Great pics, Gerd, as always...!! I never noticed the resemblance between the Gaz 114 and early 60s Lincoln before, but is sure does. They picked a good one to resemble!

Geez, the Ruskies invented the leaf blower too! Note the Chaika parked unter den linden (or whatever tree it is)

Can't see that car on the right... is it a Lincoln Lehman Patterson Limo? I think Nixon gave several cars to Brezhnev,
I know for sure that he gave him a Caddy Eldorado. Supposedly Leonid was quite the car guy.

I agree that all V8s of the period had some teething problems, some were better than others, the wedge B block Mopar being an exception as it had literally almost zero issues when introduced in 1958 (350/361 cu in) and continued on for decades as virtually bulletproof.

We used the Amoco unleaded too, and you never heard about valve recession problems even though people used it for years in 10.5:1 engines and higher.

It's an example of how restoration costs have now gotten to the point where it's completely illogical to restore, at least to a high standard, almost any Post-War car that is not an open car, if one wishes to at least be able to recover expenses. A shame, really.

"Today, almost all roads are very smooth..." Wow, you can't possibly have been to the NorthEast lately!! They're so bad just about everywhere it's scandalous!

If anything OCPG prices are too high imo, along with ALL of the guides. The market has shifted RADICALLY lower in the last year or 2 and they don't reflect it. Try to sell a car and see what happens. I've sold several cars in the last 12 months, including a quite rare 1958 DeSoto. Look at what cars are selling for in the real world, not at what they bring on the big celebrity auctions. E-Bay prices are usually real world and much lower, and a LOT of those sales never go through. In 2009 I had an MG go well over my reserve by several bids, but the winning buyer turned out to be a fake. It was such a hassle to sort out that I'll never sell a car on eBay again, in fact I'm done with selling cars, period.

The vintage car market is now in a phase of extended decline imo. Too many of us are aging and the younger generation couldn't care less about our old crocks, my own 2 sons in their 20s reflect this, despite being around old cars all of their life. The real world car market reflects this. Price guides at best, are only good for establishing relative values, in any event.

Brookland Books "Packard Gold Portfolio" includes the Mechanix Illustrated July 1955 McCahill test, among many many others. Suffice it to say he liked the '55 Clipper, and the TL in particular. Terrific resource for '46-58 Packard owners. As usual, some of the British tests, by Autocar, John Bolster &c, were some of the most thorough and revealing. You can often find these on eBay and Amazon. If you can't find one PM me and I can Xerox it and mail it to you

I disagree that any of the Scottsdale auctions, B-J, RM etc are in any way representative of real world vintage car prices. I think they are highly inflated due to the TV, ego, and glamour factors surrounding the January auctions there.
I've found Old Cars Price Guide to be the most accurate, in general, with their 6 condition gradations, in 40+ years of old car transactions.