Presented by GAA Classic Cars – During the height of the great depression, the Packard Motor Company produced a series of incredibly well-engineered and luxurious cars fitted with refined coachwork from some of the most prestigious coachbuilders. This formula must have worked, as Packard was one of the few luxury automakers to survive what was surely the toughest economic times the U.S. Had ever seen. Amazingly, Packard outsold the combined output of all of its direct competitors combined. Besides being in excellent financial health heading into the uncertainty of the 1930s, Packard weathered the storm by continual improvements to its cars. On the exterior, the car features chrome bumpers, dual side-mount spare tires, a rumble seat, and red wire wheels with chrome center caps and shod with wide whitewall tires. The Packard also has ride control, Bijur lubrication, semi-elliptic suspension, mechanical brakes, heavy vibration dampening bumpers, and a new radiator that was installed at a 5-degree angle, plus a new sloped grille with chrome vertical bars and shutters, which were thermostatically controlled to open to close based on the amount of heat being generated by the engine. To own a Packard was a ticket to possession of a grandiose automobile, built to deliver members of the upper class to their destinations with grace and style.
This 1936 Packard Eight 1401 will be auctioned off at GAA Classic Cars’ November 2021 auction, which runs from the 4th to the 6th. For more information about the event, click here.
