1950 Packard Eight Destined For Racing

Posted by Ben_Wojdyla On 2012/1/5 17:54:03

This might be a little sacrilegious, and I don't know how the community will respond to this, but here goes. About 9 months ago I bought a 1950 Packard Eight from a very nice man in Michigan. He'd bought it to restore but found himself burdened with other projects and health issues. I walked away the first time, but when he called back and lowered the price from $2500 to $1200 and threatened to scrap it, I couldn't pass. I drove it home, 327 with three on the tree, and parked it. Then started planning.

The plan: A body off restomod with the intent to enter the 2013 La Carerra Panamericana.

The Gear: The straight eight will remain, but after going through it and rebuilding what it needs, a modern automatic will be fitted, along with a 12V system, new front suspension, four link rear with a Ford 9", new floors, corrected body panels, a roll cage and appropriate race interior.

I purchased this car expressly for this purpose. I am a car nut (Associate Auto Editor at Popular Mechanics) and live in the Detroit metro area. I respect the Packard brand, the engineering that went into these cars, and the mystique associated with them. This was Detroit at its finest and I hope to bring this car, nearly put on death row, back to life in a new and creative way.

I also hope to glean bits of wisdom and guidance from this excellent community (I've been lurking for a while), bouncing ideas off of experts and gathering tidbits of knowledge available nowhere else.

Ambitious? Yes. Fool-hearty? Certainly. But hey, you have to spend your money somehow.