I drove to the semi-monthly cruise nite at Buffo's restaurant in Highwood IL last night, where I spotted this wild kustom (apologies for the low rez cell phone pics) ... grill looks like the lower portion of a 47 Lincoln, Cad taillights, Packard hubcaps, maybe 47 Buick fenders. After that it got fuzzy for me, but the craftwork was incredible. I talked to the owner, and he said the car was customized in 1950 in California, chassis started out as a 1940 Packard. The original version retained the Packard 8, but a previous owner in the 70s or 80s swapped it out for an SBC, also adding a tape deck and cheesy steering wheel. Other than that the car remains an unbelievably intact survivor. Even has its original balsa wood Carson top! As I talked to the owner, I learned he was Joe Bortz -- the guy who restored/owned all of those GM Motorama show cars and buses that have been popping up at auction recent years. He has a facility full of rare concept cars, and sometimes he drives them to Buffo's cruise nite... like this 1964 Pontiac Banshee he drove there a couple weeks ago.
pretty cool, with the exception of one area. i guess if it's "period" it should be kept that way, but if it were mine, no way.
That fella has rescued a bunch of GM Motorama cars, must be a great guy! But that Packard!!!! I recall seeing it in print before, awesome.
I should have realized Rikster would have more info on the car, known as the Al Fitzpatrick Packard... http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/beautiful_custom_cars/sports_customs/the_fitzpatrick/ more from Kustomrama http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Al_Fitzpatrick's_1940_packard
Beautiful car, I don't think I'd call a Nardi steering wheel "cheezy" though. I've seen a few photos of the grill of that car over the years but yours are the only good photos of the whole car I have seen as far as memory serves. I took a look at Ricksters photos and that car is truly elegant from most angles and rivals some of the nice coach built cars around. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
Well, it's damn sure different! I would give the original builder high marks in design and vision. My initial impression was that it was wasn't a custom at all, but some sort of a factory effort. Then I got a closer look at some of the individual components. At some point in it's build or later reconstruction someone did a beautiful job of fitting it all together. Sure, it would be mucho cooler with a Packard powerplant, but if the SBC was installed during the '70s or '80s I guess that can be forgiven too. (I'm workin' on my third cup of coffee, so I'm in a forgiving mood!) Yeah, the tape deck and carpeting sucks ass, but overall the dash & instruments are very well done. The steering wheel probably wouldn't be my first choice for this car, but I don't find it too far off the mark, either .... for this car. The overall build puts me in mind of some of the sportier '30s offerings of high dollar european marques like Mercedes or Horch. The wheel sorts/kinda/almost makes that cut. At least it's a nice clean design with a hardwood rim, not some chrome/metalfake abortion (Nardi wheel maybe?). Out of place, possibly... cheesy, no.
Bad choice of words on my part... nothing wrong with the wheel itself, just seems out of place in the Packard. It would be cool to see a big white Bakelite wheel in its place.
Thats a pretty good looking custom kinda crazy but still awesome! I would also like to say congrats on gettin into R&C!! I've got several pics of your car from last years Hunnert Car Pileup.
Wonderful piece of custom car history. From the doors forward flows much better than from the doors back, but with the really long wheelbase, I'll give the designer a pass on that. Hard to believe it was in PA for 40 years without being better known.
Car has a lot of history, and has been everywere from tv (Dream Car Garage) to several mags. The 1'st time I ever seen this was a guy sent in pics to Custom Rodder mag. about 10 years or so ago.
Sold this original, unrestored 57 Ford which was in several "little pages" in the 50's called the Pearl to Joe Bortz a few years ago...he has a very similar 55 chevy as well...he has some great cars!
you know when a carson top is done right--- when the car looks even better with the top on than off. i love this car.... -scott noteboom
Front looks kinda "Tuckerish" to me, looks like it could have been a "Tucker Speedster."..I like it all... as for the tape deck, no ipods back then, the wheel looks kind of sports car like, but ok, at least in the pics..
I wasn't moved when I first saw the front end treatment but taken as a whole it's quite an impressive car. I'm sure it draws a crowd whenever it's displayed. Frank
This photo appeared in "Custom Cars" (Motor Trend) in 1951! It resurfaced at one point in the reader's section of Rod and Custom (already in black), claiming a desire to "update it" with a much wilder paint job. Kudos to R&C for admonishing against it (although I don't think they had any prior knowledge of the car). It's good to see that clearer thinking prevailed.
Joe Bortz is heavy duty. He has the ability and wherewithal to obtain many one-off factory concept cars. Good for him!
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