What 30 something dreams of owning a 61 year old luxury sedan from a marque that most people have no idea even existed? This one. I first became aware of Packard as a child. The rear end of a Packard backing up right at my face. It was grey and seemed like it had fins pointing every which way — all capped by those glorious, slipper tail-lamps. It all felt so menacing and fantastical. Imagine seeing this coming towards you, right at eye level.
Image from Daniel Schmidt Co. The more I read about these final Packards the more I was hooked. I had to have one and in the time had come. Top picture Macs Motor City Garage.
Bottom, my own. By the holiday season of , we were preparing to get the details of an impending relocation to Belgium.
This was a dream come true for me, being asked to take on an international assignment and possibly get EU citizenship in the process. I was presented with a bum deal and no manner of financial acrobatics would make it work. I saw an opportunity. One evening, after crying, my husband asked if there was anything he could do, I looked up and said:.
This was a common question in our relationship, but mostly as a joke as I always knew the answer was rightfully no. I found my car at the shop of a well known person in the Packard community — it was part of their personal collection. This Packard Patrician was solid black, in a year where solids were definitely out, and was last registered in We made a deal. He stuck out so much we had to have bump-outs cut into the back of the garage for the dagmars.
