I owned a black 1950, 1993-95 and paid $2500.
Rust free, #7 paint and interior. Non functional radio. Strong motor and trans. Had the OD which let me cruise at 65-70 mph with ease. Took a few 300 mile trips with no drama, one in a Thanksgiving snowstorm. That was interesting... on bias-ply tires.
The str-8 is super smooth and quiet. I rebuilt the carb and had the rear brake drums resurfaced.
It turned out to be a good summer daily driver. I bought parts from "Kanter"
http://www.kanter.com/ Hemmings has a lot of other resources as well.
The fuel tank needed to be cleaned, so every once in a while it was tricky to start and it did leave me stranded a few times.
I sold to a buddy for $3K. He drove it around Minneapolis and let it go to hell. I think it ended up in the scrap heap.
The hardtops aren't very collectable, but certainly a good entry level Packard. Nothing complicated, easy to work on and parts aren't hard to track down.
Have fun!