Museo Stradale

Dominic's Auto Museum
One man's passionate quest to survey finest motorcars in the world

Photographed: York Heritage Trust Concours d'Elegance, 2008.
This car was also photographed at the Saint Michael's Concours d'Elegance, 2009. Owner: Charles B. Gillet

Welcome to the Classic Era: To complete the quintessential classic era Packard, combine the subtle trim accents and proportions of Raymond Dietrich's Car of the Dome with revised skirts and running gear of porridge-perfect taste—not too short in the front as on the preceding series, and not too long as on those following. Whence the Car of the Dome was praised for impeccable design best described as a simple elegance befitting a car of such build quality—free of clutter and pretention—the tenth and eleventh series remain closest in spirit to that show car. A notable carry-over from the ninth series was a vee grille treatment that, apart from earlier Packards, accentuated the Art Deco lines of the fascia by matching the color of the shroud to the body of the car. Dietrich's application of a vee windscreen augmented the effect, although in the tenth and eleventh series this was reserved for the Twelve, rather than the Eight or Super Eight as seen here. The exceptions were the ninth series Deluxe Eights Packards, sold for just a few months in 1932, which were the immediate high-end predecessors of the yet to be released Twelve.

No huge leap, a body-matched grille shroud did two things: It made the nose appear integrated with the body of the car without any major redesign, and in turn it brought the Packard style forward into the high classic era, away from the antique period where a big shiny grille was requisite for a status-asserting vehicle. (Although this, too, could still be had if desired.) The lines remained largely straight, framed by Dietrich's contrasting color trim along the belt line, with a dart at the nose, and a split at the bulkhead to enclose the windscreen and side windows. In some sense, the design is positively unremarkable; Packard lacked the sleek elegance of Cadillac's new Fleetwood bodied Series 452, and even the Car of the Dome fell way short of the Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow show car in terms of predicting future design trends. Yet, in comparison with other greats of the classic era, these Packards were not concerned with trend, but rather wrote the textbook on proportion and line.

The Numbers Reality—1934: Tenth series production was low—not quite as low as 1932, remarkably, but no commercial success. And in spite of the reviews garnered by Dietrich's 1933 Car of the Dome, neither the tenth or eleventh series Packard saw an appreciable outcome in sales. From '32 to '34, unit sales per year were little better than the 9,000 mark. The eleventh series was particularly thin, despite lingering for the full calendar year from August of 1933 to August of 1934, (thus giving eleventh series Packards a date of 1934). Part of the stagnation was Depression related, for sure, with 1934 prices nearly split in half from those of three years preceding.

The other half of the story was a lack of major, visible change. As mentioned, Packard were not out to keep pace with Cadillac's progressive styling, and they had no intention of building a V-16. As a rule Packard did not follow any other marque, and so were willing to let Cadillac have those market ups if only to press on with their own agenda. So, the tenth series received a new chassis—stiffer than the previous model thanks to additional cross-bracing—and for style a new aeronautically inspired dash board. This new dash board could be fitted for the first time with a radio, (now perhaps that's something). Otherwise, Packard relied on their reputation for quality, which was well deserved and meritous of every sale it steered their way, but the technical improvements that typically define a new series in any automobile market—whether in the classic era or today—weren't to arrive until the twelfth series.

Moreover, with the twelfth series came an entirely new line of middle-market cars, a move designed to raise profits in the wake of the Depression. It worked—it all worked. Packard's luxury fleet of Eights, Super Eights, and Twelves continued on, while the timely 120 and its sensibly priced ilk drove unit production well upward, thereby securing Packard's survival (and outright success) in the 1930s.

Context: So where do we sit with this Super Eight? Pretty as a dew drop in two-tone leaf green, this Super Eight represents Packard doing what they do best—building sturdy luxury automobiles with copius amounts of engineering quality, and small amounts of fluff. Indeed, Packard had a style that was itself Packard, and seldom ventured from it, (if ever). But part of this formal reticence was the idea of supremacy, not in a pretentious manner, but in a truly competitive spirit that the company flaunted in their marketing material: "The yardstick with which to measure all fine car values."

This slogan appeared in tandem with the popular Ask the Man Who Owns One quip, but the uncanny truth is that Packard cars of the era not only played the part, but they looked the part. The amount of restraint demonstrated on Packard designs in this decade is somewhat harrowing, at least from an artistic perspective—how designers could have avoided being swept up in streamlining, Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, and the wild trends of the classic era simply for need of maintaining the yardstick. Even in the thrust of engineering advances, simple design was the mainstay. Surely ideas of overhead cam configurations were floated about, but valve-in-head design remained the only way to fire a Packard cylinder. To be a Packard implied a certain superiority, but the company ensured its product was entirely geared toward meeting this lofty claim. For this reason, Packard are to be revered for their steadfast, if unspectacular, tenure at the head of America's pre-War automotive industry.

Sources:

"Packard: the complete story" by Michael G. H. Scott, TAB Books, Inc., Blue Ridge Summit, PA, c. 1985, pages 82-120

Flying 'A' Garage: Displaying a nice collection of classic cars, much like my own effort, except that they actually own the automobiles depicted.

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance: "Packard's Vee-Windshield Rembrandts" by John Kilkenny and Matthew Kilkenny, provided in conjunction with the 2009 Concours d'Elegance, focusing on tenth and eleventh series Packards.

 

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