Curbside Classic "Find Of The Year" Packard For Sale

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

It’s one thing to find a car featured on Curbside Classics for sale on Craigslist or Ebay… in fact, according to our trackbacks, a number of used car sellers have even taken to linking to the relevant CC in their online ads. But finding a beast of a Packard Clipper that Paul Niedermeyer himself once called “the biggest find of the year so far” for sale for the low, low price of $4,700 (as of current bidding) just doesn’t happen every day. If you’re on the West Coast and you’re looking to scratch that hard-to-reach Packard itch, your barge may just have come in (so to speak).

According to the owner, the damage is limited to

Some rust in front floor pan. Will need front pan, drivers side window gone. But it’s solid and all there, and very restorable.

No mention of the paint damage caused by some mysterious vandal. Also beware Paul’s warning that

The guy that presumably owns this Packard threatened me in numerous ways. Bad vibes surrounded him and his car from the minute my eyes laid on him… He had a sour look to start with, and instantly started yelling at me insisting that I can’t photograph his Packard. He made a cryptic remark along the lines of “I’ve had enough problems with this car, and it won’t be here much longer”. I tried in vain to reason with him and explained that I have every right to shoot it sitting on a public road, but he started jumping in between me and the car, and threatening to call the the police. That was an empty threat, but he became more agitated and aggressive, so I let it go for now.

It sounds like the old Packard is moving to a happier place… and for the right money, that happier place could just be your garage. It’s too bad Paul is too busy with his new site to take on a “sitting for 30 years” project, as his CC on this rare Packard concluded on what has to be described as a wistful note:

I’m trying hard to get the Clipper out of my head; not only wondering what happened to it, but imagining tooling this majestic coupe down the McKenzie highway on a warm summer night, and opening the cutout on the exhaust. Nothing quite beats the sound of a big honking Packard straight eight (listen for yourself here and here).

[Hat Tip: William Garrett]


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • FleetofWheel FleetofWheel on Mar 15, 2011

    If Paul had that Packard as the official Curbside Cruiser, what a sight it'd make rolling on up new CC conquests. It might put to ease some of those reticent car owners who are puzzled as to why this guy is photographing their old car. Or they might think he is some kind of Man in Black coming to take them away.

  • Colin42 Colin42 on Mar 16, 2011

    It's been delisted from Ebay

    • See 1 previous
    • Cfclark Cfclark on Mar 16, 2011

      My money's on psychotic episode. If it wasn't sold locally, I'm not sure what exactly the guy is looking to get out of it. This sounds like one of those situations where the owner deliberately trashes the car (or other rare possession) just to be an ass.

  • 3SpeedAutomatic R&T could have killed the story before it was released.Now, by pulling it after the fact, they look like idiots!! What's new??
  • Master Baiter "That said, the Inflation Reduction Act apparently does run afoul of WTO rules..."Pfft. The Biden administration doesn't care about rules. The Supreme Court said they couldn't forgive student load debt; they did it anyway. Decorum and tradition says you don't prosecute former presidents; they are doing it anyway. They made the CDC suspend evictions though they had no constitutional authority to do so.
  • 1995 SC Good. To misquote Sheryl Crow "If it makes them unhappy, it can't be that bad"
  • 1995 SC The letters on the hatch aren't big enough. hard pass
  • Ajla Those letters look like they are from AutoZone.
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