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If only a car could write its AUTObiography what an interesting read this LeBaron could make

http://www.merlenorman.com/WebForms/Dynamic.aspx?hussybeforeandafter

GREATNESS to DESPAIR to GREATNESS

I don't get it.

How many times does a car need to be restored?

I've always found it curious that the 1934 Packard Information book does not list the 1106 chassis (which in fact is an 1105 with a Twelve replacing the Super Eight motor); nor does it list the style #264 sport coupe, only the style #275 roadster is illustrated along with body dimensions, options, etc. With several replicas of each of these around I've kind of lost track of how many were originally produced, does anyone have those numbers handy? The expression that always comes to mind when discussing these is "only 5 built, 10 surviving".

A few pictures of some of them. There is some good documentation on these in old issues of The Packard Cormorant; I'd guess they all have some interesting history, among them the ex-Lindhart coupe (now the Marano car?) which burned to almost complete destruction on Long Island in the 60s, the Paul Stern roadster, and the Chapelle roadster with his murder and subsequent disappearance of the car.

PS - the red roadster, bottom right in the 4th photo, is the Vignale Packard (Marano collection); a prewar 120 chassis imported into Europe for coachwork but not bodied (by Vignale) until after the war.

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Four or five of each.

Yes, that seems to be the accepted wisdom, but if you know, is it 4 or 5, and of which style?

Though I can't be positive that the patent plates are original and on authentic cars, the vehicle numbers are most curious. From the data on 5 cars that I have, the coupes seem to be numbered as 783-X (#4 is known to me) yet 783 does not appear in any listing of Packard body types and the actual style is 264. The roadsters seem to be numbered as 1106-XX with #17 the highest # known to me. Since they started numbering at 11, that could suggest atleast 7 1106 chassis; on the other hand since the 783-X cars apparently started with single digits, it could also mean at least 17 1106 chassis made. I suppose it's possible that 1106 chassis were also made available for custom coachwork other than the two LeBaron models. Maybe if I can get the #s from the Bahre cars the picture would become clearer. The picture is really muddled and perhaps now with several fakes around, we'll never fully unravel it.

Existing cars:
4 boattails (of 4 thought to be built)-- 2 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue (numerous reproductions)
4 phaetons (of 5 thought to be built)-- 2 red, 1 black, 1 grey/blue (numerous reproductions)
4 coupes (of 4 thought to be built) -- 1 white, 1 dark blue, 1 black, 1 dark blue-green (no reproductions, as far as I'm aware)

There are two people who own one original of each body style: Bob Bahre and Harry Yeagey

No other collector owns more than one original of each