Packard "Ask the man who owns one”

 Packard

"Ask the man who owns one” 

1933 Packard Eight Coupe Roadster 

Not many years after it’s founding in 1899, Packard Motor Car Company   established itself as America's premier fine car maker, as it claimed over 50% of the luxury market by the time the “Tenth Series” was introduced in 1933 as “the greatest Packards ever built.” 

However, the Depression brought with it slumping sales of luxury cars but Packard hoped to increase sales by stretching the product line into three distinct groups– the Eight, the Super Eight, and the Twelve.

Even as Packard's entry-level model, the Eight was still well and truly a full luxury car. With a 320-cubic inch 120-horsepower aluminum-‘L’ head straight-8 cylinder engine with down-draft carburetor and full synchronized transmission, the 1933 Packard Eight provided exceptional performance and was considered a performance car of the era for those who could afford them. 

The sales price for the 1933 Packard Eight series automobile started at $2,150, at a time when the average family earned $2,956 annually in taxable income, and for comparison, a new 1936 Plymouth Six sold for $445. 

   

Fewer than 5,000 examples of the “Tenth Series” Packard were produced and of that total, only 1800 Packard Eights were built,  spread over fourteen different body styles. 

As displayed at the Blackhawk Museum, this two-tone red 4-passenger Coupe Roadster, a body style which was offered only in 1933, rides on a 127-1/2 inch wheelbase features a rumble seat, side-mounted spare tire, white wall tires and Trippe driving lights.

Trippe lights, sold and installed by Packard dealers, were mounted on the bumper bar and were fixed as opposed to the more expensive “self-steering” Pilot Ray lights which moved in concert with the with the front wheels through a series of linkages   

This car, which was listed for sale for $325,000, previously received the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) National First Place Award and a 100-point Senior Award.

1934 Packard Super Eight Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton

In 1934, Packard introduced the “Eleventh Series” which maintained the three distinct products lines – the Eight, the Super Eight and the Twelve. This car also displayed at the Blackhawk Museum is a Super Eight, ,shared the same chassis as the twelve-cylinder cars, and in the case of this car, rides on a 142-inch wheelbase.

This car is powered by the Packard 385-cubic inch straight eight cylinder L-head engine with aluminum alloy pistons that produced 145 horsepower connected to a three-speed synchro-mesh transmission. Packard factory literature indicated that customers could expect to travel ten miles per gallon of gasoline under average conditions. 

Before leaving the factory 'Super Eight 'engines were run-in with an electric motor for nine hours then run on a dynamometer for one hour and 15 minutes. After the engine was installed in the chassis, the car was given a road test at the Packard Proving Grounds 

The striking four-passenger deluxe dual-cowl sport phaeton body was built in the 22-acre body plant inside the mile-long Packard factory.  As is typical of the era, this is not an all-steel body rather kiln-dried hardwoods are used for the supporting structure of the 19-gauge (7/16th inch) steel body panels. Packard literature stated that a composite body was lighter than an equivalent all-steel body and less prone to rattles and squeaking.

This car, retailed from the factory for a base price of $3,440 is equipped with chrome plated wire wheels which sold for $32 each and a pair of side-mounted tire mirrors at $16  for the pair.  

The dual trumpet horns were a standard feature introduced for the eleventh series, and the new-for-1934 fender lights are mounted on the redesigned eleventh series fenders with improved gutter construction on the underside of the fender to prevent water being thrown up at high speeds.

Packard Motor Car survived the Depression and emerged from World War Two production in solid financial condition, but management made some key mistakes by using the same styling on the lower and upper priced models. 

Packard continued to lead in fine car sales until 1950, but as the decade of the nineteen fifties continued, Packard sales declined perhaps because Packard still offered straight eight engines while the market had moved onto V-8 engines. 

In 1954 Packard merged with Studebaker but that marriage proved disastrous, with the last “true” Packard was built in Detroit in June 1956, and the Packard brand name disappeared altogether in 1959.    

All photos by the author