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OK, a mystery for you all....................a 1948 Packard station wagon with lower doors in STEEL!

OK boys and girls, I, the world renowned CAR DETECTIVE drove the twenty or so miles from my place to TOGANOXIE, Kansas in the company of my shrewd Dr. Watson-like assistant Gene Davis to get a peek at this old bird to try to figure out just how it got the way it is. After careful inspection it is my considered opinion that this is indeed a FACTORY BUILD and NOT a car which has merely had steel doors or steel doorskins installed.

The car shows no sign of ever having been painted, the paint being very consistent throughout; door jams, under the hood, etc. There is no sign of overspray or paint matching anywhere on the car. The window frames of the doors are definitely station wagon as you can see in the photos as the screw holes for the wood are visible.

The lower part of the doors are all steel and always have been. The doors are NO modified sedan doors! There is no indication that the doorskins have been replaced and no evidence inside the doors of the additional supports for the wood inserts normally found on wagons ever having been there.

The vehicle number tag is missing from the car so unless it is found inside the car we will likely never know if this car was given a special model number.

The remaining Appleton spotlight is marked "Packard" and was probably dealer installed along with the visor. The front bumper has been drilled for driving lights. The car seems to be complete however one lower tailgate hinge is broken but they are out there.

The car is restorable and is a good solid Condition 5.

If anyone has any information regarding the history of this car, we'd love to know it! The body number is 2293-3203 and the engine number is G227591G. Thanks for reading!

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Did you get any pictures of the Rear of the car? Is that the only arrear of exertional wood? Is this car for Sale? Or have you bought it?

Yes, the photo of the rear is below. I haven't figured out how to add more than on pic at a time really so I need to work on that.

Yes, the car is for sale. It is not mine. I am trying to get info to figure out exactly what it is and why it was built.

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Another pic:

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One more.

The car is advertised on Facebook. The owner is Aaron Hughes and his phone number is: 913-205-6350.

He also found the title which is a good Kansas doc.

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To attach more than one photo at a time, add one and then press Attach File. Then add the next and press Attach File. If you add photos without pressing Attach File each time, only the last one will attach when the posting is saved. You may have to properly orient the photos first to keep them from being sideways or upside down.

Thanks!

Curious on how did you got the 2297 3203 number when you say the plate is missing?

Guessing the Briggs body tag is probably still in place.

Although I can't find the engine identification chard (BigKev, can you please put a link to it in the Packard Model Info section?), looking at the model information I don't see any engine that begins with the letter and number sequence. Also, the 2297 model does not appear to exist.