Hubba hubba!!

"Kiltedpadre" (kiltedpadre)
10/04/2020 at 11:48 • Filed to: None

I used to run the water department and handle meter reading in the village where this car is located. Based on the background of some of the pictures I know exactly where in town it is, and I had no idea such a gem was hiding in one of the garages there!

DISCUSSION (12)

sony1492 > Kiltedpadre
10/04/2020 at 11:59

How much do they want?

Kiltedpadre > sony1492
10/04/2020 at 12:22

Sorry didn’t realize price was cut off; it’s $20,000.

fintail > Kiltedpadre
10/04/2020 at 13:19

Not an insane price if it is really sound - not a bargain, but you can do worse, and can’t get a basket case to this condition for the money. Those straight eights were very stout engines.

ranwhenparked > Kiltedpadre
10/04/2020 at 15:40

That seems pretty reasonable, for this much car in that condition. The 120 has always been about getting Packard quality at a Buick price.

Kiltedpadre > fintail
10/04/2020 at 19:21

One of the guys that was in the Desoto club with my grandfather owned one when I was really young. I still remember riding around in it a couple of times.

Kiltedpadre > ranwhenparked
10/04/2020 at 19:26

If it’s truly as nice as it looks this is the condition I would want one in. Much nicer and you can’t enjoy it as easily.

This one I’d do like this guy talks about doing. Young’s Jersey Dairy is a very popular ice cream place that’s easily reached from where he is by state route. The highest speed limit is 55mph and there are only a couple of small towns he needed to pass through to get there.

fintail > Kiltedpadre
10/04/2020 at 19:26

And to think, the 120 was the budget model.

ranwhenparked > fintail
10/04/2020 at 19:32

Not hard to see why it was so popular, either. It was still built like a proper Packard, and looked every inch one, too, just one that had been put through the dryer on high heat and shrunk a bit.

Just imagine if Rolls-Royce came out with a car priced around $35,000 today that still truly looked and felt every bit like a real Rolls-Royce, Spirit of Ecstasy, Grecian grille, and all. There’d be one i n every 5th driveway in suburbia, guaranteed.

fintail > ranwhenparked
10/04/2020 at 20:45

Yeah, these were good cars. I think the 6 cylinder models, while still very well finished, harmed brand cachet a little, and while created some short term profit, may have harmed the brand in the long run.

I look at Packard as the equivalent of M-B on the US prewar market.

ranwhenparked > fintail
10/04/2020 at 21:17

They also underinvested in their senior line, introducing more features and innovation on the 120 while the up level cars kind of withered. Considering prewar Mercedes was more upscale than they are today, that’s probably a good comparison. Packard was a pretty significant step up from Lincoln or Cadillac at the time (aside from Caddy’s V16s, of course). Prior to the 120's launch, the cheapest Packard was around $4,300 (ca. $80,000 today) , when the least expensive Cadillac started around $2,500 (about $47,000 with inflation) . The 120's base price of $1,500 ($28,000 today) seemed like an amazing value.

fintail > ranwhenparked
10/04/2020 at 22:39

Yeah, by the postwar era, the senior cars effectively didn’t exist, and the real highline market was ceded to Cadillac. By 1950, the whole range was just somewhat premium.

The 120 cost barely more than a nice Buick, but at the time anyway, had a lot more prestige.

ranwhenparked > fintail
10/04/2020 at 22:43

This was when “luxury” meant superior materials, craftsmanship, and ride quality, not how many electronic gizmos and gadgets you could cram in, and the 120 still had all that in spades.