Cars My Dad Would Have Loved: 1949 Packard Eight vs 1959 MGA

Good morning! For today’s Friday special, I hope you’ll indulge me in a little sentimentality. Today would have been my dad’s 80th birthday, so I’ve chosen two cars that I know he would have loved, price be damned. Though, honestly, for what they are, they don’t seem all that expensive to me.

Yesterday’s classics had a lot of you taking strolls down memory lane, especially when it came to the Dodge Dart. It seems that everyone of a certain age either had one, or knew someone who did. It’s no wonder it beat out that Chevy van. Nothing against the van, of course, but it’s hard to resist the power of the Slant Six.

The Dart would be my choice as well, and personally, I’d leave the six in it. I’m not one to swap out a perfectly fine-running engine just to go a little faster. I would just spruce up the interior and enjoy it as-is.

Now, as many of you know, my dad passed away a couple of years ago, just shy of his 78th birthday. I wrote at the time about his influence on my gear-headedness, and not a day goes by that I don’t miss talking about cars (and everything else) with him. So in honor of what would have been his 80th birthday, I wanted to take a look at a couple of classics that are similar to cars he owned, and the two he always said he wanted back. I know these are anything but “shitboxes,” but we’ll get back on track on Monday. Today I just want to show you two really cool old cars that we don’t get to talk about often.

1949 Packard Eight Touring Sedan – $17,900

Engine/drivetrain: 289 cubic inch flathead inline 8, three-speed manual, RWD

Location: Sun Valley, CA

Odometer reading: 37,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

You never forget your first car, and Dad told me about his first car many times: a 1951 Packard Patrician with that famous straight-8 and an Ultramatic two-speed transmission. He told me it ran well, but burned almost as much oil as it did gasoline. The ’51 was a more modern bodystyle than this, but Dad told me he always liked this ’46-50 style, based on the pre-war Clipper design, better. He drooled over Doc Brown’s Packard convertible in Back To The Future. I know he would have liked this lovely green sedan.

Packard’s remarkable flathead inline 8 served for thirty years in various forms. By the end, it was hopelessly outdated, with everyone else having long since switched to high-horsepower overhead-valve V8s. But this big long engine had a few tricks up its sleeve; it runs so smoothly you can rest a quarter on the head while it’s idling, and it has enough torque to allow you to just leave it in high gear most of the time. This one has a three-speed manual instead of the Ultramatic. Its odometer shows only 37,000 miles, and the seller says it’s mostly original.

Modern cars may have more comfort and convenience features, but in terms of style, they can’t hold a candle to this old Packard. Just look at this dashboard. It looks like a cabin in the Queen Mary. There’s not much to it, just a speedometer, a clock, a fuel gauge, and a radio, but what more do you really need? Of course, these days, that old AM radio won’t pick up much more than talk radio, but I bet you could hide a Bluetooth receiver somewhere if you really wanted to. The upholstery is original, and immaculate, and it has plastic covers on it to keep it that way, just like your grandma’s sofa.

It has been repainted, in the original colors, and it’s gorgeous. The fact that this car is for sale for this price when rougher examples of more desirable cars sell for more baffles me. But I guess cars of this age only appeal to a narrow demographic, so they can’t command as much as a more obvious choice. Good news for those of us who like the oddballs, I guess.

1959 MGA 1500 – $19,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Thousand Oaks, CA

Odometer reading: Ad says 4,000; maybe 104,000? Maybe 4,000 since restoration?

Operational status: Runs and drives well

I grew up steeped in the lore of the MGA. My dad drove one in college, a red 1962 1600 MkII, but it didn’t belong to him – it belonged to my grandfather. Dad got to drive the MGA after his hand-me-down ’55 Plymouth gave up the ghost. He told me tales of ripping around the back roads in Missouri, scaring my mom half to death when they were dating. My grandpa sold the MG out from under him eventually, and Dad bought his own car (a Studebaker Hawk, if I remember right). He always wanted another MGA, but the time was never right. I think he would have liked this one.

This is a little earlier version of the MGA, with the smaller 1489 CC version of BMC’s B-series engine. It has two SU carburetors like any good MG should, and while it’s not exactly a screamer, speed and acceleration were never really the point of MG’s sports cars. You’ll take about sixteen seconds to reach 60 MPH in this car, but you’ll be grinning the whole time, listening to that engine growl. This one just had its carbs rebuilt (which takes about an hour per carb, by the way) and a new water pump installed. The radiator looks new as well.

It’s fairly original inside, but the steering wheel has been replaced. It’s an improvement over the original, though, as far as I’m concerned. The red leather seats are cracked here and there, but they sure do look comfortable. It comes with a good top and side curtains, which are important, because we know into every sports car’s life a little rain must fall.

A lot of people – though not everyone – consider the Jaguar E-Type to be the prettiest sports car ever made, but I’d disagree; I think the MGA has it beat hands-down. It’s gorgeous in photos, but if you see one in person, it’s even better. The shapes and proportions just work, especially the 1500 cars, with their simpler taillights and flush rather than recessed grilles. And the fact that it was evolved from a LeMans race car makes it even better. Personally I’d rather have steel wheels, or even better the Dunlop alloys of the Twin Cam and 1600 DeLuxe, but the wire wheels do suit it.

The fact that you can have either of these for twenty grand when so many more popular classics cost six figures absolutely amazes me. The Packard out-cools a ’57 Chevy by a country mile, at least to me, and I’d rather have a good MGA than any air-cooled Porsche. This is one instance in which it’s advantageous to be a fan of the underdogs, I guess. Which one do you prefer? Discuss, debate, enjoy, and we’ll look at some more old cheap beaters next week.

(Image credits: sellers)