What’s It Worth?? 1939 Packard Model 120 Touring Sedan ..An Icon Survives The Great Depression

Carlisle Johnny
Dec 21, 2022
2 min read

In the classic automotive world Packard’s are considered Royality. Regarded in the same league as Duesenberg and Pierce Arrow. Packard built some of the grandest classics of all time.

As nice as building cars for the rich can be Packard knew that they needed a line of affordable cars for the masses or common man if they wanted to survive the Great Depression. As rumor would have it after the Stock Market Crash many of Packard's "Richie Rich" customers took more to leaping out windows instead of buying Uber costly Packards. Of course none of that was true.

By late 1934 if you wanted a frugally priced Packard 8 (many considered the 110 model with it's 6 cylinder not a true Packard) you could opt for the plush 120 series.

Up till 1938 for less than Buick money you could proudly declare "Ask The Man Who Owns One" a Packard slogan for decades as you whisked past stoggy Oldsmobiles with your smooth running Straight Eight and Safety Flex front independent suspension. Indeed a bargain and value leader.

For 1938, the One-Twenty name was dropped and its model folded into the Packard Eight model range, bringing the model name into parity with the Packard Six.

Reintroduced for model year 1939 the “120″ Series of cars was once again the 8 cylinder Packard’s value leader with their famous “Straight Eight” engine.

Styling was also upgaded with a gently raked windshield and longer hood. The famous Packard "Goddess of Speed" would still adorn the hood giving the Value Packard the look of "Speed In Motion" as the brochure of the day boasted.

As with all Packards of the day interiors were opulent featuring woodgrained dashes, fine wools and mohairs.

Our feature car has an older amateur but correct restoration. It is a low option car with no sidemounts, fog lights or dealer optioned chrome upgrades.