Re: 1954 Packard on eBay

Posted by QMopar On 2022/3/23 13:49:03
Quote:

Ross wrote:
It is a very nice car: the body is way better than one could expect for an east coast car. There is no structural rot. Plus the interior is way better than one could hope for a west coast car. Freshening up the mechanicals with some new seals would cost only the tiniest fraction of welding up a rot box.

With the 327 and OD I can guarantee that car will run big lazy circles any 53-54 Caribbean, and probably a 55 as well.

And they ride well, and handle well and.....nobody cares.

You are correct in your predictions. Almost all of my customer base are in their seventies and as the depredations of time take their inevitable toll a lot of very nice cars--and even more cars that "I never got around to" will be sold by uninterested children and executors. No way I can imagine there will be enough interested parties to absorb them. Sure the big ticket restorations and rare models will find homes, but more prosaic models like this '54 will lag.

I find the 51-54 models are wonderfully good at being cars but that motivates only few collectors.



Agreed! Living on the east coast certainly has my eyes peeled for rust and corrosion. This example is much nicer (body-wise) than many counterparts of the era.

I also wonder with this particular example if the 3 speed manual transmission is viewed as a hindrance to owning. Obviously, I feel it's one of its greatest strengths. The irony is the R11 overdrive makes this manual transmission very automatic!

While my grandfather owned a 55 - and I think them to be beautiful and stately 50's cars - I have a certain attraction to the 51-54s - in large part because of what you can't see: the flat head 8.

Also because by this time, it certainly appears that Packard had perfected that straight 8. Yes, holding on to the flathead had a hand in their demise, but that 1954 body style with those tail lights does it for me.

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