Project Car Hell: '50 DeSoto or '55 Packard?

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Since I'm already scouring Craigslist every day for my next project (having come dangerously close to taking a shot at the 20R Austin-Healey) and running across all sorts of potential Choose Your Eternity project cars, we might as well keep the series going for another day (looks like the Biscayne hearse edged out the Rover 2000 yesterday). Today we have a couple of classics from now-defunct marques vying for your votes...

First we have this creampuff of a 1950 DeSoto Deluxe sedan. Sure, it's missing the grille and the engine looks like it hasn't turned over since LBJ was president, but are you going to let that stop you from taking on a project with such huge potential payoff? Look at how beautiful it is, and it's just waiting for your healing hands (and wallet) to get it back on the road again! One nice thing about this car is that it shares a lot of components with other not-impossible-to-find Chrysler products of the era. Only $975 or best offer for a shrewd wheeler-dealer such as yourself, and the seller might even throw in the tow chain for free! The seller doesn't waste our time with description, letting the photos tell the whole story.

But when you get right down to it, you deserve better than a car with a 112-horse flathead six-banger. Why not spend the extra 25 bucks and score yourself a car with a 374-cube OHV V8 rated at 290 horsepower? Well, maybe a few of the horses have escaped this car's engine over the decades, but it's still a Packard! In fact, it's a Packard Patrician, a name that just radiates dignity and authority. Does it run? Sure! It just needs, er, "a couple of things." We're guessing they're fairly expensive things. But don't worry, because you can save a few bucks by trading the seller your gun safe, or maybe your '83 Bronco lift kit; come on, ya cheapskate- the seller has already marked this car 50% off!


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