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My 1950 Packard Series 2300 Sedan ~


I had always wanted a 1950 Packard sedan because my father had a new one when I was born. I answered an add in the local paper about a '50 Packard that was for sale in Wadsworth, Ohio. I lived in Akron at the time and Wadsworth was only about 15-miles away. The add said that it had been stored many years and restoration had been started. The man wanted $500.00 for it. I drove right over there. The car was very dirty. It was in his garage sitting on jack-stands with no wheels and the hood was off. But I figured it had a lot of potential so I bought it.
A week later, I hired a car hauling company to get the car and truck it home for me. There was a lot of extra parts and it took another two trips in a van to get them all. The car had been stored in a barn in Shelby for 26-years. The man I bought it from had it only about two years. Once we arrived to pick it up, he had it all washed and cleaned up. The tires and hood were back on.
The car was in really good, solid condition. But storage had taken it's toll. All rubber parts had rotted and the brakelines were shot. Also, there was no exhaust system at all. It was gone. The car had not seen blacktop in 26-years and had not been driven, or even started in all that time.
Once home, I bought a new 6-volt battery. On New Years day, 1992, a friend, Charlie and I began the long process of getting the Packard started. I had bought two 5-gal. cans of gas. One went into the gas tank, the other was for priming. Charlie would prime the carborator and I would turn the key. The engine turned but wouldn't fire. After 46-minutes, the car started and sat there running. I was surprised the battery held up so well.
At first, white smoke filled the entire neighborhood. But after about 30-seconds to a minute, the smoke went away and the car sat there running smoothly. I was very pleased. It was loud because of no muffler. In the weeks after, I worked putting a muffler and pipes on the car. I found a repair shop that wanted to restore it for me. They did the brake work and tune-up and rebuilt the carborator, (it seems that, at some point in it's storage years, posums had used the carborator for a toilet. Possum crap was about three inches thick. How it ever started in my driveway, I don't know!).
Once these guys were done with the car at that point, it was driveable. I drove it home. The wife and I began using the Packard to go to the grocery store once a week and I drove it around town every once in awhile. The shop that did the work on it went out of business and I was stuck. The body and interior still needed restored. Plus the chrome and frame needed to be done. I found a guy who had a shop in Mogadore, Ohio who specialized in Packard and Studebaker. I took the car to him and he quoted me $23,000.00 to completely restore it. And said it would take 8-months to a year. The '50 Packard, fully restored was only worth $18,000.00. Didn't seem like a good Idea at the time.
I decided to sell the car and sold it to a local man for $700.00. He sold it to a 19-year old guy. When I heard that I felt bad thinking the car would become a streetrod. But I was happy to find out from a friend who saw my old Packard at a cruise-in two years later, that the young fellow still has it and is restoring it as original. He has it running great.
I wish him a lot of luck with the car. Some day, I'll buy another '50 Packard. But this time, the work will be already done.


NOTE:

Some of the following picture are somewhat fuzzy. This was due to the fact that those pictures were taken from old video tape camera footage that was switched to DVD then the pictures were lifted from that. Sorry ~