There have...

...been some makes of cars,
that were used by the famous and movie stars,
big and powerful of beautiful design,
oh, how I wish that one of them, were mine.

It was a symbol that showed solid success and pride,
with an engine that powered a good solid ride,
in the fifties they made them less pretty I'd say,
but they were large and comfortable, a good place to stay.

Top: 1936 Packard Convertible Sedan
Middle(1): 1941 Packard wagon - click on the photo.
Middle(2): 1948 Packard Clipper - my personal favorite.
Bottom: An example shown in 2009 of how a Packard might look today.

There has...

only been one car with an "O" that lasted very long,
and Oldsmobile is not the tune, not in this song,
but other have lasted for just a few years,
and while they diminished, few shed tears.

But the Oakland was the first General Motors "O" car,
it followed the Chevy, but wasn't a star;
so after a few years Oakland was gone by,
Chevy was followed by Pontiac - that's a reason why.

Top: 1923 Oakland, Maine roads still ride like this one!
Middle: 1924 Oakland, the perfection of Japan Blue Lacquer.
Bottom: 1928, by then Oakland was nearing the end.

A car...

...company was doing okay,
when things went haywire in some way;
they teamed up with an appliance guy,
and in a few 'short' years, they went bye bye.

It's a sad story, about marketing and such,
and of how American tastes change too much;
good solid cars, done in in the fifties,
too, too bad, those cars were such nifties.

Top: Beautiful 1925 Nash.
Middle(1): 1935 Nash - very stylish for the day.
Middle(2): 1946 Nash Suburban- that's real wood folks.
Bottom: 1955 Nash Rambler wagon, in the 50's pink, who wants to bet the interior is charcoal?

Take a....

...note from yesterday, it's the same old theme,
make one car, call it another, things aren't what they seem.
All of the Big Three have made that mistake,
so no one of them can take the cake.

It's led to the demise of some very nice brands,
Mercury for example used to call out the bands;
the Ford Motors got cheap and just made more of the same,
so design and planning are the ones to blame.

Top: 1949 Mercury family wagon-great photo of the Grumman Goose too. Click on the photo
Middle: 1951 customized.  The 1949-1951 Mercury was a favorite to customize and street rod.
Bottom: 1958 2-door hardtop, my first ride of over 100mph.

The manufacture...

...of cars took a turn for the worst,
when they all did the same thing, chapter and verse,
here's an example, say they took a Ford,
changed the grill and seats, whoa! Mercury on board.

All the companies did this. Took customers for fools,
when it would have been easier, to change a few tools.
Why in the world would you pay more for a car,
that's the same as the "cheap" one, but costs more by far?

So, let's take a look: it costs them the Plymouth, Oldsmobile too,
but we're checking out La Salle in a moment or two,
and there's more tomorrow, with Mercury in line,
and they keep killing some of the best looking ones. Fine!

Top: 1927 convertible coupe
Middle: 1940 business coupe
Bottom: 1940, eight door station wagon, from the train station to Pebble Beach!
NOTE: LaSalle became the Cadillac Series 61.

Henry J....

...Kaiser was an industrious man,
and everywhere that Henry went, Henry had a plan,
from building ships out of concrete he went...
..to building cars and jeeps, as always, hell bent.

So we have the Kaiser, Henry J, et al,
they weren't bad cars, but, they didn't have it all;
utilitarian might describe the cars that Henry built,
when he was done he sold it all and didn't have much guilt.

Top: 1949 Kaiser Deluxe
Middle: 1953 Kaiser Manhattan
Bottom: 1954 Kaiser Darren, it had "pocket doors", they slid into the front fender.

A man...

...named Ned Jordan had an idea,
why not collect parts, and build them right here.
So the ad man started to build fine automobiles that way,
all parts assembled to cars, about two a day.

The bodies were aluminum, rare for the time,
and they were stylish, the workman ship fine;
there were names like Friendly Three Coupe, that was fun,
it held two but three if friendly, that's how it was done.

1927 Phaeton
1934 Ad
1936 Ad
1934 Friendly Three Coupe Convertible
REMEMBER: You can click on a photo to make it bigger.