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I don't know if there is still any interest, but I finally came across the J. C. Taylor ad about the Fred Duggan Fire.

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I am amazed of the knowledge you all have on here and the information that is out there.

PackardInfo.com what would we do with out it.

Kudos to you all and thanks

Wow what a shame to loose all that to a fire. Belongings can be replaced but us living beings can not.

Just curious, but has anyone heard of a Packard that was burned this badly being restored because it was such a rare classic?

The 1934 1106 LeBaron Sport Coupe that Ralph Marano restored many years ago had been very badly damaged by fire, but based on pictures I recall seeing, the damage was extensive but not nearly to the extent of the Duggan incident. I'll look for my pictures, or you can ask Ralph for details.

But there is so little in the remains of the Duggan cars that could practically have found its way into a restoration, could you really call the result a restoration?

The Roosevelt car had bullet proof doors made out of magnesium so they burned up.

The sad part was all of the cars were low mileage originals. The assumption was a boat owner burned the place down to collect insurance, but if the cars didn't have the batteries disconnected somebody could have been playing with the dome lights or something and started the fire.

Billy Hirsch had a Cadillac 75 catch fire because the hand brake ratchet caught the dome light harness. After that he was a disconnect switch believer.

As for the chrome hoods, here is one that survived into the 1960's and was probably chopped to make a touring car or roadster.

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Thanks, Dave and Tim,

There is that tipping point between what is a restoration and what is a recreation.

I do think that the rustorations popularized on Americans Pickers can be very cool. (Don't send hate mail re AP.) The parts are all original, and look it, but the car functions. Everything works.

Sometimes they change out the engine to something modern. The fascination may be from the cruising days when guys would take a stock late '40s or early '50s dorky sedan and put some full blown monster under the hood to fake out the chopped, channeled and raked hot rods with flames that had names like Miss Lizzy.