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I was looking at a 1938 Packard 120 coupe and the owner told me upfront that the engine and body's numbers do not match, but the engine is a '38.

What--if any- impact do non-matching numbers have on value?

Thank you

It's not clear to me what you're calling a "body number", perhaps the vehicle number (which was on a decal) or perhaps the theft-proof or body serial number. But in any case Packard only began matching engine and vehicle numbers in 1955, so your 1938 Packard never had matching numbers.

I was looking at a 1938 Packard 120 coupe and the owner told me upfront that the engine and body's numbers do not match, but the engine is a '38.

Since he specifically mentions the engine is a 38 perhaps it was replaced with a service engine or one from a salvage yard? In many states at the time, the car was registered using the motor number rather than the vehicle number. Perhaps that is what he is referring to. Does the owner have old registration paperwork that shows a different number than what is on the car now? It is not an unheard of situation as many engines were replaced with a service engine or after Packard went away, that from another car.

There are several cars that have been mentioned on the forum as having odd or missing motor numbers. Missing is probably a replacement with a new service engine but no real explanation for radically different numbers. It is a guess some states had their own unique number requirements and a new number was assigned by the state if a car was registered with a motor number and the original number had to be changed or removed for whatever reason.

Don't B foolish! Use it as a lever, IF you're interested in purchase.
How many have been sold unscrupulously? Maybe he's owned it forever, and had it replaced or guy he bought it from? There's hundreds of reasons, you can't always tell about cars that old without documents. There's no substitute. Make sure he writes a statement/documents to that effect. It's better to having one running than one not with original non-repairable parts.
Typically, if numbers "match" people prefer originality, but life's not perfect. Mostly a post war "muscle car" phenom to ward off "clones" or "tribute" cars where a lesser model is converted by replacing with upgrade components. eg, Tempest into GTO, 6 cyl to V8, SS badging, Shelby, etc.
There's been a shift toward "unmolested" or "barn find" but I feel that's driven by the differential cost of restoration to market value mostly. I would not give you a penny for dust, mice nests, or "original" tires, others will.
Marketing 101; create a niche when one doesn't exist.

All this discussion about a replacement engine, did I miss something? All I see in the original post is a 1938 120 with a 1938 motor, and a motor number that doesn't match the body number which they never did. There isn't any information presented to conclude an engine swap has taken place.

Was it even confirmed by the engine number that it IS a 1938 engine?

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Dave (O_D), if this refers to Howard (HH56) then you might have missed that he is venturing a guess, wary in the choice of his words.

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