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

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disaffectedmusings.com/2019/11/24/most-valuable-packard/

Friends


I wrote a longish post on this car a few years ago. I have looked for it in both Packard forums and for some reason I can't find it. I get to write it again.

I retired last year from a long career selling musical merchandise to school programs . The first of these jobs was at the now defunct Merit Music in New Canann, Connecticut. We rented about 600 instruments and there were 500 students taking lessons .

One of the adult students was Earl Thiel. He was an engineer or chemist or something and commuted from Weston , Connecticut to Wayne New Jersey everyday.

Earl was older, (maybe my age today!) and a real scholar and gentleman. He dressed and looked like a farmer and had a slow, shy aw shucks demeanor. He read philosophy and had machine shop skills. He is one of the most intelligent people I have known.

He liked cars. He had a huge garage attached to his house with one small door to take a car out. He never traded in a car when he bought a new one. He had a bathtub Packard, a XK140 Jag coupe with a competition engine, and a 1967 Ford LTD four door with a 427 and a factory 4 speed on the floor.

He bought the Packard in the link above off a used car lot in Norwalk 1956 for $375.00. I don't how much he drove it , but it had been garage bound for a number of years when I knew him. A friend of mine was working on it. The fenders and other parts were on the floor. The color was "Boticelli Blue", a dark blue with maybe a purple tint.

A friend of mine had me offer him a restored Stutz LeBaron SV16 coupe for a trade. Earl pointed out to me that if he did that he wouldn't have the Packard anymore .

My friend and I would go over on a Saturday afternoon. We would hang out , look at the cars and his machine tools. We would sit in his den and talk about cars and have a shot of whiskey.

The phone would ring. We hear\, one end of the conversation.
"Yes,....,
yes,.....
yes, ......

No Thank You."



A few weeks later, during the whiskey time. The door bell rings.

"Mr. Thiel. "

"Yes? "

"I am so and so from the Chandler Collection. Do you still have the Packard? Well, here is my card. Let me write a number down on it. If it is interesting at any time please give me a call."


It was like being married to Marilyn Monroe.

When Earl died , his son found a list with 58 names and phone numbers on it. The son started calling the numbers on the list. the car was sold to the first person who answered the phone.

People cried foul. The car change hands twice in the next 24 hours, the price doubling each time.

It ended up with a well known collector in New Jersey. Before the restoration was finished it was sold to another well known collector in New Jersey.

The last time I saw the car it was in a trailer going to a concourse someplace in its new color scheme. I like light green a lot, but I wish it was still dark blue.

I miss Earl.

Regards


John Harley

Right, from what I have heard the history of that car is pretty sleazy.

Fitting irony given the pricing situation.