A V8 Packard, Kool I always liked the last of them, they finally had some get up and go, enough to drive them in modern traffic. They used to be valued far below what the more "classic" straight 8 cars of the late 40's early 50's. But I haven't followed the prices on them in many years.
My Grandpa Fred's last Packard was a Clipper, but I do not know which model year. He used to deal with penny ante stocks, and at the end of every year, he had enough proceeds to buy a new car. So in '50, he orders himself a new Packard, and the order is sent in. Well, he waits...and waits...and waits...and is starting to get frustrated. He calls up the owner of the Packard dealer to complain (Grandpa Fred was a CPA, and many of the Southeastern Idaho business owners were both clients and golfing buddies/personal friends/fellow Free Masons of his). Well, the hired help made phone calls and found out it was still 'in shipping.' That same day, Mom, as a high school student, sees a lone Southern Pacific boxcar on the car delivery siding there in Idaho Falls (Dad knew the story, said it was an SP boxcar), and when she got home, she told Grandpa there was a single boxcar on the siding. So he calls the Packard dealer owner again, tells him about the boxcar his daughter spotted. The owner calls the Union Pacific freight station, asks about the boxcar. Turns out it had been delivered over a week previously, and had supposedly been unloaded of four Packards. Well, the railroad checked, no, it had not been unloaded, but they got it unloaded overnight, and Grandpa finally got his new '50 Packard.
