Re: 1941 Packard 160 woody?

Posted by Highlander160 On 2009/6/26 11:57:55

The 34 Bridgeport is an 1101 converted from a 5pass cpe.(717). I restored that car but don't jock me too hard for the color. Not my choice as I didn't own it. It was a 'love or hate it' combination. I had suggested a very dark brown with a wheat colored chassis (still that I think) and neutral tan leather with burnt orange wheels and stripe. The top was originally leather covered and was 1 large hide. To get that again was a special order from Spain. Most of the wood in that car is original except the plywood panels. As I recall there was 1 corner post and the fluted finish pcs behind the fenders that were replaced/re-made. It was white oak and a hardwood wholesaler in Dearborn, MI (Patterson-Buck Hardwoods, sadly now gone) was very helpful in helping us size and commercially plane things to proper specs. It was a restoration that I mostly enjoyed and it got lots of ink and many 1st place awards. I always felt if the color was a tad more green than what was final picked it would've been much more pleasing to the eye.


Apparently it was quite fashionable to have a custom or high-end station wagon on the eastern shore towns that had yacht and sailing clubs. A crest was often used as ID in these clubs and were many times fixed to the cars to let fellow sailing and yachting friends know that they were out to sea. We did find evidence of some sort of panel attached to the back lower gate. Much of this is 2nd hand info I gathered during restoration but it made sense.