With only 159 of these 1958 Packard Wagons produced in the company’s last year, they’re the definition of rare. They’re also slightly awkward and/or ungainly, scale-wise, which makes me like them even more. This example is listed on eBay in La Porte, Indiana with an unmet opening bid of $5,000 and there is a $9,500 buy it now price.
Don’t laugh at that $9,500 buy it now price, NADA has a $19,500 average value listed and a $35,800 high retail value listed for a ’58 Packard wagon. Sure, it would take much more than $10,000 to even start a restoration of this car, but if a person were doing a lot of the work him/herself, I bet it could be done for $10,000. Well, maybe $15,000 with the interior. Hey, Wheeler Dealers doesn’t count the labor/labour and most of us don’t count our hours when we work on our vehicles. The added-on headlight housings are an unusual “design” feature and you can see the oddly-scaled features on the 3/4 photo above, and even more so on the rear 3/4 photo below.
Yeah, that’s unusual. It looks like a George Barris custom, it’s more than slightly cartoonish. But, that’s what endears it to me. That and the fact that it’s so rare and it’s the last year for Packard, even if this car is more Studebaker than it is Packard. By this time the company was named Studebaker-Packard and the company built just over 2,500 cars in its final year.
I’m surprised to not see power windows but a lot of luxury vehicles didn’t have them back then, but on a Packard? Most of these that I have seen have had that feature. You can see the dealer-installed AC system under the wavy melted-looking dash. Ok, I may have to up my restoration estimate a bit after looking at the interior. The front seat looks rough and in reality every soft surface inside this car will most likely have to be redone. The cargo area may have some usable materials but this car deserves a full restoration given its rarity.
The engine would be Studebaker’s 289 cubic-inch V8 with 225 hp and for a relatively lightweight car, at least for the era, at 3,800 pounds, that’s a decent amount of power. The seller isn’t giving much info, here’s their total listing for this car: “Runs , lot drive V8 Auto Trans powering steering, good title has AC but blows warm, bad exhaust miles exempt”. Have any of you seen a ’58 Packard Wagon in person? I think this car deserves a full restoration but that will not be inexpensive. Thoughts?
Leave a Reply to Donald B brown Cancel reply