Picked this up over the weekend. I'm hoping maybe someone can help me identify what car it's for. Haven't had a chance to clean it up yet but it's in pretty nice condtiion. Maybe some of them are generic and fit multiple models. Tag says Pickard Trunk Company Livonia N.Y. If you know the age or what vehicle it fits please let me know.
The late night crowd didn't have much to offer so lets try the morning crew I know this isn't exactly hot rod material but surely somebody on here knows a little bit about trunks.
Pickard was an aftermarket company that built trunks that could be used by a number of automobile makes. Yours looks to be in very good original condition and probably from the mid 20's into the 30's. It would probably make a Packard owner VERY happy
Greetings The Pickard Trunk Company was founded by my grandfather HM Pickard in western NY State in the mid 1920’s. He made trunks in a variety of sizes and styles. He had a contract early on with Pierce Arrow in Buffalo and sold different models through distributorships in various larger cities in the east. A 1927 newspaper article said the big options for cars at that time were trunks and heaters. How times have changed. His motto was “The Right Trunk for Every Car”. I guess he would make a trunk to fit anything with wheels. Some were covered with leather and some with painted steel and some with a material called Fabricoid, sort of the naugahide of its day from what I understand. My dad worked in the shop when he was a kid and strongly disliked having to rub out the finish on the painted steel models, nicknamed “The Dreadnaught”. Some, like yours, had fitted luggage and some had a tool kit/luggage combination. I have even seen them with luggage and fitted hat boxes. The company was founded in 1924 or 25 as the Dansville Trunk Corporation but later moved up the road about 20 miles to Livonia (south of Rochester and east of Buffalo) for more production room. That building still exists as a plumbing supply house. The old building in Dansville burned in the 1950’s or 60’s. In addition to trunks he made camp kits, radio cabinets, tool chests and doctor’s bags. The company went bust when the first great depression started and he moved to Ohio where he worked for a construction equipment company and developed patents for the blacktop paving machine and an automatic concrete screed widely used during WWII in the South pacific to put down military runways. I have a small collection (6) but they account for a lot of air space in my garage. Yours is a model I haven’t seen before. If you aren’t particularly attached to it and might consider selling it I would be glad to hear what you have to say. By the way the trade paper Antique Week did an article on me and my trunks about a year and a half ago if you can find a back issue. ]Thanks
The Jalopy Journal
