Lee.org

Ms. Charbonneau,

Some 12 years ago you received a gift that had been beloved in our family for some 26 years. I went with my dad to pick up the Packard from a person who was selling it in 1986. It was originally black, but it received a magnificent and factory-standard Packard cream paint job. I waited with him over several months to find and re-chrome the letters on the front and side. I watched the car come together to perfection over a few years. Once the car was perfect, he loved to take it out and just drive wherever. I remember being in the passenger seat with him, seeing him laugh, enjoying the gentle thrill of bringing it to rest at each Stop sign with those original-style drum brakes! He loved driving it whenever he could. He brought it to the Hildene Car Show in Manchester, Vermont once… maybe twice which was enjoyable. But what he really loved was driving it around town.

My dad loved the car for the personal history and aspirations that it represented. When he was young, he admired that model but couldn’t afford it. Thirty years later, he could! There are other reasons he loved it. Some of those reasons he told me and I’ve forgotten, and some, I’m sure, were impossible to articulate in the first place.

After more than 25 years of caring for the Packard, he was, of course, melancholy at selling it. But it was time. He had fewer opportunities to take it out because he and my mom were splitting their time between living in New Jersey and Florida. And even when he was in New Jersey, where the car was garaged, it only came out on special occasions. And there was the nuisance that he was about to lose the garage due to some upcoming HOA rules changes.

He loved that car!

The background image on his computer for some ten years was of my sister, his granddaughter, and I washing the car in our driveway on a summer day. I’d ask him every now and then if he wanted to update the photo and he’d laugh, pause a moment and say, “Nah! Leave it there. I like it!”

I don’t know you at all but my dad told me that the ’51 Packard had been your dream car for a long time. I’m glad, and my dad was glad that you appreciated the car.

I’m writing to tell you that my dad passed away last April. I don’t know what that might even mean to you but I thought you should know.

I want to thank you for your appreciation. We all know that the car is just a thing, but what it represents in each of our hearts runs deep and true.

Best regards,
Lee C. Sonko