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Price guides and estimators are pretty much useless today. The market is all over the place. Posting some photos of the car would be very helpful, inside and out, so we could see whether or not the restoration has been done correctly - that's the biggest money changer and without seeing the car, there's really no way to give you an honest decent price.

One look at Hemmings online will quickly display that prices are all over the place - it really depends on the car, the color, and the quality of the restoration. Not really going to be a big difference in price between an 826 and a 726. Yes, there were fewer 826's built, but, there aren't that many of either left and they're nearly identical cars, so, that's really not going to be a factor for price.

Post some photos and I'm sure we'd be able to give you a better idea what it's worth. Good luck!

I used to ask my grandfather what some old car or another was worth.


His answer, almost invariably, would be, "whatever some damned fool will pay for it."


It wasn't much help for pricing, but it was 100% true.

A 31 Packard of any model will be very tough to nail down value. Are you looking at the 31 Super8 listed in Hemmings ? That car is very rare, but that does not make it more valuable. In fact a 31 will be tough to find parts for as so few were built. One thing that is a must in the purchase of any vintage car and that is a compression test. If the engine on that 31 is bad then the car is about worthless. The compression should be around 80 lbs as new or higher in a Super8. So anything below say 65 lbs is a sign something is amiss. Any variation in compression between cylinders of more than 10% is another sign of impending problems. Oil pressure is another important sign and should be at least 30 lbs on a cold start up. If the engine is not maintained, then likely there are other important items, such as the Bijur system, clutch and steering and brakes that are not maintained either. Restoring one of these cars is expensive to the extreme especially if parts are missing. This is a hobby not an investment and you must love the car more than your money. Be careful and go slow, and send us some pics, there are plenty of competent folks here to help you. See photo, I have over $ 65,000 in this mostly restored 1932 901, and I would likely loose money in any sale.

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Wow!! That sure looks a lot nicer than when I last saw it.

Yea it does, Thanks. A labor of love, mostly labor. I have shown this car locally 13 times and won 12 trophy's. People love these old cars and owners need to get them out and show them. I run this car regularly and get rave reviews from spectators which makes it all worthwhile. I was at the "Run to the Sun" event with 3,200 cars last week in Myrtle Beach, I lost my voice talking to all the visitors. But only 4 Packard cars attended out of 3,200 cars. Come on people ! Get em' out and show em'.

My driver sedan has a date next month at a show northeast of town a few miles. It's just nice to be back at shows after the (expletive deleted) Covid crap.


There's a 726 driver needing an interior on Marketplace for $25K, and I wager they'd take something in the high teens if confronted with a stack of Benjamins.

Hey, we had some dumbass manager come in with COVID, he got everyone in his department sick, and then died before they could fire his dumbass.

I have a 31 826 in really great shape and have made some observations about this exact model:

1. Realize that it was the poor-man's Packard when new. It was the entry level Packard and smallest wheelbase model in 1931. It is very base when compared to the 840/845 models. You can look up the stats on this forum, but around 6k 826's were built, 6k 833's were built and 3k 840/845's were built in 1931.
2. I've read that in 1931 Packard tried to upend their competition by releasing the 1932 model year early. But this led to an inventory surplus of 31 models that needed to be sold at firesale prices, because who'd want a 31 when you could have a 32?
3. Interestingly though, very few 826's survived today. I see many more of the big Packards than I do of the 826's because car society values the big Packards more. I think the registry has a total of 7 or 8 826's listed.
4. Despite it being rare, I don't think this translates to higher values. Indeed I think the opposite might be true -- if the car isn't complete, it'll be very difficult to find any replacement parts which is a detriment to values. If it's not complete, think long and hard about it. I went to Hershey last year, and I don't think I saw any parts for it, at all.
5. My dream car is a 840 sedan, but my budget will likely never allow me to purchase. As the song goes " If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with".
6. Having said all this, I would say a fair price for a 826 in good/great shape would be $35 to $45k; anything more I'd have understand why the premium.

thank you!

the shoe fits!