… with only 10k miles on the odometer:
Hopefully, the family will be able to get it running soon…
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Pretty cool find. I hope they leave it as it is. Just clean it up and get it running.
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+1
Every month, Hemmings Classic Car has a feature that they call “Drivable Dream”, and it always shows a mechanically-sound, but “rough” looking old car. Many of them have the primer showing through the paint, the interiors tend to be disreputable-looking, and some even have a patina of surface rust on the body, but they are all driven regularly.
This 90+ year old Packard is–at least visually–in far better shape than most of the 40-50 year old Drivable Dreams featured in Hemmings, so I really hope that the family just does a thorough mechanical fix, and leaves everything else untouched.
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A car is only original once…
You can restore a car as many times as you have money to do so!
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A clean 1930 Packard (similar body style) failed to sell on Ebay at $30,000, so there’s not much room to do a restoration, anyway. Repair the mechanicals (parts are plentiful), clean it up, and drive!
Neat. It’s gonna need a new battery though.
I agree, clean it up, fix the mechanicals and have fun driving it. The only thing for me though is I’d like the paint and other parts to shine so if it’s deteriorated too badly, I’d paint it. Otherwise it should be left original.
Kind of sad though to see some of those old factory buildings and the history behind them.
It looks like those cars on the 60’s tv series The Untouchables. Many brands/models of nice appearing cars in that era.
Agree that it’s sad to see the buildings sitting unused. But, it would be awesome to explore those old buildings. Especially if you discovered an old Packard lurking in the shadows!
I’d pass on the paint. I drove a 1950 Chevy truck for a while in high school. It originally belonged to my great grandfather. My dad had it stored in a tractor shed. It was just sitting there, and it looked cooler than my Mom’s car, so why not drive it? 43k miles on it and a 20 year old inspection sticker in the window lol. Amazing that it started when we pulled it around with a tractor, popping the truck’s clutch and giving it gas in high gear. Long story short, I had it painted (close to the original color) and put chrome wheels on it. I wish I had just done the mechanical stuff and left it original.
Dad’s still got it and drives it occasionally. I never did get the brakes working really well. The passenger right wheel tended to grab before the other wheels, making it pull hard to the right. It was still the same the last time I drove it a couple of years ago. I may take a crack at those brakes again some day. Maybe I could do a better brake job now. I wonder if 16 year old me had any parts left over lol.
Well “Discovery” is a bit of a stretch since the owners knew where it was since the late 40’s-50’s I believe. Its still a nice little gem located in the “Nice” section of Philly. It would be exciting to actually discover something like this…What fun that would be.
Would you guys restore it or just get it running properly and sound for driving around? I think option B would be the route I would take… Everyone seems to have an opinion on this matter however.
That’s what I would do, I can’t afford to do a high quality restoration, so getting it running so it could be driven around would be my priority
Un-restored, functional cars are more valuable these days than restored cars.
In addition to the lower cost of just getting the car running–as opposed to restoring it–I can recall one “Drivable Dream” owner stating that he doesn’t have to worry about the odd scratch or ding when he parks his car on the street.
Once a vintage car has undergone a full restoration, most owners hesitate to use it for anything other than an occasional outing to a car show. Keeping it in its original state allows the owner to actually use–and enjoy driving–his car.
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Yes, like I said, unrestored but I would still want the paint, chrome and brass to shine. I wouldn’t be able to help myself and would have to paint it.
Well that is what they call restored @bing, even if you didn’t intend to be able to call it that. LOL, you cant have it both ways…and you would never repaint a vehicle with old springs, old bushings and cracked n warped weather stripping and threadbare carpets etc…so you would attempt to just do the paint and it would surely snowball out of control. Of course this isn’t a terrible thing, it just sounds like what would happen to ya.
A vehicle is only original once, they say…
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Exactly. Mechanically sound, and leave any dings where they are. I’ve had more fun in beaters than new vehicles. Less stress! I wouldn’t want to worry about my concours restoration getting sullied in the Walmart parking lot lol. I’d prefer just to keep it a “driver”, myself.
I’d say this would be a good car for ‘Fantomworks’ to restore, but I just found out they’ve been cancelled…
I’m sure the garage is still,active, it just doesn’t have a bunch of very long commercials on TV.
I like the look of “unrestored” cars, but if I was driving it myself first priority, I’d want it to be safe & reliable. So I’d want as many of the rubber parts as practical replaced. Hoses, bushings, brake piston seals, etc.
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Have you watched Fantomworks? No crazy builds, no fake drama, just restoring cars. Like ‘Wheeler Dealer’ with only the car repair parts.
In New England there are lots of factory buildings still standing from the water power era. Some started on their decline after the civil war when the textile mills moved to the South, others were built into the early 20th century. Most are either stone or brick, but the inside structure is all first growth wood timbers. The problem is that those timbers are soaked in lube that was used to lubricate the bearings and shaft bushings, and it’s both toxic and really a nasty fire hazard.
You can see lots of them if you just do an image search for Mill buildings Fall River. That’s Fall River, Mass.
