Henry Nakayama's Packard
Henry Nakayama, a Japanese American man living on Terminal Island, owned a Packard automobile. He was one of only six Japanese individuals on Terminal Island to own his own car and he enjoyed taking it for a spin around the island, sometimes driving his family.
Stan Grichuk, a local cannery manager, took the key for the vehicle from Henry after an incident in his canning factory, threatening to report him to the authorities for not registering his boat, the Taro, under antispying lies. Henry's son, Chester, was aghast that he would allow this, telling him to stand up for himself and "be a man." In response, Henry told him of how, when he was in Japan, his own father would pull around and ox-cart. When he came to America, he wanted nothing more than this own car to pull him around, and though it took him twenty years, he got it. He told him that even if the car himself was taken away from him, nothing could change the fact that he was Henry Nakayama, the man who had worked to buy his own Packard.
That night, Chester went to Grichuk's place and took back the vehicle in order to visit his girlfriend, Luz Ojeda, in the hopes of running off with her. In retaliation, and unbeknownst to Chester, Grichuk attempted to burn down the Taro. His attempt was thwarted when the match he lit was first blown out by a stiff wind summoned by a malevolent spirit and then he himself was blown into the harbor and drowned.
The vehicle bore a license plate reading California 1941 and the number 16W220. ("A Sparrow in a Swallow’s Nest")
After Henry and his family were sent to live at the Colinas de Oro War Relocation Center, a Japanese internment camp, Chester Nakayama left the car in the care of his photography professor, Phil Henkoff. A couple years later, when Chester escaped, he visited Phil, who aided him by giving him possession of the car. He then used it to drive his girlfriend, Luz Ojeda, to the home of her abuela in Aguayo. ("My Perfect World")
Following his release from the Colinas deo Oro, Henry Nakayama came to Aguayo at Chester's urging in order to help him and Luz fight the yurei Yuko Tanabe. Upon exiting from the bus on which he had arrived, he reclaimed his Packard. Chester and the others later used it to drive to a bunker elsewhere in New Mexico. ("Come and Get Me")