Staff photos / Andy Gray Undiscovered Classics founder Geoffrey Hacker, owner of this 1949 Packard Monte Carlo prototype on display at the National Packard Museum in Warren, will attend a meet and greet at the museum on Friday.

Most of the vehicles inside the National Packard Museum and most of the ones that will be on display during its Classic Car Show on Saturday are in pristine condition.

However, one of the vehicles inside the museum looks like a rust bucket. But it’s a one-of-a-kind rust bucket, and its owner is a well-known collector, archivist and author who will be at the museum on Friday.

Geoffrey Hacker owns the 1949 Packard Monte Carlo prototype that is part of the “Packard’s Fabulous Fifties” exhibition that chronicles the auto manufacturer’s final decade of operation.

Hacker and his company, Undiscovered Classics, research and document the history of handcrafted sports cars.

“All the vehicles Geoffrey Hacker has are one-of-a-kinds, lost vehicles that he finds somewhere,” National Packard Museum Executive Director Mary Ann Porinchak said. “But he got this one running and did all the research to tie it to Packard, so it is a legitimate Packard car. Sadly, Packard didn’t go into production with it.”

There are no definitive answers to why the Monte Carlo never was made. Henney Motor Co., which exclusively produced Packards, might have used the vehicle designed by former General Motors stylist Richard Arbib to try to sell a new design to Packard, but the company already had its own high end convertible, the Pan American, in development, Porinchak said.

The “Fabulous Fifties” exhibition also includes a 1951 Pan American Show Car, one of only six made and a first place trophy winner “for outstanding automotive design and engineering achievement” at the 1952 International Motor Sports Sports Show in New York City.

Hacker and his vehicles have been featured multiple times on “Jay Leno’s Garage” as well as the Velocity Channel, Discovery Channel and “Barn Find Hunter.” He will be at the museum from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday and discuss the history of the Packard Monte Carlo.

This year’s car show, produced in conjunction with Mahoning Valley Corvettes and sponsored by Diane Sauer Chevrolet and the Chevy All Stars, runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and traditionally attracts hundreds of vehicles.

In addition to the cars and a performance by the Packard Dixieland Band in the museum’s courtyard, this year’s event will feature a groundbreaking ceremony for a planned expansion of the museum announced at the beginning of the year.

The museum is adding a vehicle storage building and maintenance area to house its growing collection, and the project already has expanded from the original announcement, Porinchak said. Initially planned for 4,960 square feet, the structure now will be 7,463 square feet.

“The turning radius on a Packard is pretty big, so our original size was never going to work with the lifts in there, because we’d never be able to turn the car and get it on the lift,” she said. “They went back and they had to widen it, do something. It ended up being 7,400 and some square feet for the new facility, and we were kind of amazed because 7,500 square feet is what our original museum was.”

It also added a few additional slots and now will hold 33 vehicles. And the museum may need every one of them.

“I have so many people pushing to get their cars here,” Porinchak said. “I think what is happening is elderly Packard owners are realizing that if they don’t get their car in here before that is full, it won’t be coming here. When I went to California in May, I had six. Now I have eight, and I’m told by collectors that that is going to keep going up until we get that thing built.

“It seems like every week we get a call. People are realizing, ‘I’m of the age I need to decide what’s going to happen with this car.’ That was evident when I went to Texas and when I went to California. I had people sit with me at a dinner and say, ‘Hey, my kids aren’t interested in this. What’s it take to get it to the museum?’ So we have some really cool cars coming.”

If you go …

WHAT: National Packard Museum and Mahoning Valley Corvettes Classic Car Show

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: National Packard Museum, 1899 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Entry fee is $10, which includes one adult admission to the museum. For more information, go to packardmuseum.org or call 330-394-1899.

ALSO: Meet and greet with researcher, archivist and author Geoffrey Hacker of “Undiscovered Classics,” 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Free with paid admission to the museum.