Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

BDC posted this on the Various CL Pickings thread, but I think it deserves its own thread for discussion. The car is currently posted on eBay for sale.http://www.ebay.com/itm/141848010721 I have attached a few photos for your review and comment.

While not custom-bodied by a "known" builder I think this has an interesting back story nonetheless.

"This 1928 Packard Touring 7 Passenger(by name) was customized by engineer and custom boat builder George Sprankle. This Packard is registered as a 1928 Packard Sprankle Phaeton in the registry. This build took almost a decade to complete the body transformation."

"There is a letter from the builder's son to the late owner stating that he remembers holding the drop light in the garage for hours at a time while his father filed, soldered and shaped the body as to what it is today. The builder's son only remembers driving in it a few times as he went to serve our country in WWII. George Sprankle had made this car into his own vision of how the car should really look. He believed that a more classier and sleeker look was deserved from its original standard body."

"There is some mystery about the body of the vehicle. In all the notes and phone transcripts I have it is unclear if it was the original body reshaped or if it was a 1922 body that was also custom fitted and shaped."

One photo from back in the day shows late 1930s headlamp buckets and what appears to be a Lincoln mascot on the radiator.

I also noticed a brass tag nearly identical to the one on my 1941 Packard that was also originally registered in Pennsylvania. Seems that PA issued new cars a serial number comprised as one alpha, plus 5 numeric characters - in this case S30607. When I was looking to buy my car back in 1998 the former owner kept on giving me this PA serial number instead of the Packard dataplate number. Thinking I was looking at car that was a model 120 "cloned" into a model 160 I nearly backed out of the deal. After some additional conversation and a photo of the original dataplate I was able to confirm it was a true 160. Then began the fun of explain to the Michigan DMV why the Packard number should be used for my new title instead of the old PA serial number. I won, but I did leave the PA number tag in place.

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Thanks for bringing this up again Roger. I'm really surprised that nobody made any comments on this car and the "Darrin " when I posted them. I'm looking forward to other experts opinions on this car.

Just lovely how they mutilated the patent plate and obliterated the original vehicle number, I guess that # is now lost? You'd think someone would have taken 5 minutes to move the plate to safe location first. The special number assigned by Pennsylvania is not all that uncommon, I've seen it on probably a dozen or more cars - probably means PA either didn't have or doubted the legitimacy the original vehicle number, perhaps due to the mutilation of the factory plate.

I'm not sure what "expert" opinions are to be had, I'd guess it pretty much is what the copy says it is - a home-crafted one-off.

I'm not sure what you're looking for, either, Roger. It's a mongrel, and looks like one. I'm only a little surprised as to what it has bid to, because since it hasn't met reserve lots of funny business could be going on.

I find it hard to believe the car got that many bids. Home made bodies like this can be admired for individual craftsmanship, but are they worth that kind of money? Does anyone remember the gentleman in Rensselaer, NY that made "12 cylinder Auburns" out of older Packards? He also made many 12 cylinder Packards out of Super 8's. Many years later these cars were passed off as custom bodied cars when they were home-made. The ill informed person has to be very careful when buying these cars.

John, I never heard of the guy in Rensselaer story. Can you shed some more light on that? It sounds interesting, and I'd like to see some pictures (if they exist).

Roger, thanks for getting us to the bottom of the story.

BDC, the pictures exist, but I do not have access to them. I met him at his place in the middle 60's. At that time he was just a guy that worked for the Packard dealer in Albany and saved a lot of parts cars. He fabricated an Auburn Speedster out of a twelve cylinder Packard. I personally know of a man who has a Super 8 car that he put a V12 into, but the engine is too heave for the front end. The result is that the front end parts are not heavy enough for the engine, resulting in premature wear, so the car is not drivable. The was a Packard 'Speedster' that was built by him which was later passed off as a 'one-off' Hibbard and Darrin. I believe the sale fell through.
I don't think the original builder had ill intent. Just wanted to save some old Packards and enjoyed building cars.
The problem is that the scam artists tried to pass these cars off as customs or semi-customs to make mega bucks. The end result is that in later years, the unknowing believe them to be real.

The guy who worked for Packard Albany and modified a lot of Packards sounds like the same guy who did the supercharging of a Twelve, twin superchargers no less. I have a picture of that installation, I've posted it before but will again if I can find it.

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Is this his product, too??

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