sounds like the appraisal may be needed for tax donation purposes for itemizing deductions or just to determine true market value, I'm an appraiser and do these often but am located too far away for practicality. Go only with an independent "third party" appraiser who has a strong specialty in Packard's.

ditto, aftermarket but cool

it has now returned at only $13,500, this is a great price!http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/markham-york-region/packard-1951-dietrich-new-price/1040868792?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

Packards are NOT Corvettes or Jaguar E-Types where numbers matching is crucial for value determination. Just as long as you have in it a 1951 9 main bearing J6xx,xxx engine you are fine, this is NOT a hard engine to find

In the world of Packard replacement parts stocking Packard "obsoleted" the 356 engines in about 1951 and quit making replacement engines, even the parts catalog mentions that the 9 main bearing 327 was their recommended replacement for the 356's that were no longer available

The 356 was a magnificent engine but expensive to make

rust free 51 Packard with Dietrich modifications, one of three made, divider window, not too much work needed to make a nice driver, 15K is very reasonable, this is not your run of the mill sedan folks

this is a known car that was in California for years that is now in Calgary, Canada area for sale. It was for sale with price listed earlier this year, It was advertised on the web on a Canadian website. I talked to the owner's brother who listed it and a club member who knows the car and says these are old pictures and even though the car is nice it's now not quite as nice as the photos.

I would have bought it if it wasn't so dang far away from me

I thought the price was very fair on it at 15K


good luck

only about 50% of the 1954 regular Packard Convertibles had power windows. No 1954 Caribbeans were delivered with standard shift

I asked the owner if this was an original Darrin and received back the answer of "I received this car in pieces little over 20 years ago. Spent a few years restoring it" Gorgeous car but I would recommend investigating it a little more to make sure it's always been the real thing

that additional thickness in the frame was for structural soundness and integrity for the convertibles, the 51 through 56 Packard convertibles were very structurally sound cars due to this additional thickness. Remember that the 52/53 Monte Carlo show cars had cut roofs and greatly flexed (with doors coming open ) when going over railroad tracks due to the use of a non-convertible frame. The Packard engineers added beefed up the convertible frames for a reason