Packard Forum Index » Packard Vehicles - For Sale, Wanted, Trade

I'm familiar with the 1937 120 Convertible Coupe now listed on Ebay at $70K. I saw this same car for sale in the flea market at Hershey in 2016. It is a total piece of junk. There is literally more bondo than body, the paint is horrible, and the chrome is all badly corroded. This was a rusty wreck that was probably given a Maaco quality repaint about 40 years ago and used and abused since. I would stay away. The fact that is has been for sale for over 5 years should tell you something. It is not worth anything close to the asking price. Last year, I did see a really fresh frame off restored 1936 120 Convertible Coupe sold by a dealer in Arizona for $71K. This car had dual mounts with the very rare steel artillery wheels. It was yellow with a red interior. Beautiful car. The 37 120 from the C. Lewis Ablelove collection is a really nice car, but it is an older restoration and is not currently running. It is going to need work to be put back on the road and the tires are probably going to have to be replaced. Also, it looks like not everything was done when the car was restored. In the photos, the dash instruments and interior chrome show deterioration. It is certainly presentable as is but is not show quality. Another issue is that the dash panels are not woodgrained. I thought that they should be on the '37's. All of these issues need to be taken into account in arriving at a fair market value.

The electric thing is in full swing. Washington State is grandfathering petrol cars after 2030. We had some test cars in here from California and I asked them what will happen when people start shooting each other at the charging stations. They said that is happening already.

If I was the kind of know nothing jerk who the bankers throw money at I would start a company to manufacture solar powered charging stations.

Global warming politics is pure stupidity. My generation understood that to save the planet population has to be reduced. It's too late now as the Titanic earth has already hit the iceberg. So we might as well break out the booze and have a ball.

It is a mistake to buy any vehicle sight unseen from just photos. It is a crap shoot, and most of the times you crap out.
Ask me how I know.

How do you know?


Apparently, Covid wasn't the answer of a population reducing pandemic. I guess that I watched 12 Monkeys one time too many.


The Romans had it right with caveat emptor. The more I gaze at the Abelove collection, the more willing I am to allow it all to pass me by.

It IS an interesting topic and you make some good points, Ewrecks. I think the eventuality will be as projected, not sure just what the timeframe will be. I personally think it will happen a lot slower than some are saying and as far as the 'kids' of today not having an interest in our era of cars, there will always be interest, it will just thin out. There are places in the world today where square rigger ships are still being built and they have been 'obsolete' for 150 years.
And as far as EV cars being the 'answer', how does burning all that electricity in a country the still uses coal to create 65% of it's power, fix anything? Canada's a bit further ahead there with a lot more hydro-electric plants, but there are still a lot of smoke stacks belching C02 in this country. Taking gas cars off the road will exacerbate this issue ten fold. And if you look at the graph of what's on the road today for 'classic/collector/antique cars, the 100 year old stuff is pretty rare, 50/60 year old, not so much, and 25 year old cars are a dime a dozen. That curve can only continue as fewer of the really old cars survive and parts become impossible to find. 40/50 years from now, our cars won't be gone, they'll just be very rare. Packard already is rare (4 Packards in 3200 cars says it all) so I guess it's safe to say a Packard sighting in 2050 will be extremely rare and most won't have a clue what it is. Unfortunate inevitable evolution I guess; too bad, but not much can be done about it. I often wonder where my car will end up when I die and my stewardship is concluded. Hot rodded, left outside somewhere to got to rack and ruin, or the scrapyard/crusher??? Hard to find people who will look after them like we do!! I say enjoy 'em while we can, live in the sunshine and let history go where it goes. Chris.

Chris- I agree that unless there is a major conversion in the way we generate electricity, conversion to electric vehicles will be problematic.
Current electric vehicles have far too short a range to replace the gasoline and diesel vehicles we have come to rely upon for travel except in urban areas.
The batteries and rare metals will create their own environmental issue in their extraction, processing and disposal.
Looking at this only from the standpoint of Canada or the US and Europe, ignores that more than half of the world population is in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere who also want the cars and other creature comforts that we take for granted. They are not necessarily solvent enough to worry about global warming .
I do think that EV’s and self driving cars will be coming quicker than I like. The internet, cell phones
and robotics were science fiction a few decades ago.
I hope that someone will want my old cars when I can no longer enjoy them but I do not see the value of my Packards jumping like Ferraris or muscle cars.
Hopefully the next owners will appreciate them as much as I have but we may be legislated off the roads.
Good reason to squeeze in as much time behind the wheel while we can.
Stay safe
RJR

Quote:

That's extremely unlikely as trains, airplanes, and ships will still be using petroleum fuels indefinitely. The main push towards electric vehicles and renewable electricity is to reduce fossil fuel dependence in ways in which it can relatively easily be reduced. Obviously petroleum will not last forever so we may as well make these changes sooner than later.

I recently bought a 2021 MINI SE EV. I use it for running around on errands and recharge it from time to time on the 110 house service. I use down to 20% and charge up to 80%. The range is short, about 150 miles at 100% charge under the best conditions. It is a lot of fun to drive with impressive performance. It serves my purposes very well. It would not work well as an only vehicle. We'll see how it goes but so far exceeding expectations.

There also seems to be a growing interest in converting vintage vehicles to electric. I don't know how far this will go, but it is beginning to grow.

I don't think driving range will be the big problem as many EVs are at 350 miles, which is about the range of most gas powered vehicles. The problem I see is the time to recharge. High power recharges still take 30 or more minutes to recharge. Lots of problems to solve, but they will get solved and our driving habits will change with them.

Quote:

I think you have hit on one of the largest parts of the problem I see with EV. Even though states are legislating that gas powered vehicles not be sold and EVs only will be bought by such and such a year, there seems to be almost no investment or even legislation to require anything near the number of charging stations that will be needed. I suspect they will fare about as well as the great hydrogen powered car "cure" for dirty air California promoted some years back -- as I recall that was about the same time they legislated the crushing of gas guzzlers. In that scenario a hydrogen outlet would be available at almost every gas station. Still waiting to see my first one of those.

Yes, some multi car fast charge stations are on freeways near rest stops but other than one or two stations at an office building for those working in the building or maybe in a public square, almost nothing is found at the usual local places where one could conceivable drive and have a meal or do some shopping while the vehicle charges. With all the bureaucratic nonsense and various entities involved in setting up or building charging stations I doubt it will be something one can just solve overnight.

An interesting side note on those multi bay freeway places -- it was on the news just a few weeks ago that copper wire thieves have now found them to be usually deserted and an easier and more lucrative place to strip than the traffic signals and street lights they had been previously hitting. Showed a photo of one large fast charge station with several of the units without cables and a couple with no box at all. That problem will only get worse with more stations to choose from.

JW,
You were missed at Salado.

Someone told me that EV cars are not recommended to be stored in your garage, did you hear any of this?

forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2022/03/02/e ... definitive-verdict/?sh=755cceb12327

youtube.com/watch?v=XWq-Mq1Uqpw