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Manhattan Project's "Los Alamos Limo" found
Click above for a gallery of the 1941 Packard "Los Alamos Limo"
The car you see here may not look like much, but it helped carry us into the nuclear age. Or, at least some of the scientists who brought us there. This 1941 Packard Clipper limousine is one of three that are still known to exist (coachbuilder Fitzjohn built 100 of the stretch cars that year), but we're willing to bet that the other two don't have nearly as colorful a history.
This car was used to shuttle Manhattan Project scientists between the Lamy train station in New Mexico and the project sites at Los Alamos and Trinity Base Camp. As we all know, the work of those men eventually ended World War II and altered the course of history forever. As for the big Packard, it was supposed to be scrapped. Instead, it was acquired by a collector, and subsequently decayed over the the next several decades until its importance was realized.
Now, the National Atomic Museum is embarking on a two-year restoration project of the big Packard, as well as a '42 Plymouth that carried plutonium used in the Trinity test explosion. An Albuquerque-based Packard specialist will do the work on the Clipper limousine, and enthusiasts interested in contributing to the effort can contact the museum for more details.
[Source: Atomic Heritage Foundation via Hemmings]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
dukeisduke 5:26PM (2/14/2009)
I'm glad to see more pictures here (it was featured in this week's Hemmings eWeekly, and they only had one picture). I'm amazed this thing survived this long, and wasn't crushed. I hope it gets restored to running condition, so it's not just a static display.
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Andrew 5:28PM (2/14/2009)
Creepy. It's like the limo of death. Should be a hearse ;-)
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Mwmorph 5:34PM (2/14/2009)
I'm more interested in the 42 plymouth if anyone can find images of that. Pure plutonium, without inches and inches of lead shielding would kill the driver and anyone near it if they were exposed to it for more than a few hours straight. Uranium decays slowly compared to the insane rate plutonium decays at.
I'd like to know if the 42 plymouth is some custom job with a lead reinforced 2nd row.
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Alex Nunez 5:36PM (2/14/2009)
Here's the Plymouth:
http://www.atomicmuseum.org/atomiccars.cfm
dukeisduke 6:21PM (2/15/2009)
It's apparently not the original Plymouth:
"1942 Plymouth - This is the type of vehicle used for the historic drive from Los Alamos to the Trinity Site on July 13, 1945. The car carried two hemispheres of a plutonium core – the key ingredient for the first atomic bomb –to the McDonald ranch house for assembly. Three days later, the core fueled the Trinity explosion, and changed the world forever."
So, the "type of vehicle", but not "the vehicle". The thing that made me suspicious to begin with is that the Plymouth in the black-and-white photo has blackout trim, while the restoration project has bright trim.
JDMlover 5:42PM (2/14/2009)
Thats going to be so sweet when its done.....i can see it now......
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Mobius_1 8:36PM (2/14/2009)
That's probably what the scientists said during the Project.
casey 5:46PM (2/14/2009)
this is great news. i'm a huge fan of old cars and the history of the automobile, and this is a great little sidebar to history. the original Clipper series is historical enough to Packard enthusiasts but with this provenance, this specific car is irreplaceable. hats off to all of us packrats that just can't throw anything away. we may not always have everything in mint condition, but it's certainly better than just tossing items away when they're discovered like this one.
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Snix 6:08PM (2/14/2009)
I saw this museum on the way driving back to Michigan from Arizona. Nice museum. If you can get to Las Vegas, the Atomic Testing Museum is outstanding. I got the feeling that this museum in New Mexico was a work in progress. Then I found out that they just recently relocated to their new site. They did have a couple of hood emblems on display with some pictures.
Both museums offer unique sights.
Oh, and the Unser racing museum in Albuquerque is nice also. Its just on the other side of town.
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T-5 killer 12:52AM (10/30/2009)
It is a good museum its a shame it got moved from Kirtland AFB it was alot better which included a large aircraft display, including a B-52, B-29, F-105 and a large number of missles and rockets. The current Museum in old town is very limited and wasn't allowed to show much of the weapons side of New Mexicos atomic history due to the area the museum is located. Funny you mention the Unser Museum, its also a great museum but also in a horrible location.
mike 5:57PM (2/14/2009)
m-m-installs-inc.chiefmall.com is one site you can see a few updated photos of the '41 packard restoration project.
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dukeisduke 6:29PM (2/15/2009)
Here's the link to the first photo in the series:
http://m-m-installs-inc.chiefmall.com/portfolio/6f899d6655751a41dec0a87f103df1b0/?start=18
Lots of wood in those added doors, and what looks like Masonite on the inside, along with some wooden roof bows. With the wheelbase extension to the body and frame, the thing must've had all the torsional rigidity of a wet noodle.
Mitka 6:15PM (2/14/2009)
It's great to see rare auto history be restored and taken care off!
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CarbonBlack 6:40PM (2/14/2009)
I think Leno should buy it!
He does such a great job restoring, maintaining, and loving historically important cars. It would make a great addition!
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Yago Bal 7:00PM (2/14/2009)
Except he would immediately "improve" it with a bunch of modifications...
al 1:03AM (2/15/2009)
I wonder if Feynman was in it.
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JN 2:34AM (2/15/2009)
I'll be glad to see both cars restored. It's a shame Chrysler isn't in the financial condition to assist with the Plymouth; they did a heck of a job a few years ago on the 1941 Chrysler Royal coupe and Windsor sedan once owned by President and Mrs. Truman.
Regardless, given the historical significance of these vehicles, it's good to see they're finally getting the recognition they richly deserve.
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HC 4:52AM (2/15/2009)
Chris Bangle is shedding tears of joy.
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erichwwk 11:22AM (2/15/2009)
Thanks for sharing the photo!
However when you "All know" as in
"As we all know, the work of those men eventually ended World War II ...
The existence of a single denier (me) makes that statement false.
Where you to change "All" to "most" I would still challenge that assertion.
As information becomes more available, including that of folks that actually worked on the first two bombs, the opinion is shifting to the realization that Japan was already defeated, and the actual terms accepted (Japan retains the emperor)
were available prior to the bomb being dropped. Furthermore, considered the severe bombing of civilians, first in Germany, and then in Japan, caused the bomb to be considered "more of the same", the difference being not in terms of the deaths involved (except being even more inhumane), but in terms of the number of individuals required to inflict that pain.
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Dan Dolan 9:31PM (2/15/2009)
This post is to flesh out the details of the 'rescue' of the 1941 Packard "Los Alamos" limo and the 1942 Plymouth that are now in the hands of the National Atomic Museum - soon to be the newly moved and refurbished National Museum of Nuclear Energy and Science (opening April, 2009).
The rescued vehicles were located in a Gallup, NM, junkyard that was founded in the 1930s by the grandfather of the current owners and held numerous 1930s, 40s, and 50s trucks and cars plus a lot of other old material, some military, some not. The vehicles were mostly purchased from the military bases, salvage yards, and at government sales. The remoteness of the yard, open only occasional Sundays, winter mud making it inaccessible to even a 4WD forklift, and summertime heat and snake potential made vehicle removal a multi-year process even 3-4 vehicles at a time.
The rescue missions were carried out by the Roadrunner Convoy of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association from Albuquerque (meets: 2nd Sunday 9 am, Courtyard by Marriott, I25 and Paseo). We knew about the yard for more than five years and slowly removed the military trucks we were principally interested in. We mostly wanted WWII Dodges and others, trailers, and some parts, One truck required the chopping down of a 3 foot diameter tree growing out of the engine compartment of a 1943 Dodge carryall - giving a clue to how long vehicles had been stored in the yard!
After removing the Dodge trucks we noted the '42 Plymouth since it was painted green (including the chrome and bumpers). Those clues identified it as a WWII military vehicle. In this case the car had no data plate making it a 'purchase' vehicle. The contract Plymouths would have had a military data plate. However this one did have the military "Do No Exceed Speed" stencil on the dash, and, of course, and the green painted chrome. The Plymouth was removed on trip number five to the Gallup yard.
The Packard was one of the last vehicles to be removed from Gallup and was discovered by a club member near the front of the yard buried under much debris, wire, and sheet metal. It took almost a day to remove the material surrounding it and on the vehicle in order to free it up for removal. The vehicle had to be loaded on a trailer with five feet hanging over the back due to its great length (6 foot center section added to make it a limo).
We noticed immediately the vehicle had the lettering on the bumper "USA ORD" and "452". The USA obviously stood for U.S. Army and the ORD was for the Ordnance Department. There was a lead data plate on the dash that identified the responsible agency also as ORD and the Fitzjohn Coach Co as the manufacturer. The picture in the lead article on the Packard was taken in my storage yard on the trailer used to haul the vehicle to Albuquerque.
The Packard was clearly a 'Los Alamos' vehicle and the grandson of the yard's founder said that the elder had told him that the vehicle was used to haul scientists from the Lamy, NM, train station to 'the hill" (Los Alamos). He obtained that information from whomever he bought the vehicle as salvage. I called David Hoover of the Museum and he stopped by and I told him I wanted to donate the vehicle to the Museum and would they be interested? He said yes immediately, but also stated that they were even more interested in a '42 Plymouth since that was the vehicle that transported the pits for the first atomic bomb to Stallion Gate and Trinity Site. He had not seen the '42 Plymouth also stored in my yard that I had also hauled out of Gallup. I immediately showed it to him and gave it to the museum on the spot. Both vehicles are donated to the Museum in the name of Capt. Vincent W. Dolan Sr. USAAF (ret.) WWII veteran and B24 pilot in the 460th Bomb Wing, Spinnazola, Italy.
---------By Dan Dolan, Albuquerque, NM
collector and restorer of WWII armored vehicles
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