1955 Packard Patrician

Sedan

8 Cyl

Automatic

55823503

Clear

GAS

No Reserve Auction Ending Monday March 7th at 9:30 PM Eastern, 6:30 PM Pacific. Car was auctioned 2 weeks ago (item # 131720219381, ended 2/14), unfortunately high bidder h*shm*n4 was unable to meet the deadline for deposit and payment. This is a no reserve auction and car will go to the highest bidder, so PLEASE only bid if you are serious about owning the car as it is not fair to the other bidders. Up for auction is my SAPPHIRE 1955 Packard Patrician 4 Door Sedan with only 58,000 miles on it, 8 cylinder engine, weighs 4,275 pounds. Transferable registration is clear and in my name, have owned it for 10+ years. Since purchase I have installed seat belts so I could ride with my kids (drove locally to countless baseball games) and replaced the exhaust in addition to normal maintenance, brake pads, oil changes etc. Still runs great, starts right up and handles smoothly. Perfect car for a restoration project, or to own and drive as is. Took a video while driving the car just the other day on Sunday January 31st, 2016 that day's paper is shown in video to verify date https://youtu.be/NjrLYFXppEI and https://youtu.be/zu_U0CDMugw My apologies for the quality of the videos and excessive background noise. Hard to hold a camera in one hand and put the car in gear and drive with the other, and unfortunately the microphone makes the slightest movement sound like a wind tunnel. Between the video, the pictures and the description below I've tried to cover everything I can think of. Additional photos (63 total) most of which I took in the Fall are available at http://s725.photobucket.com/user/smcci77/library/Packard?sort=9&page=1 and I will be happy to respond as best I can to any questions prior to auction end. Pretty modern for a 60 year old car. Car has power windows, power brakes, power steering, power antenna, power seats and came with a "Torsion Level Ride" self leveling suspension which was a big deal in 1955. Previous owner installed a lever under dash to control leveling manually instead of original automated system, can be removed. Very little rust on car besides floor board in front (surface, not through) and front bumper. Even the tail pipe section under back taillights and chrome around headlights are in good shape, known to be problem spots on these Packards. What needs to be fixed to drive right away? For me nothing as I'm used to driving it as is, starts right up and drives well as per video, but I'd suggest replacing the brake booster if nothing else. Saw the part in Hemmings for $250 a little while ago. Worth adding for better braking as you get used to the car. If you are buying the car and planning to do a full restoration, and this is a perfect car for that, you'll need a new vinyl dash, headliner, right window pane (line crack as seen in pix), carpet, antenna, fix power window on driver side (believe it is missing one link), snags at 80% up, but closes 100% with a little help past that one spot, patch front seat or reupholster, fix the gear selector (car shifts in and out of gears fine, selector on dash doesn't line up with gear. Mechanic believes a piece broke off in selector, but I never bothered to have it taken apart and adjusted.), replace windshield wiper tubing and blades, paint and tires. Parts are readily available in Hemmings Magazine, online through Kanter and many other places so it isn't like some cars that make it impossible to find what you need for restoration. Here is some other fascinating information regarding this car. The Torsion Level Ride was new for these 1955s (see pictures about Torsion in Gallery), and Packard also introduced what they claimed to be "The Most Powerful V-8 Engine in the World" this year (see photo gallery) as well as their new Twin Ultramatic Transmission which was optional on all 1955 Clippers at a cost of $199 but was standard and mandatory on all Packards. All Packards also had dual exhaust with reverse flow mufflers and resonators. Packard sold 9,127 Patricians in 1955. If you do a search for 1955 Patricians, roughly 3/4 of them you'll see pictures of are 2 tones as that was the rage back then. While not a scientific survey, that would leave roughly 25% of the 9,127 Patricians as solid colors, just under 2,300 cars. From what I've seen about 9 out of 10 of the solid color cars are black, which would mean about 230 TOTAL?? solid color cars may have been made in colors other than black. (If anyone knows exact documented numbers for this SAPPHIRE car, please let me know and I will post) I found pictures online of only 2 Sapphire 1955 Patricians (one of those being mine, someone posted a picture of my car parked in my driveway) As per the paint codes shown on the plate (see image near end of those shown in listing, or image #7 in photo gallery of 63 images), this car was produced with paint scheme F (Sapphire Dark Blue) with Trim Code 62 (Sapphire Dark Blue). See images of the color charts I've added to the photo gallery. Again, I do not suggest I know exact production numbers for this Sapphire version but it appears to have been very limited to begin with, who knows how few survived. MSRP for the 1955 Patricians was $4,040. Options that were available and included in this car are the Radio ($102). Heater ($80). Power steering ($115). Powerbrakes ($40). Power seat ($70). Power windows ($108) and Power antenna, over $500 in options added which was a lot of money at that time, doubt many were made with all of them. Comparable to buying a $40,000 car today and adding $5,000 in options. When you consider the low production of 1955 Sapphire Patricians and the options that were added to it this might actually be a rare car with low mileage. As previously mentioned I've owned it for 10 plus years. In that time I put on a little over 6,000 miles. Person I bought it from had it garaged in his 20+ car collection for at least 15 years, probably put less miles on it than me. In addition to these details, I found a lot of other info online I'm sure the new owner will find helpful and as interesting as I did. You can read the full 53 page 1955 Owner's manual online, a 20 page 1955 Sales Brochure, a 16 page 1955 Sales Brochure, an 18 page Packard Accessories book and much more. A $500 paypal deposit is required within 48 hours of auction close. Balance payable within 14 days of auction end by money order, wire transfer, certified check or cash if picking up in person. P.S. 2 questions were raised in previous auction, thought they might be helpful so I've added in here as well: Q: Do you know if the engine is original to this car. The engine color would indicate that it is not. Thanks Feb-10-16 A: Thanks for viewing the car and asking about it, very happy you did! The first part was easy to answer, 99.9% certain it is. The part about the engine color required a little research as I wasn't sure what it should be. Previous owner did add his own personal touch with the red/black combo, if restoring I believe the proper engine paint color should be ivory (Kanter sells it) with black cover and PACKARD letters in ivory. Personally I like the all black cover the way it is. I chipped a little of the red paint off and the ivory clearly shows underneath. I've added three images of that spot to the now 63 picture photo gallery, they are near the end of page 3. While researching the color scheme, I came across many fascinating facts about this car, which I've added to the description. There is so much more information out there now then when I first purchased the vehicle, I thank you for giving me a reason to find it!! Q: What was the banging noise when you were filming under the hood? Feb-05-16 A: Thanks for viewing the car and asking about it! I believe what you referred to as "banging" was just echoing from radiator fan and motion of the microphone, closer to engine and faster I was moving the more pronounced the "bang" is. Stop video #2 at the 2:41 mark then watch the next 20 seconds or so. Any time I and the camera move it sounds like a loud puff of air or as you refered to it a "bang". At the moments the camera is still you don't hear that. As previously mentioned any motion gets picked up by the microphone and makes the video sound like I'm in a wind tunnel, filmed using my basic Fuji camera but it serves the purpose. If that wasn't what you were referring to, just LMK which video and time slot. Buried in snow here in NY as I respond here today Friday 2/5, but I can reshoot any portion of the videos prior to auction end if I catch a nice day like Sunday 1/31 was. On Feb-27-16 at 07:55:54 PST, seller added the following information: Auction is open to all bidders with positive feedback. If transporting the car is a concern: There are many companies you can hire that ship cars worldwide and I will be available to load the car up with any vehicle transport company you contract with if needed.