It took quite a bit of research on my part to come up with what I believe is the correct answer. Many of the cars from the 1920's do look very similar to one another. I did see the similarity to the Packard radiator shape and knew that several makes tried to imitate it during this period. Buicks from 1924-1928 copied it so closely that Packard actually considered initiating a copyright infringement lawsuit against GM. The Willys-Knight radiator design from the 1920's through about 1930 also bore a strong resemblance to a contemporary Packard. In fact, when I saw the photo, I initially thought that it might be a Willys-Knight, but upon closer inspection, some of the design elements just did not match, particularly the hood louvers. The short-lived Dagmar car, produced in Hagerstown, Maryland from 1922-1927 had a very Packard-esque frontal appearance, but these cars were extremely high priced and featured rather radical styling for the time period. Looking at the size of the car in relation to Bob J's lovely great aunt seated on the running board, it is apparent that this is a smaller, low-priced vehicle, something similar to a Model T or a Chevrolet. This is something that a young man in the late 1920's could reasonably afford. I'm assuming that the car was fairly new when the photo was taken. The Star car was publicized as "Low-Cost Transportation" in ads of the period and would have perfectly suited a young man about to get married. Unfortunately for Great Uncle Frank, the Star car soon acquired a rather dubious reputation for quality, which was undoubtedly a factor in the brand's ultimate demise.

Hope you enjoy these photos of Packard imitators from the 1920's. I admit to having a great affinity for obscure orphan brands. Always exciting to see a nearly 100-year-old vehicle that almost nobody knows anything about. I'm so tired of going to car shows and seeing rows of Mustangs, Camaros and Chevelles. How boring!

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I think I've solved the mystery of the car in this photo. It is a 1927 or 1928 Star, produced by Durant Motors. Durant Motors was the automotive conglomerate cobbled together by GM founder and former chairman William C. Durant after he was ejected by GM's board in 1921 for nearly bankrupting the company. The Star was the low-priced line meant to compete with Ford and Chevrolet. Other Durant Motors car lines included the Flint, Durant, Locomobile and Mason trucks. Also, the Star car was exported to Europe under the Rugby brand name. Although initially successful, sales eventually faltered, and Durant Motors was out of business by 1932. William Durant passed away in 1947, broke, nearly destitute and virtually forgotten by the industry he had done so much to create.

I am identifying the photo car as a Star of this vintage based on several key design elements which I have matched to photos of actual Star cars I found on the Internet:

Bullet shaped headlights painted black
Row of 18 stamped hood louvers
Three external door hinges
Unusually wide belt line extending down the rear of the car
Embossed areas on running board apron
Cowl lamps
Apparent similarity to the Packard radiator design

The Star car was produced from 1922 through 1928, becoming the Durant-Star for 1928 before being folded into the Durant line for 1929-1932, after which, production ceased. Star cars utilized either four (158 CI, 30 HP) or six (169.2 CI, 40 HP) cylinder engines produced by Continental. The six was new for 1927. I believed the photo car is a six. Please examine the attached photos and let me know what you think.

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My radio appears to be similar to the Single Unit radio from the Accessory Catalog, however, push button and the preselect dial are arranged horizontally instead of vertically. I don't have a provision for central buttons as on West Peterson's radio. Mine must be a different version of the Single Unit radio, perhaps a mid-year redesign as my car was sold new in July of '39. The face plate offered on LaVine's website definitely would not fit my radio. I guess I will have to improvise something. But I wish I had the Custom Radio. If anyone has a complete one that they would like to sell, I'd be interested. Thanks to everyone who responded.

Right hand side of the radio has a preset dial with station call letters. It is operated by pressing the button on the left. Unfortunately, the plastic in the dial is very deteriorated due to age. I looked at the radio face plate on Lavine's website, but it does not appear to be a match. Somebody told me that Packard had a third type of radio option in 1939 (mine), but that it did not appear in the accessory catalog.

Attached is a picture of the radio in my 1939 Packard Six convertible coupe. It appears that I am missing part of the face plate. What am I missing and can anyone on this forum help with finding the missing parts? I'd also be interested in purchasing a complete, working radio if anybody has one to spare. My radio is not currently working. Thank you.

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I was surprised by the prices most of the vehicles brought, especially when factoring in the 22% buyer's premium. I was interested in the 1937 120 Convertible Coupe and drove over 7 hours to see the collection. This car was definitely not as advertised. I don't know who Eugene Cohen is, but for a supposedly expert restoration, I found a lot of issues. Going over the car with a magnet, I detected large areas of body filler in the lower doors, quarter panels and rear pan below the rumble seat. Body filler was visibly bubbling up around the front fender strut on the passenger side. The paint was cracking in large areas around the rumble seat area. The underside of the car was crudely painted with POR-15 over sheet metal that was visibly pitted. I could see brush marks. POR-15 is pretty nasty stuff. Once it dries, it is virtually impossible to remove. It should not be used on an authentic restoration as it is much too glossy for chassis parts. I also found rust in the inner rocker panels between the door and rear fenders and was actually able to stick my hand inside and pull out a handful of rust. Much of the chrome was either poorly plated or had not been replated at all. The comorant hood ornament looked like it had been sandblasted. The headlight trim spears were badly pitted, and they had just chromed over the pits. The hubcaps were not restored and had numerous dings and small cracks. None of the rubber components had been replaced and were all dried out and cracked, especially the running board covers. The wiring looked original to the car, and I saw sections of modern PVC coated spliced in as crude repairs. Inside, the dash was not wood grained, the glove compartment box and the cigarette lighter were missing, none of the interior trim pieces had been rechromed and paint was flaking off of the instruments. The tires were shot, and it looked like the entire exhaust system will need to be replaced. I could go on. At a hammer price of $52,250, plus 22%, this was way over the mark. I was much more impressed with some of the other cars in the collection. The 1939 Rollson town car and the 1938 Super 8 Limo were outstanding original cars. I could not believe how nice the interiors were. Sitting in the back of the Rollson, I felt like royalty. I also really liked the 1926 Pierce. A very beautiful original car. These three were probably the best deals of the day. Not so much on the others.

I'm familiar with the 1937 120 Convertible Coupe now listed on Ebay at $70K. I saw this same car for sale in the flea market at Hershey in 2016. It is a total piece of junk. There is literally more bondo than body, the paint is horrible, and the chrome is all badly corroded. This was a rusty wreck that was probably given a Maaco quality repaint about 40 years ago and used and abused since. I would stay away. The fact that is has been for sale for over 5 years should tell you something. It is not worth anything close to the asking price. Last year, I did see a really fresh frame off restored 1936 120 Convertible Coupe sold by a dealer in Arizona for $71K. This car had dual mounts with the very rare steel artillery wheels. It was yellow with a red interior. Beautiful car. The 37 120 from the C. Lewis Ablelove collection is a really nice car, but it is an older restoration and is not currently running. It is going to need work to be put back on the road and the tires are probably going to have to be replaced. Also, it looks like not everything was done when the car was restored. In the photos, the dash instruments and interior chrome show deterioration. It is certainly presentable as is but is not show quality. Another issue is that the dash panels are not woodgrained. I thought that they should be on the '37's. All of these issues need to be taken into account in arriving at a fair market value.

Mike: Thanks for the information. Can I ask you which lots you purchased at the first auction? I wanted to track down who purchased the 1938 120 Convertible project car, just to find out what their plans were. I really love the 1938 and 1939 120 series cars and this was sort of my dream car, especially as it was a '38 and not a '39 like my Six with that balky column shift. But I'm just not equipped to take on a project like this myself. That car looked pretty rough. I hope that whoever bought it will be able to give it a full restoration. I'd hate to see it just parted out.


I'll consider putting in bids on the car I'm interested in. I really like the 1939 Rollson limo. The 1937 120 Convertible looks really nice too, but I'm afraid it will go for way too much money. Any consensus here on what would be a reasonable bid for either of these cars?

I was interested in bidding on one of the cars but am having second thoughts after talking to a representative of the auction company. It seems like they can be really tough to deal with. A 22% commission is ridiculous. Southeby's only charges 10% and this outfit is not Southeby's. They are a local auction company who's forte is used industrial machinery and real estate foreclosures. Their commission scale should be a lot lower. I asked about the 4% commission discount, and they told me I would qualify if I paid in cash. So, I asked, suppose I submit a winning bid and the amount due is $50K. You want me to drop off $50K in actual U.S. currency? I would not want to do this. You could get killed carrying around that kind of money. Not sure why, but you don't qualify for the discount if you pay via wire transfer. Plus, they will charge you an extra fee for a wire transfer on top of the commission. Not sure I feel comfortable with this arrangement. Did anyone on this forum buy a car from the prior auction? How was your experience?