Two Saturdays ago, Bob and June rolled in to our World Famous Cars
and Coffee Folsom, in their 1956 Packard Patrician. Naturally, I honed
in on this beauty to do a story on it. In the process of taking down
Bob’s story, I learned that he also has a 1938 Packard Super 8. That’s
when I decided that I would wait until the following week (last
Saturday) to get pictures and the scoop on the ’38 and do a combined
story. So here goes:
Bob bought the Packard
from the original owner four years ago. He trailered it down from
Washington State, even though it would have easily made it down here on
its own. I’m going to make a wild guess here, and speculate that he
pulled the trailer with his ’38 Super 8. You’ll see why when you read
further down this article.
The year 1956 was
the very last year of the “big” Packards. After that, Studebaker and
Packard merged, and so they became known as Studebaker Packards, whereby
Packards were presented in Studebaker Hawk bodies. Bob’s Patrician is
powered by a 2008 LS3, 435 HP engine with a Chevy 4 speed
automatic transmission. The transmission is cooled by a separate
radiator. This radiator has the capacity to hold 8 quarts of tranny
fluid.
The front seats are heated and
cooled Ford platinum high backs. The back seat and the door interiors
are the original brocade fabric. The paint is also original.
It
took Bob about a year and a half to do the rebuild, and yes, he did the
entire rebuild himself. Of particular interest to me was the fact that
the VIN is stamped right onto the firewall. The little side light on
the back quarter panels light up when the front doors are open.
Now for the ’38:
Bob
bought this beauty in 2013. It is an original San Francisco car but
somewhere along the line a guy in Ohio bought it. He then sold it a few
years later to Bob, making him the third owner. This one took Bob three
years to rebuild; and again, he did all the work himself except for the
upholstery and paint.
The car weighs 6,000
pounds. This one is powered by a 2000 LS2, 6.0 cubic inch Chevy engine
at 360 HP. The engine had 600 original miles on it when Bob acquired it.
It now has 30,000 miles under its belt. He and June travel everywhere
in it. The Super 8 has a 6 speed automatic transmission, a Ford 9 inch
rear end, and disc brakes all around. Like the 1956, the ’38 has heated
and cooled front seats, and a separate radiator for cooling the
transmission. The wheels are from a 1963 Lincoln, but Bob had to make
modifications to the Packard hubcaps in order to make the necessary
accommodations.
June’s favorite feature is the
recent acquisition of the beautiful glass flower vases on each side of
the back seat, which are original to a 1920’s Packard. The hood ornament
is original to this car. Of particular note, is the foot rail/rest in
the back seat floor board. The purpose of it is to prevent the back
seat passengers falling in a heap on the floor should the driver happen
to slam on the brakes.
The original roof was
composed of chicken wire and tar paper! Bob replaced it with a metal
roof. In a nutshell, Bob tore the car down to the bare frame. Of
particular note is the 7 pin trailer hitch in the back. He has hooked
up the car trailer and towed other cars with the ’38, including the ’56
Patrician.
Bob and June have driven the Super 8
all over the States, including Florida, Minnesota, Southern California,
and Northern California. They live in Jackson. I was thrilled to see
these beautiful cars and especially to meet this wonderful couple. They
are such a lovely family. One of their children (son) and grandchildren
and great grandchildren also came out last Saturday. I hope I’m lucky
enough to meet up with them many more times in the future.
