Swan song: ’55 Packard 400 Hard Top
Towards the end, Packard model designations became a thing for experts to sort out. There were Clippers, Patricians, Four Hundreds, then no Four Hundreds but Custom 8s. It was as if the name of the product was the problem with slow selling cars. In ’55 the numerics came back and the Four Hundreds were the top of the heap. The hardtops were actually pretty neat. Today’s Four Hundred is a nice older restoration equipped with factory A/C and power windows. The seller says the windows work but the A/C doesn’t. What a surprise. The body is finished in the original period colors and the interior has many original pieces still covered in grandma’s plastic seat covers. This one has a functioning Torsion Level Ride system too and we are told it works fine. The ‘55s were the beginning of the end for Packard. They had engine oiling issues which led to bad word-of-mouth. The ‘56s were a bit better but the Titanic size hole in the quality armor was not repairable. Really nice #1 cars in great tri-color combinations can pull mid-$40s. But driver quality cars like this one are probably in the high teens or low $20s. Click here for the listing.