Keith Snyder
PCS Member
The text below was penned by Bee Hamlin in her Chapter's newsletter. It reveals the positive impact that The Professional Car is having on those outside the organization - especially those such as the Editor of Old Cars Weekly - who commented on TPC #155. Not everybody has access to Bee's excellent newsletter so...I thought a piece of this importance should be shared with the membership at large. We are lucky to have the depth of talent with the resources and knowledge to produce issues like #155 that garner national attention for the publication as well as the PCS.
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Gerald Perschbacher, writing in Old Cars Weekly News & Marketplace, receives copies of many automotive publications from clubs large and small as a part of the publication’s Golden Quill Award program. And so he came to be in possession of PCS’s issue dealing with the 1951-1954 Henney products.
“Rarely does a national club,” he commented. “devote its magazine to an outstanding in-depth study of a particular branch of interest, but such was the case for The Professional Car Society’s The Professional Car, issue no. 155.”
Perschbacher, who sees many publications, liked what he saw. He referred to the contents as “informative and impressively detailed text coupled with a wide range of photos (many in color) to present the interesting story behind Packard and the Henney Motor Company.”
His story cited PCS (Walt McCall, Tom McPherson) and Packard (Robert Neal) folks alike in his summary. “While the PCS has presented ‘dedicated issues’ in the past,” he reported, “this one is extraordinarily meaty.” He reviewed
the contents briefly, including the reporting of the “slipping of the Henney operation in northern Illinois and the potential demise of the long-wheelbase Packard limousines and sedans,” and the development, not previously reported elsewhere, about Packard’s consideration of purchasing Henney to retain its position in the long-sedan market.
But he had some kind words about PCS as well. “It seems logical,” he wrote, “that the publications of national clubs can maximize the opportunity to devote themselves to an occasional in-depth treatise on a particular subject while maintaining the general interests of readers. In the pro-cess, fresh nuances surface and remarkable contributions to the advancement of discovery become evident. By so doing, publications further the hobby in ways that are noteworthy and commendable. At the same time, the club itself is highlighted as an innovator and pioneer on the subject.
“Such an effort deserves the support of club members who are writers and researchers on the given subject. If other national clubs follow this process, it can strengthen a national club and elevate its status in the hobby.”
And after all these kind words, he ended with contact in-formation, both postal and online, for PCS.
This treatment is becoming more common. Jim Donnelly, writing in Hemmings Classic Car a little while back, had some widely distributed kind words about PCS, calling “a group devoted to the preservation of restored hearses from the past, as well as flower cars, limousines, and other such vehicles used on solemn occasions. Their members own uniformly beautiful vehicles in gradients of gleaming black, gray, and silver.”
While Donnelly missed a significant portion of the PCS world because he was writing about a chap who liked hearses, the exposure is always welcome.
Never forget where we came from, and the progress that has been made. It is now 40 years since the formation of the Society, and 25 years since the first hearse was al-lowed onto the field at an AACA National Meet. One of the reasons for the formation of this Society was AACA’s exclusion of such vehicles (and ambulances too, BTW). That came about because of a few instances of The Native American Wise Guy, showing up with a hearse containing a box, then one-upping it with a skeleton, etc. And while some question, occasionally, PCS’s requirement that hearses be displayed empty, there are solid reasons behind it and the prestige of this group hobby-wide is a direct result.
________________________________________________________________
Gerald Perschbacher, writing in Old Cars Weekly News & Marketplace, receives copies of many automotive publications from clubs large and small as a part of the publication’s Golden Quill Award program. And so he came to be in possession of PCS’s issue dealing with the 1951-1954 Henney products.
“Rarely does a national club,” he commented. “devote its magazine to an outstanding in-depth study of a particular branch of interest, but such was the case for The Professional Car Society’s The Professional Car, issue no. 155.”
Perschbacher, who sees many publications, liked what he saw. He referred to the contents as “informative and impressively detailed text coupled with a wide range of photos (many in color) to present the interesting story behind Packard and the Henney Motor Company.”
His story cited PCS (Walt McCall, Tom McPherson) and Packard (Robert Neal) folks alike in his summary. “While the PCS has presented ‘dedicated issues’ in the past,” he reported, “this one is extraordinarily meaty.” He reviewed
the contents briefly, including the reporting of the “slipping of the Henney operation in northern Illinois and the potential demise of the long-wheelbase Packard limousines and sedans,” and the development, not previously reported elsewhere, about Packard’s consideration of purchasing Henney to retain its position in the long-sedan market.
But he had some kind words about PCS as well. “It seems logical,” he wrote, “that the publications of national clubs can maximize the opportunity to devote themselves to an occasional in-depth treatise on a particular subject while maintaining the general interests of readers. In the pro-cess, fresh nuances surface and remarkable contributions to the advancement of discovery become evident. By so doing, publications further the hobby in ways that are noteworthy and commendable. At the same time, the club itself is highlighted as an innovator and pioneer on the subject.
“Such an effort deserves the support of club members who are writers and researchers on the given subject. If other national clubs follow this process, it can strengthen a national club and elevate its status in the hobby.”
And after all these kind words, he ended with contact in-formation, both postal and online, for PCS.
This treatment is becoming more common. Jim Donnelly, writing in Hemmings Classic Car a little while back, had some widely distributed kind words about PCS, calling “a group devoted to the preservation of restored hearses from the past, as well as flower cars, limousines, and other such vehicles used on solemn occasions. Their members own uniformly beautiful vehicles in gradients of gleaming black, gray, and silver.”
While Donnelly missed a significant portion of the PCS world because he was writing about a chap who liked hearses, the exposure is always welcome.
Never forget where we came from, and the progress that has been made. It is now 40 years since the formation of the Society, and 25 years since the first hearse was al-lowed onto the field at an AACA National Meet. One of the reasons for the formation of this Society was AACA’s exclusion of such vehicles (and ambulances too, BTW). That came about because of a few instances of The Native American Wise Guy, showing up with a hearse containing a box, then one-upping it with a skeleton, etc. And while some question, occasionally, PCS’s requirement that hearses be displayed empty, there are solid reasons behind it and the prestige of this group hobby-wide is a direct result.