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I am looking to start a new project and have found a 1940 110 sedan and a 1952 300. Which would you take on and why?

I would pursue the '52 300 just because I prefer the straight eights. If it was a 1940 120 it would be a different story because it's a pre war eight.

Thank you. By the way, what do the terms "junior" and "senior" mean when talking about Packards and how do you tell them apart?

Generally the following is true:

Pre-War the 120s, 115s, 110s are the Juniors, everything else (Super Eight, 160, 180) is a Senior. 115s and 110s are Sixes. The 120 is an Eight.

51-56 Clippers (aka 200's or 250's) are the Junior Chassis, Packard line cars (300's and 400's) are the Seniors

46-50 is the where it gets a but murky (in my understanding) where the Clipper name was used almost every where. So I will let someone else chime in on the that.

The juniors were typically shorter wheelbase, less expensive cars, and did not have all the appointments of their Senior brethren.

I am sure people will have a better answer for you, but the above is rough guide.

Thank you, that was very helpful. May I assume that the "Seniors" will be more valuable then?

For 46-50, those with the 356 9-main bearing engine are Seniors, the rest are not. Specifically, 42-47 Seniors are Super Clippers and Custom Super Clippers, 48-50 Seniors are Custom 8s.

You could view the Juniors as middle price class cars, and the Seniors as luxury class cars. Some would say the further you get from the first introduction of the 120, when Packard decided they needed a "cheaper" car to survive, the murkier the distinctions get.

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G'day Larenc and to PackardInfo. Whichever one you choose, and my preference would be the '40 because I have Pre-War Packards, could you please include it in the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it?

if you buy and do both you will still have something to do whenever stuck waiting for parts for the other, and if one is near drivable build the other, and you will have one to drive untill the other is done.not such thing as too many cars, just not enough time, space or money, just work harder.

Owen, I don't recall - are the 48-50 327 cars (Super 8, Super Deluxe) classified Senior or Junior?

Good question, I don't really know of any official body assigned to defining "junior" and "senior" so there are no doubt a variety of interpretations. (Might be interesting to see how the Milestone Car Society has treated this). The definition I gave is mine and I believe is generally shared with most Packard folks, but others may certainly differ. For a borderline case look at the 54 Cavalier; first it's a Packard in the senior car line, not a Clipper, and based on that you'd say "senior". Yet it's the only Packard-line car in 1954 to NOT have the senior engine, so you could say it's a "junior-senior"?

My own thought on the 23rd series Super DeLuxe is that nice as they were, they were almost a full 25% cheaper than the Custom 8, and a significantly less refined and elegant product; to me it's not Senior but that's just my opinion.

One thing that's sometimes forgotten with this "junior-senior" business is that, before the introduction in 1935 of the 120 which many consider the first "junior", there were several series of Packards in different prices classes in most every year, so some were more junior than others. And Packard had other moves downward in price (and expense); for example when the Single 8 replaced the Twin Six. And when the Twin Six replaced the Dominant Six. But the difference is that even the lesser Packards of this era, for example the Single Six, the Light Eight, etc. were still upper price class cars, whereas the 120 was decidely not. And the 110 was damn near in the lower price class.