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Once the "piece of junk" is finished, I will post a picture of it. What you will see is a 1939 Packard that will appear stock on the outside with a stock interior, painted a factory correct color. I have seen too many old cars rotting away in barns or back yards owned by people who intend to do a "complete restoration one day". This Packard will end up on the road again after spending the past 60 years moldering away in a warehouse.

The original engine and transmission will live on in another Packard Super Eight giving it new life permitting it to be on the road again.

Two Packards saved from the crusher and on the road again, one with a heart transplant and one with a non-original but correct for the year replacement engine. The hobby is stronger for having both approaches.

Hi

Perhaps this '40 120 coupe would be a better choice for your street rod project.

binghamton.craigslist.org/cto/4622964246.html

Please reconsider street rodding the '39 Super Eight, those represent only 8.5% of all 1939 Packards built. Yours appears to be a Model 1703, Body No. 1272 Touring Sedan for five passenger. Currently there are only 21 registered with the Packard Club. Not an extinct model but certainly not something one encounters at every car show.

Steve

As it seems that your prime concern is that of reliability have you considered using a later Packard Straight 8 - with overdrive? There is a U-Tube posting featuring a 1951 Packard Patrician that, except for a custom designed and made A/C unit, is stone stock with it's 327 9 main bearing straight eight coupled to it's original Ultramatic. It has completed a trip from LA to Virginia via the Southern Route and back to LA via the Northern route which includes driving over the Rocky Mountains - a trip of over 7,000 miles without so much as a burp from the engine or the Ultramatic. If that's not reliability, I don't know what is.

I also think some of what you're doing is getting lost in the uproar. No where did I see that you were chopping the top, using a Mustang rear and Mustang II front suspension and steering and replacing the interior with something from "Karl's Krazy Kabin Kustoms". If I'm reading that right, the only thing you'll be changing is the engine, transmission and by necessity, the drive line. While no doubts cuts will have to be made to accommodate the new engine and transmission I haven't heard anything that would prevent a return to original by a subsequent owner.

While I absolutely would rather you keep it all original or at worst using a later Packard 8, I think you are to be commended for doing a very limited change and, more importantly, committing to keeping the rest of the car as it was originally designed.

Jim

Thanks Jim.

My mechanic will install the new engine without cutting the frame or doing damage to the sheet metal of the firewall, floorboard, or the splash panels. He intends to leave the Packard in a condition that would permit a future owner to convert it back to its original configuration if they desired to do so. I have no desire to create a rat rod, custom, or true street rod with fancy interior, digital gauges, etc. I like the stock Packard interior and dash panel and the basic lines of the car. My goal is to have a car that people would consider to be a restored stock automobile unless they opened the hood.

I checked out a range of possibilities for substituting another Packard straight eight, either a 327 or a 356, but faced the same issue of the cost of rebuilding an old straight eight versus the cost of a newer engine.

One issue with the car that I have not mentioned is that it survived a fire in the storage building it was stored in. The fire toasted the wiring under the hood and on the engine, and blistered the paint off the grill, front fenders, hood, and roof of the car. All the glass shattered into spider-web cracks due to the heat and the water used to control the fire. I am not starting out with a pristine example of a 1939 Super Eight. I want to save it and use and enjoy it on a daily basis.

It does sound like you have done your homework so - so be it.

Just for future reference:

One issue with the car that I have not mentioned is that it survived a fire in the storage building it was stored in. The fire toasted the wiring under the hood and on the engine, and blistered the paint off the grill, front fenders, hood, and roof of the car. All the glass shattered into spider-web cracks due to the heat and the water used to control the fire. I am not starting out with a pristine example of a 1939 Super Eight. I want to save it and use and enjoy it on a daily basis.

It might have been better if you had begun with the above.
As I, as I imagine everyone else saw in our mind's eye a "factory fresh original".

Good luck with your project. Please do post pictures of the completed product/project.

Jim

This thread doesn't provide any useful information about Packards.

My neighbor has a 29 Packard. It's rusty and original and it runs. He has a little fun with it and it doesn't cost him anything except storage. It's also not worth restoring.

While some might regard my opinions on the subject of hot rodding Packards as harsh, the examples below demonstrate how they fare in the marketplace. I assume most of these cars will be cut up for the motor and junked.

1940 PACKARD 110 HOT ROD
Sale price: $7,877.00 make an offer
chevy 400 small block Transmission: chevy saginaw 4 speed



28 Packard 526 Street Rod Hot Rod
Price:$ 17,122 (was $39,000)
Priced To Sell Fast!!! . Auto trans., power steering, 4 wheel disc brakes, finished and restored in 2005, less than 5000 miles since restoration, always garaged, Chevy 454 engine, Crager spoke rims. All chromed out ! Beautiful !!



Custom 1938 Packard Rumbleseat Coupe Street Rod $79,000 (was $107,000 January 2008)

I remember that car being on Craig's list in the Boston area.

I'll try approach from a different angle:
if I had to pick a full classic Packardto have a "heart transplant" I think it would be a 39 super eight. I hope I don't offend anybody by what I'm going to say but by 1939 the super eight was down graded to a glorified 120 with a 320 engine in it. I rather see it done to that than to a 34 model for example.

You don't have to look very far. They are cutting Packards up right and left. Don't buy the "everything can be put back" argument either. The front end is chopped and a pick up truck suspension is welded on. The differential is replaced by a truck unit as well. They are all pretty much the same layout. A lot less imaginative (and cheaper) than fixing the darn thing.

I knew somebody who wanted to street rod a Darrin. It never happened because he died.

I would think a replacement engine should be a 356 with its transmission and overdrive. Keep it all Packard.

(o()o)

Does everyone who tries to offer parts for those who are restoring their cars get this much negative input?

No where did I indicate using a truck front end or differential, nor am I "cutting up" this Packard. As for resale value, that might apply if I ever intended to sell it, which I do not.