Re: 1940 Packard Super 8 160 Station Wagon (Cantrell) Factory Air Conditioning!

Posted by Joe Santana On 2020/4/21 11:02:56

Jim Hollingsworth's station wagon is shown in his book on 1940 Packards. There's a photo of his dad standing in front of his 1940 120 SW and a similarly composed photo of Jim standing in front of the 1940 180 SW he put together, I'm guessing from his dad's 120 SW and a 180 chassis.

The Harrah 160 version is beautifully restored and, as a 160 owner, I can tell no expense was spared. I think it's a little misleading for Gooding to say this car was "build for Bill Harrah," as if it were a special ordered car from Packard, and as Harrah himself had shops that could build a Pebble Beach winner from a piece of rusted out frame, and did. He could cast rare pot metal pieces, identification plates, even rare manifolds. I've heard there are some tax and regulation issues that apply to building a new car that don't apply to restoring one, where Mr. Harrah walked the line.

To be honest, this SW should be presented as "Imagine if Packard had built a 160 or 180 SW, here's how it might look, with air conditioning," not "This is an extremely rare car." The station wagons were utility vehicles. Fancy Super 8 leather upholstery wasn't part of that idea. They were made to be practical, thus 110 and 120 engines. And the body builders had to buy a car to start. They would have to build a wood body and resell it at a profit. Would the chassis be a 110 or 120, or a 160 or 180 at twice to three times the price? The video points out how impractical this particular car is, that it's kept in a jewelry box, which, as you know, is not my thing. The wood looks like it has a thick coat of urethane clear on it. I don't think water would bother it.

After spending all that money to create what a 160 SW would look like, the dash is painted in color harmonizing with the leather interior. I know, choosing the colors and interior is a guy's one chance to do interior design. It's so tempting when you think your taste is so much better than Packard's or the trendy colors of decades past that you have to change it. Hard to resist. But as the ladies say, Resist. The dash should be wood-grained. I know, Dutch Darrin changed out dashes, but body builders didn't. It wasn't practical. Just an added unnecessary expense they wouldn't recover. Like air conditioning. Darrin's value add was Jazzy, not Practicality.

I feel for this guy. I want to give him a big hug (not this month or next, however) for buying this car and preserving it meticulously not as a car that Packard ever built, but as one that Bill Harrah created as a museum attraction at his casino. That is still a very worthy goal and researching exactly where and how each part of the car came to be would be well worthwhile and interesting.