Re: 38 V12 restoration cost
Posted by BH On 2010/2/6 11:09:51
Seems to me that judging at most shows is done from the perspective of how the car looked as it came from the factory, with some provision for bona fide factory-approved and factory-supplied, dealer-installed accessories, as well as dealer pre-delivery inspection and adjustments and any needed corrections. Thankfully, PackardInfo has a growing collection of factory material to help document that, and is hoping to add more to help Packard owners.
Kudos to PI, also, for working to compile a manual of objective judging criteria for these cars, when other clubs have only vague rules like "chrome parts shall be finished in chrome" ehich leaves too much to the judges discretion. I've seen, first-hand, where judges were selected for some shows, even Packard-specific, without much regard to their level of expertise.
Meanwhile, there's a problem because there ARE reasonably documented cases where the factory did perform modifications to make the sale, but I'd wager that it took a lot of persistence or clout to get that accomplished. Unfortunately, decades later, some people let wishful thinking take over and extend that to their heart's desire, without any documentation. Just because some previous owner sez it was "factory" doesn't make it so.
There's also the gray area between factory modifications and those done by the dealer or even the original owner. For example the '53 Derham Formal discussed in another thread shows a serial number that indicates it was NOT a factory order. Though it might still be an attractive and desirable car, perhaps even equal in every other way to a factory-ordered example, it's not the Real McCoy.
More likely that car was commissioned by a dealer who couldn't get one of the factory-ordered jobs. Based on my experience in with dealers (not only as costumer, but as an employee and even as a district manager for an automaker), I can envision where a dealer back then would try to cut the factory out as a middleman in favor of some additional profit.
Bottom line: I can accept a modified vehicle as a factory one-off, provided it is well-documented as such.
Now, where did I park my 1965 Packard V12 prototype?
Kudos to PI, also, for working to compile a manual of objective judging criteria for these cars, when other clubs have only vague rules like "chrome parts shall be finished in chrome" ehich leaves too much to the judges discretion. I've seen, first-hand, where judges were selected for some shows, even Packard-specific, without much regard to their level of expertise.
Meanwhile, there's a problem because there ARE reasonably documented cases where the factory did perform modifications to make the sale, but I'd wager that it took a lot of persistence or clout to get that accomplished. Unfortunately, decades later, some people let wishful thinking take over and extend that to their heart's desire, without any documentation. Just because some previous owner sez it was "factory" doesn't make it so.
There's also the gray area between factory modifications and those done by the dealer or even the original owner. For example the '53 Derham Formal discussed in another thread shows a serial number that indicates it was NOT a factory order. Though it might still be an attractive and desirable car, perhaps even equal in every other way to a factory-ordered example, it's not the Real McCoy.
More likely that car was commissioned by a dealer who couldn't get one of the factory-ordered jobs. Based on my experience in with dealers (not only as costumer, but as an employee and even as a district manager for an automaker), I can envision where a dealer back then would try to cut the factory out as a middleman in favor of some additional profit.
Bottom line: I can accept a modified vehicle as a factory one-off, provided it is well-documented as such.
Now, where did I park my 1965 Packard V12 prototype?
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