Re: Seeking My Clipper's History

Posted by Craig the Clipper Man On 2013/2/8 11:08:31

Larry:

When you think about it, the Olympian may not have taken any better care of himself than he did his car!

One thing I noticed early on when I tried to decipher the receipts for the car was an almost total lack of continuity, plan, or pattern to the restoration process. The exact opposite is clear in Hank's case in the "Henry's 55 Constellation" blog. I tried to organize the receipts from the period from 1982 to 2004 when that owner sold it and came away even more confused than ever.

From the receipts it appears that that owner had begun gathering parts before he acquired the car in Albuquerque. Maybe this was just a case of getting one's ducks in a row. Adding to this confusion was the fact that the car purchased in Albuquerque is described in correspondence between the shipper and the prospective owner in Minnesota as a "parts car." Now I am left wondering if my car was one he already owned and not the one from Albuquerque.

Since there are no more records from Packard dealerships that I can find, it becomes more problematic to discern where exactly a Packard car was sold, excluding those lucky enough to have the original bill of sale or bona fide verifications of purchase records. That being the case, everything becomes speculative or at worst, contrived.

The point that I would make to all of you owners is take the time to document what you have done to and with your cars. Create your own history by detailing the purchase of your car, what work you did to restore/maintain it, where you drove it, etc. Include in this documentation the names of previous owners (if you have them) and any other details about your car.

I believe that in doing so, you provide future owners with a concise record of the car chronologically, which, when you think about it, enhances the car's desireability and establishes your honesty as a seller. I think it actually works to improve the car's value as well.

Our Packards were integral parts of previous owners' families. After all, look at all of the myriad of photos of families posing next to their cars. In a certain sense, what we do is keep alive something that meant a lot to someone many years ago.