In The Good Old Summertime... [PIC]

Cigar chomping dad takes the kids for a ride while mom cooks Sunday dinner. This 1912 Packard 1-48 Victoria was originally owned by famed American female architect Mrs Theodate Pope  Riddle. A gift from her father, she and her chauffeur set out to tour England and Scotland. Few roads in Scotland meant that crossing the lochs by ferryboats. When a ferry was not wide enough to accommodate the Packard, she hired local woodworkers to build a raft for her to cross the loch. Although the Victoria body style was outdated by 1912 because with speeds possible over 25 mph, the half top just caught the wind and was rather uncomfortable. That Packard could cruise at 55 to 60 mph with a top speed of 80. Still, the chassis was outfitted by this body style built by coachbuilder Aaron T Demerest & Co of NYC. The '48' designation was the horsepower at 650 rpm (idle?) and 74 hp @ 1720 rpm from its 525 6 cylinder engine. The car featured cutting edge tech including both a magneto and a battery for self-starting. The car stayed in the Riddle estate until 1959 and had deteriorated badly. I was bought, restored and passed through a few hands until it was purchased by pharmaceutical heir J K Lilly where it became the nucleus of his collection in the Heritage Museum and Gardens.

The model, by Franklin Mint is arguably the best of their Brass Era models. Well, IMHO anyway.