A 1940 Packard reborn after 44 years in storage tank

[TruckDriver]

Ohio man revives rare 1940 Super 8 limo after decades of dormancy

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130503/CARNEWS01/130509962 (More pictures here)

TOLEDO—Jerry Brummett saw beauty and utility in a ratty 1940 Packard Super 8 Formal Sedan parked in a farmer's field in the early 1960s.

He bought it for $350 and used it to haul his motorcycles to local races. But the young man had no money to restore the luxurious sedan that he later learned was once owned by a co-founder of Champion Spark Plug Co.

So in 1966, Brummett stashed the car, welding it into a giant steel tank that had been removed from a nearby gas station, and kept it sealed up in his backyard outside Toledo for 44 years.

Brummett pulled the Packard out of its steel sarcophagus in 2010 and began a two-year, $80,000 restoration.

This spring, Brummett, 72, drove his fully restored limousine back to its original garage at the Stranahan family mansion, now a popular metropark in suburban Toledo.

Most of the parts needed for the restoration came from a donor Packard Brummett purchased in 2011. Others had to be fabricated.

"The toughest part was the upholstery, just finding somebody to do the work," Brummett said.

Built in 1939, the Packard was one of only 243 made. It had one of the first automotive uses of air conditioning, though it required a wrench to remove a belt in the engine bay to turn it off.

When it was new, the Packard's 356-cubic-inch I8 put out a whopping 160 hp to push its 4,210 pounds. It had hand-cranked windows, including one that could be raised and lowered between the rear-seat passenger and chauffer.

Packard enthusiasts say Brummett's limousine is one of only 15 left in the world. Auction estimates have placed its restored value at more than $60,000.

[Silver R/T]

Cool car. I bet nobody will be doing this to a Prius

[areibel]

That is cool!  But the values makes me wonder, one of 15 surviving and only worth $60K after an $80K resto? 
Glad I stuck to Mopars!

[1974dodgecharger]

That is cool!  But the values makes me wonder, one of 15 surviving and only worth $60K after an $80K resto? 
Glad I stuck to Mopars!

The love is more important majority of the time for a vehicle we all can't be like HLpAG 

[charger Downunder]

Wow love the story.

[Bob T]

Good link TD, cheers

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Lot of dust on it, considering it was in a sealed tank with the doors welded shut.

[nh_mopar_fan]

What possesses someone to weld a car into a tank?

[Aero426]

Great story.   He saw the clock ticking and decided it was time to make his dreams come true. 

[TruckDriver]

Lot of dust on it, considering it was in a sealed tank with the doors welded shut.

I thought the same thing, unless it was like that when they put it in there. 

What possesses someone to weld a car into a tank?

anti theft

[Aero426]

Cheap storage.

[stripedelete]

Lot of dust on it, considering it was in a sealed tank with the doors welded shut.

I thought the same thing, unless it was like that when they put it in there. 

Through vents?  If you sealed it in without some ventalation wouldn't it cook?   
(Or, maybe he cut it open every ten years to take a look.)

[Aero426]

Probably needed to have some ventilation built into it to prevent condensation from being a problem.    Either way, I don't think I have ever seen a car emerge from long term storage that was clean. 

[Cooter]

At least it wasn't in an underground Swimming pool like the Tulsa 1957 Plymouth, and came out looking like it was off the Titanic.

[Tilar]

If that thing was welded inside there, it was only a lock or something welding those doors closed. It still had air getting inside. If you look at the doors he has on there, there is no weld along the edges where the door closed.

At least it wasn't in an underground Swimming pool like the Tulsa 1957 Plymouth, and came out looking like it was off the Titanic.

I don't think that 57 Plymouth would be in the condition it's in if the vault hadn't had a hole knocked in it in the 80's. They shined lights inside and what they could see it was dry, so they patched the hole and let it go. I remember them trying to decide whether or not to open it up and fix it right and they decided against it. That was costly.