Bill Beverley's 1949 Packard Convertible Victoria - Reader Ride

By: Cliff Chambers

Date: 02.11.2016

The best of Mac's Bridge 2016: Bill Beverley's 1949 Packard Convertible Victoria

Packard Convertible Victoria

A paddock populated by cute sports cars and delicate GTs isn’t where you might expect to find one of the biggest ‘land yachts’ of the post-WW2 American automotive era.

Bill Beverley has owned his Packard Convertible Victoria for more than 30 years but only in 2010 embarked on a restoration that would occupy thousands of hours and be spread across almost six years.

Prior to beginning work on his ‘49, Bill had ploughed a similar degree of effort into a 1937 Packard Roadster, undertaking all of the mechanical and body refurbishing on both cars himself.

"Things like grinding and balancing the crank and all of the trim work I outsourced but the rest I did myself," Bill said. "Parts aren’t a problem and you can still get mechanicals from the USA."

"The book says it weighs 4300 pounds – around two tonnes – but it will still get 14mpg (20L/100km) and that steel is very solid so you can weld in new metal without worrying it’s going to disintegrate."

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