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1958 Packard Starlight 2 Door Hardtop, 1950s, rare, fiberglass, low production

Price: Ask a price!
Location: Newbury Park, California, United States
Make: Packard
Model: Model L
SubModel: 2 Door Hardtop
Type: Coupe
Trim: Starlight 2 Door Hardtop
Year: 1958
Mileage: 61,182
Color: Gray
Engine size: 289
Number of cylinders: 8
Power options: Power Steering, Power Brakes
Fuel: Gasoline
Transmission: Automatic
Drive type: RWD
Interior color: Black & Gray
Vehicle Title: Clear

1958 Packard Model L Starlight 2 Door Hardtop Description

1958 Packard Starlight 2 Door Hardtop. Model 58-L – J8, Body #252 Only 675 produced. The odometer indicates 61,182 miles.

I will not disclose my reserve price.

This is a Studebaker based, one year only chassis & body, made by the Studebaker-Packard Motor company in 1958. This car is originally equipped with Power Steering, Power Brakes, Tinted Windows, Wonderbar radio, adjustable height antenna, and dual exhaust.

The engine is the original 289, 225 hp with a factory rebuilt Carter 4-barrel carburetor. A Flight-o-Matic 3 speed automatic transmission. Most hardtops came with "twin traction" limited slip differential.

This coupe is currently not-running. It will require a restoration including some assembly of the engine. The passenger side engine head it currently off the block and the radiator is not installed.

One extraordinary feature of this car is that it appears to be free of noticeable rust-out. It has received some body repair on the driver side quarter panel and rear bumper filler pan. It has one paint job over the original paint. The flat glass windows on the driver’s side are broken. There are some small compression dents on the roof, otherwise the body is straight. The interior is original less the front cloth seat material. Original color appears to be "Buff Grey".

Additional photos of the interior, engine compartment, trunk, floors, rockers and other body areas sensitive to rust-out will be available on Thursday upon request.

Tile is clear and currently on a CA non-op registration.

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Features:

If you are looking for a very rare American 50s car with distinguishing design & performance features, this may be the car for you. Consider that this Starlight Coupe was designed with the following features:

- One year only styling that has a profile like Chrysler coupes of the same era

- Rare, limited production; only 675 made

- Last of Amirian cars sporting the name “Packard”.

- "Twin Traction" (limited slip differential)

- Off-set mounted rear axle on leaf springs

- Finned brake drums

- Strong redesigned frame (claim in one auto magazine to be one of the strongest frames available in '58)

- Stainless steel door handles and window frames (unlike GM cast iron)

- Lightweight factory components including:

- fiberglass grill extensions & radiator shroud

- aluminum and fiberglass dash board & glove box

- fiberglass hood

Past critics of the 1958 Packard have labeled this vehicle as a “Packabaker”, often with suggestions that it was inferior to its predecessors. Many critics apparently did not invest the time to look at the car for what its merits such as the use of aluminum, stainless steel & fiberglass. Nor have many ever driven the car. Look at the car for its merits and you will find that there is nothing like it from 1958!

History:

Known history of this car comes from the previous female owner who lived with her husband in the San Fernando Valley of California. They purchased the car in the early sixties. According to the owner, the car was parked near a school sometime during the late 60s when a softball hit and broke the rear window. A replacement window was not found and the car was stored in a garage until sometime around the late 80s. Upon retirement, her husband attempted to get the car running. Apparently, it had a radiator leak, but the husband removed the driver side engine head. According to the wife, the husband was suffering from a cancer which affected his ability to think clearly and work on the car. He passed away shortly after removing the engine head. Once again, the car was placed into storage until approx. 2000 when grandchildren pushed it out of the garage so that they could use the space for band practice. By then, garage items had fallen on the car breaking both driver side windows and putting some dents on the roof. According to the wife, the sight of the car brought back memories of her husband. She then placed the car for sale. With a broken window and heads sitting the in trunk, I acquired the car and started the process of collecting the parts needed to assemble the engine head and radiator. The search for a rear window took over 2 years but I was successful in finding a NOS rear window from a vintage automobile glass company. The rear glass was still in its original shipping box, complete with paperwork showing that it was ordered in 1959 for a shop in New York. Thankfully, the shop never used the window! The window was installed with a NOS seal. However, the stainless window trim was left off in anticipation of future restoration work.

During the previous owners storage, the intake manifold, carburetor, and exhaust manifold were lost before I acquired the car. Over the last 15 or so years, I have replaced those missing parts with NOS. With most everything now on-hand, I am making this Starlight coupe available for someone who can really enjoy ownership knowing that they have a great low mileage car that has a nice body.

I have a very busy schedule with limited time for my old car hobby. However, I will make time for serious bidders to inspect the vehicle during the auction period. The car is located in the Thousand Oaks area of Southern California.

Parts:

When this car hits its reserve, I will include extra parts for this vehicle including:

- NORS intake and head gaskets

- NOS driver side rear window

- NOS/NORS Tune-up kit

- NOS/NORS Front & rear lenses

- Original horn button (the one currently in place is a NOS button from ‘57

- NOS Packard trunk script

- NOS horn ring

- NOS fender ornament

- Misc. box of NOS & used parts

- NOS owner’s manual

- Misc. literature

Many parts for this car can still be found for sale in NOS/NORS condition. Vendors from around the country have stocks are parts that are applicable to this car such as electrical, suspension, fuel, cooling components and engine parts. Body parts can still be found too.

This is a great car with the potential to be absolutely astonishing! There are not many of these cars on the road. Most have a lot of rust-out and few of these hardtops come-up for sale.

The successful bidder (purchaser) agrees to deposit $500 into my PayPal within 3 days of the close of his auction. Balance of the paymentmust be paid in cash or cleared electronic transfer by the time of pick-up. Once payment is cleared, the title will be released. No personal or cashier’s checks. The purchaser agrees to pick-up the car within 30 days of purchase at a mutually agreed date & time.

Please contact me if you have questions.

Thank you.

On Oct-24-17 at 18:40:19 PDT, seller added the following information:

I will accept electronic bank transfer of funds for payment of the balance due at the end of this auction. Once electronic confirmation is received from my bank, I will release the title.
If you want more details about this car, please ask me a question through eBay. If you want me to contact you, please leave a phone number. I prefer to speak with you rather than text. Thank you.

On Oct-26-17 at 20:15:34 PDT, seller added the following information:

Additional photos are available of the interior, trunk, engine compartment and underside.
The adjustable height antenna is the normal stock antenna with telescoping mask; not the wind-up type that has a knob control for height adjustment.
More parts that go with this car are:
- a NOS fender ornament- lower & upper radiator hoses- assorted NOS dash bezels and control knobs- new stock spark plug wires- NOS/NORS front and rear wheel seals- NOS/R dual exhaust deflectors
Additional condition information. The exhaust system on this car is in poor condition; tail pipe removed on passenger side. The spare tire is in great shape. All tires are over 15 years old with essential no miles on them. The wheel rim white paint is original. The trunk floor plan is solid but I am unable to remove the mat padding. Most of the original paint on the pan remains in very good condition. The trunk opening lips are solid. The inner trunk lid looks solid. The driver side rear quarter has been replaced apparently with a NOS quarter panel prior to its last paint job. Alignment of the trunk lid is good. The repaint appears to be a match to Glasgo Gray. The front floor pans also have the factory carpet padding glued-down but the floor near the door sills can be seen. Most of the factory paint is there with no visible rust-out. The headliner is original but torn likely from the time the rear window was broken. The sun visors are wrapped. The top of the rear back seat is weathered and torn. Again, likely occurring when the rear window was broken. Exterior stainless side moldings are very straight.
Please contact me for additional details regarding the condition of this car.
Thank you for your interest.

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