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The northeastern states, New York, New Jersey, etc. have the traditionally old money families. The Rust Belt along the Great Lakes had the heavy industry and the heavy industry magnates. California had Hollywood. Texas had oil. Plus there is probably a difference between the dealerships started before 1935 and afterwards, since the junior cars made it possible for the middle class to have Packards.
Ken

I agree on all points Ken. When you factor in Packard's introduction of the junior cars, the move opened up a whole new market for them and as you stated, provided an opportunity for average income families to own one. I guess it's hard to say when the expansion of Packard's dealership network peaked but based on Kevin's list, it would be interesting to know how many Ford and Chevy dealerships were in California compared to Ford and Chevy dealerships in the southeast. I tend to think that environment did play a major role in the number of survivor cars that made it to "old age" and more specifically cars that spent their lives in cities vs. rural environments when you factor in road conditions. There were a lot less paved roads back in the 40's and 50's especially in the more rural settings and cars, regardless of make, took a real beating vs. those located within the urban spread...and those low mileage survivors most likely stayed with older owners who lived in the city limits and rarely left them...just my worth

Interesting that the latest PAC cormorant has a story about a 53 sportster sold new by Poteet & Company, Bristol Tennessee. Nice looking car.

I had a 56 in 59....and it was starting to go rust wise. Bubbles in rockers and over headlights.....

When I went to buy it, it was the only 51-56 Packard I found with decent rocker panels. Back in the day in the salt belt (where there was snow....) Packards were notorious rusters. I've always felt that if they had paid more attention to rust they might have lasted longer....

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I don't know Pat but it seems like I've heard that about all the makes when they were exposed to snow and road salt. I guess that prior to the introduction of corrosion protection, the only think they had to combat it was undercoating which helped with the frame and underbody but didn't take care of water contaminated with salt getting thrown into the body seams. In that respect, deep south and southwest cars had a survival advantage.

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Quite right!

If you can lay hands on a 35 year old edition of the JC Whitney (paper) catalog, you'll find rocker panels listed for a variety of brands. If you were the unfortunate owner of a a '65-66 "Rustang", you could get repair panels for every piece of body sheet metal except the roof and firewall. Take a look at the variety of repair panels offered for the tri-five Chevies.

The availability of repair panels simply highlights the rust prone areas of those vehicles which provided a sufficient opportunity for sales/profit in the aftermarket.
However, complete, brand-new, replacement bodies are now being produced for Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, Chevelles, and others.

Meanwhile, the reintroduction of calcium chloride as a de-icer and the addition of salt brine (a by-product of drilling gas wells) a pre-treatment on winter roads is starting to take its toll on contemporary vehicles.

Distribution of old cars by region simply follows the demographics of their tiem as new/late-model vehicles, but salt-water and winter driving take their toll on car populations - regardless of brand.

Quite true Brian and you're in a prime location to make that statement. I worked with a guy from Pennsylvania that said where he came from, a lot of folks had a winter and a summer car...the summer car which stayed in the garage all winter and the winter car rusting away in the driveway. He said the snow plow would come by and literally cover his car up if he left it on the side of the road. Of course if a guy is lucky emough to come across a "summer" Packard then he's got a real trophy!

Also there is rust from inside, when a car window is down, or broken. Rain gets in, and sits until it finds a way out. Carpets are good at helping that function.

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My car was purchased from Rockford,Il and had to be one of these 'summer' cars. I think that winters and road salting are as harsh as it gets there. The car shows no signs of rusting.
Seeing the Packards in the local wrecking yards that are sitting in the open, and have been for many years, their bodies are in surprisingly good shape (not a lot of rust/rot). Maybe the low humidity here in Colorado helps.