Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

The "good" car that Eccles owned is now owned by John Mozart. The other one went to Harrahs (the now famous brown and coral colored car, and now black and red). Seems to be a lot of mystery as to the authenticty of the body.

I am wondering how closely those cars were tracked back in the day and how they identified rebodied cars done by a dealer. Would they have considered even a speedster that much of a special car then?

Several of the early 30s service letters have small almost like ad articles saying such and such a dealer had a body for sale. Here is one from 1933. Any dealer that might have a customer wanting something different or needing a new body could contact the selling dealer and make arrangements. I would imagine the factory might not know or data plates might not get tracked in those instances.

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GL service letters

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BigKev, if 56executive approves, you can download a pdf and post the General Letters in Literature from
mktx.com/packard/GeneralLetters1930_1931.pdf

I think they go a long way to legitimizing the replacement of bodies to result in a car preferred by the owner in style or value. Mixing and matching chassis, engine, and body was a practice early on.

In doing a bit more reading, I learned that the severity of the '29 Crash did not really sink in (except for those who lost their fortunes in a day) for 2-4 years. Most people thought the recovery would be quick. We'd just bounce back, just as most people didn't expect the 2008 stock market collapse to take a decade to get back on its feet. So perhaps it isn't surprising that the first indication of greatly reduced prices on high-end custom cars didn't start until 1931 (See the GL letter dated April 7, 1931.) You could start dealing on a 734 Speedster Runabout at $5200 and probably get it for less judging from the tone of the letter. I think the Runabout MSRP was $6,000.

Therefore, I don't think the Sealy car was sold at a bargain price in July 1930. And since the Sealy's 13th wedding anniversary was July 8, 1930, the purchase and delivery to Mrs. Sealy, instead of Mr. Sealy, was not because it was the end of the production year, but because it was a timely gift.

Speedster production didn't even start until February 1930. I believe our Speedster was delivered in June 1930, to Philadelphia distributor.

Additional General Letters

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So getting back to my question

How do we know that a Mrs Sealey-y owned this 734?

We don't, not yet.

Below is a SNIPPED from GOOGLE BOOKS

The Bulb Horn - Volumes 16-19 - Page 6

books.google.com/books?id=Bn8jAQAAMAAJ
1949 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
In late 1937 I made the journey to his home in my 1931 model-840 roadster, to try out his car, as there was the possibility that we would make an even trade. I recall that I was quite unhappy with the ... Oddly enough, Eccles recalls seeing this car he now owns when it was unloaded froir the train in Portland, Oregon, back in 19 30. He say; that if drool had sold for one ... Sealey, who kept the car for nine years, finally trading it is on a Lincoln Zephyr. Eccles' other 7 34 was just recently

If someone out the has a copy of this Vol 16-19 Bulb Horn it might unwrap this mystery of Mrs Sealey