Sep 20 (edited)

Parker's Packards Sept 2026 Cars and Coffee.

This might take me all day, but I'll get through it.  Attended @parkerspackards Cars and Coffee yesterday morning.  Cool clear Sept morning,  totally great weather.   Parker and his wife Sheri run a restoration shop in Rutland Massachusetts focused on Packard.   I have known Parker and Sheri for quite a while and have participated the last two years in their Bennet Foundation Tour.

They formerly had the shop in an industrial condo in Holden Mass.  They built this new shop a few years ago.  It is a nice setup and the parking lot is probably just big enough to squeeze in 40 to 50 cars.   The good news is there is a great trailer parking lot 200 feet down the road if you need to pickup or dump a car with a big transport.

Parker started out as an upholstery guy and has since become proficient in all restoration skills.  He's still a "young" dude in his 40s.   Smartest thing he ever did  besides marrying Sheri was specializing in Packard.  Although you will find a Marmon V16 or Caddy V16 and others in the shop occasionally.

Sep 20, 2026

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Replies (57)

· Sep 20

I arrived a little after 9:00 and there were a pile of cars there already. First one I stumbled on was this really nice 1934 Packard Super Eight Club Sedan. Usually no fan of brown this car looks really good. Saw it for the first time last month at @TomLaferriere ice cream social. 1934 is generally considered the best year for prewar Packard.

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· Sep 20

If I’m remembering correctly, the previous owner drove this car cross country, did Rt 66, and back. On the return leg , it lost a cylinder and finished the trip on 7 cylinders.

· Sep 20

You are correct, back in 2013.

· Sep 21

34 Club sedan was restored by Doug Fernandez here in CT, he owns(owned) a body shop in CT. The brown is really nice in person.
Nice work out of a collision shop Travis, huh? Keep the guys busy in between paying jobs!

· Sep 21

Absolutely. That’s a beautiful car in both color and execution.

· Sep 21

Love the look of this car. Maybe @alsancle can mess with the wheels and give it an updated look?

· Sep 20

Second car I ran in to was 1967 Jeepster Commando that was a father/daughter project between Parker and his daughter Darci. The car won first place in the 30 under 30 class at the 2025 Audrain Concours. Might be the nicest 67 Commando in the world.

https://www.audrainconcours.com/2025-winners

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· Sep 20

Holy Toledo!

· Sep 20

Absolutely beautiful 1953 Packard Caribbean in Gulf Stream Aqua. The 53 Caribbean was part of the "halo" car trend in 1953 with the Eldo, the Olds Fiesta, Buick Skylark, etc. All limited production semi-handbuilt cars intended to get buyers in to the showroom (and buy something else).

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· Sep 20

The guys know know me remember that I love the 53/54 Caribbean and my dad owned 4 or 5 of them over the years. I came close to buying one in the 80s before moving on to musclecars.

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· Sep 20

My dad bought this one in the mid 60s and repainted it, then stored in my grandparents barn for 25 years. The paint promptly fell off the car. I could have bought it from him for 14k but was smart enough to see the sinkhole. What was cool about it was it had the 9 main 54 engine (which is visually identical) to the smaller 53 engine and really moved. We took it to one of the Hershey auctions 20 years ago and I think it sold for over 20k. If the owner every sees this he should reach out to me as I have paperwork for it.

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· Sep 20

A.J., those are not the same cars?

· Sep 20

Nope. The nice one was a 2 owner car he bought from his best friend's estate. It went back to the son when my dad passed.

· Sep 21

Thanks. Was thinking that was a nice restoration. That is a popular color for that year Caribbean.

· Sep 20

Perhaps my favorite car was this 1930 745 Packard with custom Derham coachwork. Derham put these bodies on Stutz, Packard, Lincoln and Duesenberg.

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· Sep 20

A 29 Lincoln with the same body.

· Sep 20

Duesenberg with the same body. Pre-iphone days.

YouTube ↗

· Sep 20

Not everything being worked on is a Packard. Here is a super original Lasalle and a souped up Caddy.

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· Sep 20

Probably the nicest 54 Packard Caribbean in the world. Two significant changes from 53 to 54. Rear wheel openings were no longer cut out from the standard convertible, and the engine was upgraded from the 5 main 320 straight eight to the 9 main 358.

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· Sep 20

@parkerspackards sent me some corrections on the 53 engine configuration. It is actually as follows:

5 main bearing 327 went in to the cavalier, Mayfair and super clippers. Caribbean & Patrician got the 9 main 327.

Thanks Parker.

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· Sep 20

Some musclecars. Coronet 440 and 1970 Camaro.

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· Sep 20

Super nice 1970 Dodge Charger with the 383 Magnum.

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· Sep 20

1934 Standard Eight Packard Coupe Roadster. Packard called their convertible coupes "Coupe Roadsters".

· Sep 20

Super super nice Challenger RT "V" code (440 six pack) in plug crazy purple. I think its a 71.

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· Sep 20

Next best thing to a HEMI car.

· Sep 21

Had a friend in my 20s with a six pack Cuda. Jamming the secondary's open was always fun.

· Sep 20

I'm guessing 58? Very nice Corvette.

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· Sep 20

Probably 59 or 60 since it is missing the chrome adornments “suspenders” that were 58 only. Some people don’t like those chrome accent pieces on the trunk and feel like it’s too much bling. I like them.

· Sep 20

1959

· Sep 20

1939 Packard V12 Victoria. Really nice car and fairly rare. I'm a big Victoria fan. Not everybody is though.

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· Sep 20

1939- 1707. Great driver! Drove 2 hours from Hartford.

· Sep 20

Gotta take a break. Will finish up later today.

· Sep 20

This 33 Dodge 3 window was sweet.

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· Sep 20

This was completely stock, except for the 4speed with O/D subtly adapted to the bellhousing.

· Sep 21

@alsancle, same color as your Royale!

· Sep 20

Check out the Edmunds dual carb setup on this 1941 Cadillac.

· Sep 20

Nice Model A pickup, 1939 Olds 6 cylinder touring sedan with a frame off done in the current owner's brother's barn along with the brother's Model A Vicky.

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· Sep 20

1933 Packard 12 victoria is a rare bird.

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· Sep 20

1938 Packard Super Eight Touring Sedan.

· Sep 20

1935 Packard Standard Eight Convertible Sedan. Fairly rare as the body was interchangeable with the Super Eight and 12.

· Sep 20

Largely original and a survivor car.

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· Sep 20

More Packards.

· Sep 20

I like Packard…. Great stuff AJ, but I gotta tell you I might have stared at that 33 Dodge for quite a while. They got it right.

· Sep 20

Met the gentleman that owned the T-Bird getting coffee. He formerly owned a Packard 400. His plan is to swap his collector car out every 4 years for something different. Not a bad plan.

· Sep 20

1931 Marmon V16 restored by Parker and shown at Pebble this year.

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· Sep 20

The kids in the background are the judges.

· Sep 20

My last photos, the star of the show. Parker's 1950s Sun Distributor Tester.

· Sep 20

Check out the roller with different specs for different cars. He had it set to 1940 Packard but it covered a LOT of makes models and years. Wondering how it actually worked.

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· Sep 20

It works great. We completely went through it back in 2012, and again this past spring. We use it pretty regularly.

· Sep 20

I don't think I told you I bought one a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure I spent a little more than you did.

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· Sep 20

Wow! Very cool with the speak plug testing board included.

· Sep 21

It is actually an "Ignition simulation module". There is some debate about whether it is strictly a demonstration tool or it can be used for testing. @Edinmass told me he had only seen 1 in the last 10 years (there are 2 on ebay right now) and told me to throw money at the guy.

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· Sep 22

Wow AJ! We are blushing over here! I am going to hire you to take over marketing. This is an incredible recap of the day, so much great information! Thank you so much for sharing!