(my son Will has decided to join the CC family, and this is his first post) This picture By Curtis Perry popped out to me right off the bat when I was surfing the Cohort Flickr due to all the shades of brown, the vintage motel, the historical significance of these two cars as well as my personal love for these big, old Mercedes sedans.
I owned a 300 SEL much like this one and loved it. Big, comfy and beautiful. I would often ask friends to drive for me so I could be chauffeured around in the luxurious back seat (picture above is my old SEL). The Benz was a big boat of a car and if I was around in the 50’s I could easily see myself cruising around in that big, brown Packard, minus the rust!
I wonder why the stickered California license plate is on the front of that Packard, since California requires the back plate to be stickered.
Sometimes people will swap around their California plates for some reason or another.
Another theory I have is that the front plate on this Packard was trashed after 50 years of use so the owner had one of the plates restored to their former glory.
I see the Mercedes Benz is from Arizona so maybe the Packard has an Arizona plate on the rear.
It’s amazing how small that SEL looks next to the Packard! I remember in the 1980’s the SEL was a big car. But I guess in the 50’s it would have been an intermediate!
Welcome aboard, Will!
Thank you!
Welcome, Will! Always nice to see another new contributor and great to see it being kept in the family. And not many better ways to start than with a W126!
Hi Will! Nice to have you here. I’m guessing that you have lots of entertaining father / son adventure stories to embarrass Paul with LOL.
I too own a 300SEL- a 1990 model. I rescued it from a tow yard early last year after a homeless, drugged out, ex-military couple from the Palm Springs area abandoned it in a Anaheim shopping center parking lot after the head gasket popped. I only paid $500 for it and it’s a complete, running vehicle.
Their loss – your gain. Good catch.
An old Packard like that is a rare sight. Nice patina – I’ll bet it has a few stories to tell. It’s also great to see an old Mercedes next to it. Classic styling that never looks old. And considering that Studebaker-Packard was the original distributor of Mercedes cars in North America, I’ll bet more than a few of the expensive, well-made German cars were sold at the same dealers after Packard was no more.
Welcome Will. Definitely know those back seat yearnings from my 420G and current W116, but I can’t even bring myself to sit in the front passenger seat. Must be behind the wheel.
Love the Packard. The faded paint, the rust and the black wall tires give it a real working class hero look.
There is something eminently attractive in cars like this Packard – damaged by the elements, sure, but still very original, with even the tiny bits of chrome still intact, structurally solid and fun to drive. In fact, I prefer this honest “patina” look (but not the artificial “rat-rodded” look, though – that is atrocious) to homegrown “restoration” with some glossy low quality respray. The W126 is definitely not my cup of tea, whatever condition it is in, on the other hand. To me, “real” M-B style started with the W124 and W140.
The first of the last “all new” Packard’s parked next to what for all intents and purposes, replaced them.
Very interesting photo. I can imagine the Packard saying something like, “We might be parked here a while, kid. Let me tell you about the good old days…” It reminds me of a pairing that I saw last month: An Infiniti CUV parked behind a 1964 Cadillac.
The Cadillac is a 1963.
So it is. Thanks for the correction.
At first glance, I thought the picture was taken in Cuba because of the old Packard.
Once I saw the US flag, I was thinking along the lines of Arizona or New Mexico.
The Packard is a ’51 300 which was their upper-medium priced competitor opposite the Buick Roadmaster and Chrysler New Yorker. It shared its body with the top-of-the-line Patrician 400 which was their only direct competitor versus the Cadillac Series 62. Packard was selling the majority of its cars in the 200 and 200 Deluxe medium-priced segment as well as a small slice of the upper-medium priced with the 300.
These Contour-Styled 1951 Packards, as sales management named them, were their last all-new cars. Primary credit for their styling goes to John Reinhart who would shortly leave Packard styling to create the styling that would become the Continental Mark II.
The passenger side mirror on the Packard looks to be a factory item. It would have been very rare on any 1951 American car.
It also has tinted glass, factory sun visor, two-tone paint and the awesome cormorant hood ornament. A nicely equipped Packard indeed!
WELCOME WILL ! .
We await the stories =8-) .
Those W-126 long bodies are indeed wonderful cars ~ my Brother has two , an early (’81) 300SD and an ’87 300SDL that I replaced the rear brake calipers on yesterday .
Not my cuppa tea although I*do* love cris-crossing America in his W-126’s as long as I don’t have to drive , if I have to drive I want to be behind the wheel of my ’59 Metropolitan Nash FHC , my ’69 Chevy shortie pickup or my W-123 Mercedes Diesel Sports Coupe…. in that order .
It’s been several decades since I rode in a Packard , even the lowly 120 series were very nice cars indeed .
-Nate
Welcome, Will. Great to see you help carry the torch!
I always liked the experience of riding in the back seat of my collector car if it was a 4 door. My ’55 Packard, a facelifted version of the one you have here, is fondly remembered from both driving and being chauffeured.
Welcome aboard! It is an interesting scene–so many shades of brown indeed! The patina’d Packard wears its windshield sun visor like a cap–it does look like it has stories to tell.
Welcome! Several here were snagged by the Benz, but it is the big Packard that grabbed my attention. Eight cylinders in a row and a bird on the hood standing at attention.