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Currently, on eBay there is a 1937 Packard 120 club sedan whose engine was replaced with another 1937 Packard 120 club sedan engine. How does that compromise the value of the car?

as always
Garrett Meadows

No it shouldn't, because nobody kept track of which engine number went in which vehicle. All 120 engines are interchangeable.

Well, I can't agree with BDC that no one kept track of which car received which engine number, that information was carefully recorded in the Vehicle Unit Record Cards. I do however agree that as long as a replacement engine is correct for the year and model it will have minimal to no impact on value for the vast majority of potential buyers.

But did any Vehicle Unit Record Cards survive?

Yes. I've been allowed to tabulate and/or scan perhaps 2000 or so, these are the dealer's copy from only 6 different dealers. These are mostly between 1936 and 1951. There are more out there in other private collections though in all very few. It appears that 3 of the 5 copies went to various locations at the factory, one to the factory branch and one remained with the selling dealer.

If you tabulate data for a particular year and model, for example 1937 120, and index lowest to highest on theft-proof number alongside the corresponding motor numbers, the correlation is very strong though not perfect. Early cars have early motor numbers as you would expect, and likewise all the way thru to the highest numbers. In those cases where I have data for consecutively numbered bodies or vehicle numbers, motor numbers may correspond perfectly or may not but will usually be within just a few numbers.

I've posted images of these cards several times here, do you want to see one again?

Somehow I've never seen them. If it wouldn't be too much trouble to post them, I would love to see them. Do you happen to have 1938 super 8 numbers?

BDC, here are a couple of samples. The format of the card and the information recorded varied a bit from time to time. The first image courtesy of the Ray Pautz collection, the second courtesy of the Don Taccone collection. I also have several hundred from Goss Motors in Aurora IL courtesy of the Roscoe Stelford collection, and yet others form Autola Oy, Packard's agent in Finland.

To your question about 1938 Super Eights, I have varying amounts of data on 13 vehicles; for all I have theft-proof and vehicle number and for some of those I also have the engine#. For a few that were exported to Finland I have the full set of data.

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Have you been able to match up any current owners with their cards?

Just once! Owner was thrilled!!

One complication about changing engines is many states used the engine number as the serial number for vehicle registration purposes. A car with an engine bearing a number different than the one on the registration form is a problem that may be a difficult one to resolve with the motor vehicle department.

(o{}o)