58L-Y8

Matt, Life in the company of a madman dictator is a touchy and dangerous proposition...

The 3-box sport sedan version shown in The Olympian Cars is the more attractive of the two, the difference is the rear roof quarters and separate trunk treatment.

Quick, some one call Ralph Marano immediately! This Packard belongs in his collection!

A quick search found it: 1940 Packard 160 SunAire sport sedan fastback by Rollson. It is one of two full-customs by Rollson, one this fastback, the other the knotchback style pictured in The Olympian Cars by Richard Burns Carson, Section Edition, page186. Its in serious need but a choice find.

Is that ever an understatement! The auction car is no exception, tailored and elegant.

Very nice '51 Dodge at a bargain price. It won't knock your eyes out but it won't knock your hat off either...

A method that would give you a reasonable approximation of how many of each Star Chiefs were built of each body style would be to figure the percentages of each comparable model for 1955 total production then apply those percentages to the total 1954 production number. It won't be exact but given the pricing is in the same range and customer brand loyalty then the resulting numbers probably would be within five percent correct. When referring to the totals you calculate, just prefix a ~ symbol to indicate they are approximate numbers.

Nice image of a rare car, looks to be a either a Series 990 or 980, hard to tell without seeing how long it was. Here a closer look.

Late night's "Monolith Monsters" had a nice two-tone 1956 DeSoto FireFlite convertible and four door 1956 Plymouth police car, but a '55 Ford F-100 panel truck emergency vehicle. Universal-International Pictures made a lot of those terrible old monster movies that were the second feature run at the drive-in theaters. None of the actors were well-known then, many just getting a start in the business. The cars are the best part of the movies. Otherwise, its cardboard characters, one dimensional acting, stock plots and hilarious 'special' affects.

A synopsis of the forces and events that replaced the Clipper styling with the Free-Flow-Styled 22nd-23rd Series: Management realized the pre-war non-Clipper design was old and out-of-date enough to be uncompetitive in the postwar market. Damaged tooling from poor storage was also a factor. Clipper was their newest tooling available, had had its initial success short-circuited by the war, its tooling not fully amortized. Its important to remember at this point that while the older 1938-'42 bodies was an in-house build, whereas the Briggs Body Company was the supplier of the Clipper bodies. This would continue through the Free-Flow-Styled and Contours until events resulted in the Chrysler purchase of Briggs body operations and Packard to take control of the body construction by leasing Connor Avenue body plant from Chrysler. As framework to the development of what would become the 1948 Packards, all manufacturers were working on their new postwar cars during the war as time and staffing permitted. For the independent makers, it was viewed as a opportunity to get a jump on the all-new Big Three models projected for 1949. Time was of the essence, but Packard had only a tiny styling department headed by Ed Macauley with a staff of perhaps six-eight people. But to augment this, since the development of the Clipper during 1940, they had been working closely with Briggs in-house styling department which was much larger, providing styling for all Briggs customers, the largest being Chrysler. George Christopher, the notoriously pinch-penny company president since 1942, embraced the perceived need and benefits of presenting new postwar styling as quickly as possible but wasn't about to discard and write off the unamortized Clipper tooling. Briggs, of course, intended to retain Packard's body building business, was glad to assist in updating the Clipper shell to the current styling trend which was characterized by low, horizontal grille and envelop, through-fender, slab-sides seen on wartime styling exercises of "The Cars of The Future". Throw into this heady brew Packard styling director Ed Macauley's Brown Bomber customized Darrin 'idea' car which was literally subjected to each new styling sop presented by Al Prance, Briggs Styling Director and his capable staff for Ed's enjoyment. As he drove around Detroit in his custom Packard previewing future styling ideas to his contemporaries including Harley Earl, a production Clipper served as armature for clay styling studies in those same themes in the Briggs studio. The results were that each principle player got what he wanted. For Christopher further amortization of body tooling. For Macauley, his conception of futuristic styling and modernization of their cars with the intent they would garner greater sales than ever before versus the warmed-over 1942 models the Big Three were peddling. For Briggs and Prance, a grip on Packard's body business and demonstration of their styling prowess. That the result gave Packard only a restyled 1941 car which would be more and more obvious the longer it stayed in production. Well, it was too early to worry about that in 1946. in the near term, there was massive pent-up demand expected to take through 1949-'50 to satisfy.

We analyzed this one quite a bit on the PackardInfo Forum site. The Thief Proof Number stamped into the firewall tells us it was an early 1948 22nd Series convertible body shell. Assumptions are that it is largely based on a 127" wb Custom Eight body and chassis since the convertible frame is unique to that model. The doors and quarter have been re-skinned with Clipper parts after door jams were modified to accommodate the change. Mounting a 127" wb front clip and changing the dashboard to 1942, plus various trim completes the look. While its not a factory build, no one can deny how incredibly attractive the finished car will be. Were I in the position to, I'd buy this Packard in a second, finish the restoration to 1942 style details, then drive and show it with immense pride. When told that it wasn't a factory build, I'd look nicely at the 'expert', smile and say "But, Just look at it!"

How about a better look at those faded color images.

AJ Interesting '29 M-6-80 cabriolet, the chassis spec's read the same as the Willys-Knight Model 66A. Wonder if that body is by Phillips Custom Body of Warren, Ohio?

Its the same Cadillac I save these photos from its earlier eBay listing, shows how much wood structure Fisher was still employing up through 1936.

I'll guess those driving lights are '34-'35 Buick or Chrysler or '35-'36 Auburn headlight shells that have been fitted with sealed-beam conversion kits that were common then. They definitely look to be OEM from another make.

Not so much a find by me as plenty of ACD collectors knew about the two Auburns in the Fort Plain, New York area by old-time garage owner and former Kaiser-Frazer sub-dealer Everett Pye had stored. One was a '34 850Y convertible sedan in the garage. The other was a '33 12-161A speedster stored inside a school bus! It was in need of an extensive restoration and has since been restored and shown at major concours. His yard was a collection of various makes he had kept from trades and just interest in old cars, included many Kaisers and Frazers, a sharknose Graham, a '38-'39 Hupmobile Six, various postwar Packard, Studebakers and even a '32 Ford V8 Victoria. It was a fascinating place to visit and he was an interesting and knowledgeable fellow. The environment was particularly hard on the cars, in a narrow valley near a creek, very damp. Some few of the cars were saved including the Auburns but most of the others are only a memory for those of us that saw them. Ironically, when we left traveling south we came to the corners of Sprout Brook, New York. Its claim to fame? Its the birth place of Henry J. Kaiser.

Hope this helps:

Hope this helps.

Quite an eclectic collection, a few interesting cars worth the effort to pursue but most readily available in better condition here. The REO Royale, '38 Hudson Terraplane convertible, '39 & '42 Lincoln-Zephyrs, Packards such as the '28 Six convertible coupe, '36 120 sedan, '46-'47 Clipper limousine, the lwb pre-war models, the export '46-'48 DeSoto Diplomat, '50 Mercury station wagon all stand out. Unfortunate they're so badly overpriced and located so far away. The seller is bewildered why no one has jumped on this 'marvelous' opportunity.

Ed I've come to view the 836A as Pierce-Arrow's reprise of the Packard Light Eight 900 episode: A try at building a lower-priced, entry-level, model to generate sales volume without first learning how to remove genuine cost from the design and manufacturing process. In Packard's case, it produced a spritely, sporty, quality smaller car which quickly diverted sales from its more profitable lines and drained the working capital further. For Pierce-Arrow, without hard numbers on the 836A produced, I assume it was the same experience. You mentioned "with a Stude body and Pierce front doors". Did the 836A still have input from South Bend even though the two companies had separated?

Ed So, the 836A is the unwanted step-child of the Pierce-Arrow world? What is a realistic price for one in this condition? There is a similar '34 836A in a small museum in the Niagara area.

A 904 Sedan-Limousine in unrestored condition sold at an auction at Darien Center, New York in the early 1990's. At the time, I assumed it would be restored as a sport phaeton, anyone have knowledge of that particular car?

Don't forget about Jewett, Paige's companion car.

The Packard is a 1932 Individual Custom Series 904 All-Weather Landaulet. Designs were created by Dietrich with various configurations for the upper structures but built in-house when Packard decided to get a greater share of the dwindling custom body business. Who built or supplied which body style gets clouded at this point. The Studebaker is a President Model 90 State Victoria on the 136" wheelbase.

The holy grail for Packard collectors in addition to the custom-bodied cars. Wonder if any Sport Model chassis were sent to custom coachbuilders for one-off designs?