custom made by Firestone. My father gave the car to my mother, with the license plate MRSM. It carried my mother and me quite comfortably on long old car jaunts, while Daddy took the wind in his face in a sportier model. In those pre-seatbelt days, I could play happily with my dolls on the floor of the passenger compartment in the back as we traveled. I could communicate with the chauffeur (my mother), separated from me by a sliding glass panel, through the speaking tube. There was even room on the roof rack for one of my child-size electric cars.

By the way, yesterday, January 2nd, was my father's 106th birthday!!