Warehouse find: 1951 Packard Patrician 400

"Ask The Man Who Owns One"

It seems like everyone in Detroit area has heard the name "Packard" and knows the "Packard Plant", but not that everyone know what Packard cars looked like. Or some people may not even put one and one together: Yes, the Packard automobile was build at Packard Plant. The plant is located at 1580 E Grand Blvd, Detroit, MI 48211. More about the plant later in a different story, let´s take a look at the featured vehicle on this article.

1951 Was the first year for Packard´s redesigned new, much more sleeker body style than it´s predecessor. 1951 lineup consisted of four different models: 122" wheelbase 200 and 250, and longer 127" wheel base 300 and 400 models. The 400 was called "Patrician", and it was only offered as a 4d Sedan with 127" wheelbase. The only engine option for 400 was 327 cid , 150 bhp, straight 8 engine.

The Black 1951 Packard Patrician 400 in the photos belongs to my brother, Mika. He was looking for a - preferably black - 300 or 400 1951 model for some time until he came across this example for sale in Tennessee. It was advertised as a part of a larger collection of about 50 cars with seller hoping to downsize. The car was covered in thick dust on the photos and had not been running in years. Based on the photos, the condition was great: it had only 40,000 miles; engine compartment looked clean; the original interior even had the factory plastic covers on them! There was only one problem, the keys were lost. The seller didn't know too much about the car, so the mechanical condition remained a mystery.

Because the vehicle looked great otherwise, Mika decided to take the chance and got in agreement with the seller on price and next steps. Of course, the next steps meant that I have to drive to Tennessee and bring the car home to Michigan, before shipping it to Finland to my brother. Trip to Tennessee went without any problems and Packard was loaded on a trailer in about 30 minutes. The seller had some other cars up for sale as well, there were quite a few Packards. So, in case anyone is looking for one, you know where to find them. The entire trip took 1.5 days (1,200 miles).

Once I was back home, assessing the purchase started. It was quite stunning how well the car had been preserved over the years. It's year 2023, so the Packard is now 72 years old! The plastic seat covers looked like new, headliner looks like new, dash is perfect etc. Someone had definitely done some work to it in the past. It looked like fuel line/cooling lines have been replaced and someone had installed electric fuel pump and insulated the fuel lines - maybe because of vapor locking in the hot summer? The battery had a sticker from 2008 and it was covered in white oxidation, so that was the first thing on the list. By the way, in case someone is wondering - this is a 6 volt system, instead of the more modern 12 volt. However, 1951 Packards have positive ground! How weird is that.. But... no matter how much I searched, there were no keys anywhere. It was time to find a locksmith.

Finding a Locksmith is like finding a needle in the haystack

For some time, I had been wondering why the seller didn't call a locksmith and get the keys for the car. You would think it would be easier to sell?
After calling through some more common locksmith companies, it started to sound like a mission impossible. Every time, I mentioned the make and model I was told "we don't work on anything that old". One company, even just said "no" and hanged up without even ending the call. It felt like lot of this places went to a call center somewhere, and they just did not have any interest of doing anything that differs from the daily routing work. Maybe the seller just gave up? Finally, I managed to find a local company that advertised they do keys for classic cars. It felt like a jackpot. The person on the phone even showed some interest on the vehicle and asked me to send photos of the car, locks, key blanks (yes, my brother had already ordered Packard key blanks) and any other info that I had regarding the keys. The only problem.. quote was minimum of $500 - possibly somewhere closer to $1,000. For two keys??! Either the person didn't know what he was doing, or just wanted to cash out, because it was a classic car. Either way, I said no.
Finally, I found a company called Birmingham Locksmith Services. They were able to do it, and the quote sounded much more reasonable. It might be worth mentioning, that because there were no keys, I couldn't open the trunk, glovebox or - obviously - start the car. Next day, the locksmith showed up and after a while he managed to pop up the trunk lid.

test test