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Hello,

Does any body know why this white Packard Clipper super hard top is forever like a year on ebay even with a low give away price..even with the issues the car has..hasn't sold? I have tried to contact the owner several times but the last response, i was told it was sold..but has been listed as in the ebay classifieds and now a buy it now of $1,800..

Thanks! Severn

I think you are referring to this car. If so, a good question and maybe someone in the area is familiar with it and has an answer. If he does have 17K invested and still has all those issues but is letting it go for 1800, does kinda make you wonder. With all the things not working and what appears to be a fair bit of rust, that might be about all it's worth.

If Kev would move these posts to the appropriate forum, they might get more visibility and maybe a better chance at an answer.

Topic split and moved as requested.

Nasty evidence of rust is all over that car. Unless a good body man himself could take care of all that bad metal; I'd rather not wish to write the check for those repairs.

I agree there is alot of cancer all around bottom. Looks it it was bondo-up at one time and then repainted and all that bad body work is now coming apart.

Not trying to start a flame war but some times my fellow Packardians are a little to rough in their thinking. The price guide(Feb 2009) lists this car at between $2500 and $4200. That is the #5 and #4 prices. The car runs, drives, stops, and steers that would lend towards the higher grade. If I had the money I would be jumping on this car post haste. Granted it has problems. However my wifes 55 Patrician was in 10X worse shape(the center(B?) pillar was completly detached from what was left of the rocker panal) and it was on the road and in excellant shape for under $7500. That included brand new rocker panals, 1 rear quarter, and new floors(see pictures attached), this also included a complete interior. Granted the cost was spread over about 7 months, but still it seems that a lot of my peers seem to think that there is no such thing as a restoration under $20,000 and that is just bupkus. You can get a quality job done for inexpensive money you just have to look around and find a shop that is willing to work with you. Granted if you want a 400 point best of show job, you are going to spend $50,000 or better, but then you would not be willing to drive the car. Now keep in mind that I am talking about a cosmetic, up to driver quality restoration, not a body/frame off job. Somebody is going to be real sad that they did not jump on this and no I do not know the guy and am not stumping for him, just expressing an opinion.

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I know I'm 10 or 15 years behind on prices but don't think that is really the issue. My take on the whole was the original poster was wondering if there was something wrong with the listing or auction. He mentioned the car had been listed for quite a while, also was on another list, seller didn't respond well, said car was sold yet is still listed but apparently not selling for what seems a very low price. My question is if there is that much money invested, why all the mechanical problems still and why is he offering to sell so low after sinking that much in. Granted, he may just be tired of it and says he needs money but still would have thought he would have tried an auction with a low reserve, not a buy it now that low.

The ad copy puzzles me as well. In the first case, $3000 doesn't buy much of a comprehensive engine job, it's barely enough to pay for the parts, certainly not enough to include any machine shop work. Perhaps it was just a ring and valve grind job? And it isn't very apparent where the other $14,000 went.

But if it's you cup of tea, go for it. If the major parts are decent, you could probably recover much of the price by parting it out if you lost interest in restoring it to a presentable condition. But I suspect, looking at the body rust-out, the floors are probably pitiful and I'd even wonder about the frame at the rear. Let the buyer beware, take a GOOD, CAREFUL look before you buy.

Owen

for that kind of money I would not worry about it. As stated it could be parted out to get that much back out. But doing a minor cosmetic resto would be a better way to go. As to the $17,000 worth of work done on it, either he did not know what he was spending or he figured any resto has to cost kind of money. I have run into many people who feel it must be that way. I would try to find out where the car has spent its life, if in the southwest I would doubt any severe rust. As to floor rot, I would tend to doubt that based on the fact the from what I see in the photos it only appears to be minor in nature, not saying that the floors should not be looked at but I would be suprised if we were looking at a Rochester N.Y. winter rat. Just MHO

Alk

My car spent it's entire life in Calif and the floors are rusted out. A rust-belt car that was garaged can be way better than a southwestern car left out in the elements for many years.