Re: 1952 Packard 200 touring sedan

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2008/7/18 23:54:58

The 200 may have been Packard's lowest priced model but don't be fooled. Packards were luxury products and even their cheapest cars were superior to most offerings.

For example all Packards after 1947 used 8 cylinder engines. The only other makers to build 8 cylinder cars exclusively were Mercury, Lincoln, Buick and Cadillac.

Packards were quality cars with well balanced chassis and powerful engines. Your car should be reasonably capable in today's traffic, for example it would have a top speed of nearly 100 MPH and would cruise easily at 70 when it was new. This is more than most cars could do at that time.

On the other hand the 1952 200 was relatively simple. Yours probably has a 3 speed manual transmission (Ultramatic was optional). It would have regular, non power, drum brakes. No air conditioning, power steering, power windows etc.

Practically all mechanical parts are available new at reasonable cost.

Packard bought a lot of parts from outside suppliers like Lockheed, Wagner,Carter, Autolite and Ross. These parts are still available from your local NAPA store.

Sheet metal, trim, and glass can be a problem but it is usually possible to locate used parts.

If you want a high grade car of that vintage, the Packard is an excellent choice.