Chassis #: 10062

Model 1006. 160 bhp, 445.5 cu. in. modified L-head V-12 engine with double downdraft Stromberg carburetors, three-speed manual transmission, solid front axle and live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel servo-assisted mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 147"

- From the Estate of John O'Quinn, ex-Otis Chandler Collection
- Rare Dietrich Individual Custom body
- Remarkable freshened original condition
- Multiple awards, including Pebble Beach

Like many prestige automakers, Packard Motor Car Company maintained a line of “catalog customs” for clients who preferred a distinctive automobile but did not wish to have a body designed and built especially for them. From 1926, a range of bodies from bespoke builders such as Judkins, Fleetwood, Derham and Holbrook appeared in a special catalog, from which customers could choose the specific features and trim details to suit their desires. Make no mistake – these were astonishingly expensive automobiles, sharing little more than chassis and driveline parts with their production counterparts.

At New York’s National Auto Show that January, a distinctive cabriolet coupe by Dietrich appeared, a two-passenger-plus-rumble-seat design with snug fitting top and stylish landau irons. Finished in two shades of grey, it was a portent of a lasting relationship with that Detroit coachbuilder.

Dietrich, Inc.

With a natural talent for design, Raymond Dietrich was apprenticed to the American Bank Note Company from age 12. In 1913, aged 19, he went to work for coachbuilders Brewster & Co. and during this period also studied at the Technical School for Carriage Draftsmen in New York City. After completing his course, he went to work for Chevrolet, producing technical drawings and assembly manuals before being hired back by Brewster. In 1921, he joined with Thomas Hibbard to found LeBaron Carrossiers, and the two built the new company into one of the foremost American coachworks and established a brand that exists to this day.

Hibbard went to France in 1923, ostensibly to promote LeBaron coachwork and oversee construction of some LeBaron designs in Europe. He took along a friend, Howard “Dutch” Darrin, and Hibbard and Darrin ended up remaining there and opening their own carrosserie, Hibbard & Darrin. Dietrich, meanwhile, had been approached by the Murray Body Corporation concerning possible acquisition of LeBaron and relocation of the company to Detroit. The upshot was that Dietrich moved, but LeBaron didn’t. The LeBaron board refused Murray’s offer, upon which Dietrich sold his shares and moved to the Motor City, where Murray’s Allan Sheldon set him up with a company of his own, Dietrich, Inc., along with 50 percent ownership.

Dietrich attracted some former East Coast design colleagues to his new company, and by December of 1925, business was booming. The best customer to this point was Lincoln, but for 1926, Dietrich built three custom Packards, the aforementioned cabriolet coupe, a convertible sedan and a sports sedan. In addition to New York, the cars visited shows in Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Packard’s president Alvan Macauley was delighted and placed an order for 175 bodies of these three types.

By the end of the year, Dietrich, Inc. was delivering some 25 bodies a week, and Raymond was serving as design consultant to Lincoln, Studebaker and Franklin. In 1927, Dietrich customs won gold medals at several European shows. By the late 1920s, Dietrich was America’s largest producer of non-factory bodywork. Packard’s Custom Coachwork catalogs for 1928 contained offerings from eight coachbuilders, seven of them from Dietrich, a few of which were actually built in the Murray shops. The most expensive, the Collapsible All-Weather Cabriolet on the Custom Eight chassis, sold for $7,205. Perhaps surprisingly, it was also available as a standard eight for $6,140.

The onset of the Depression was hard on both Packard and Dietrich. Orders for cars, and hence custom bodies, bespoke or catalog, dropped off markedly. Still, the two companies mounted a significant survival effort. For 1932, Packard pulled out the stops at both ends of the catalog. There was a new, smaller and lighter entry-level car, the Model 900 Light Eight. The show-stopper, however, was a new Twin Six model. The car’s massive V-12 engine was a legacy from a stillborn front-wheel drive project, the chassis a derivation of the Deluxe Eight. Introduced in January 1932, it was priced from $3,790 to $7,950, directly countering Cadillac which, nearly two years earlier, had startled the world with not just a V-12 but also a V-16. Offered, like the Deluxe Eight, in two wheelbases, the Twin Six likewise had a line of Individual Custom bodies, the preponderance of them by Dietrich. Particularly attractive was the Sport Phaeton, body style 2069, with a gently-contoured sloping rear deck. There was a small integral enclosed luggage compartment as well as an external trunk rack and a unique wind-down windshield, complete with windwings, for the rear passengers. It was the only Dietrich Individual Custom body on which all four doors hinged at the front.

The Twin Six Packard was only a modest success. By year’s end, just 549 had been built. For 1933, the company retrenched a bit. The Standard Eight and Deluxe Eight were renamed Eight and Super Eight, respectively. The V-12 returned, called simply the Packard Twelve. Individual Customs were now the province only of the Model 1006 148" long-wheelbase Twelve. There were engineering improvements, a new cruciform chassis frame, angle-set hypoid differential, three-position headlamps and new carburetors. The Twelve was mechanically the same as its Twin Six predecessor but with a new single-plate clutch. Production of this Tenth Series lineup, however, was abbreviated, as Packard shortened the model year to concentrate on improvements for 1934. Production of ’33s ended in August with but 520 Twelves built. Exact figures by body style are elusive, but Individual Custom styles typically ran only to single digits. It has been written that just three of the handsome Style 3069 Sport Phaetons were produced, by some accounts as show cars. The car being offered here, then, is one of a select few.

Chassis no. 1006-02

This Packard Twelve Sport Phaeton has a storied history, delivered to an unknown customer by Packard’s New York City branch on 11th Avenue on April 1, 1933. By the 1960s, it was purchased by pioneer Rhode Island collector George Waterman. In 1978, Waterman sold it to Peter R. Rosi of St. Charles, Illinois. Rosi kept it for a decade, making mechanical and cosmetic improvements, and enjoyed it for touring. A set of 3.58:1 gears from Phil Hill gave the car longer legs for the open road.

Sam Vaughn bought the car at auction in September 1987 and kept it for about five years, selling it to William Chorkey in Michigan. Chorkey had the wheels chromed, redid the pinstriping and installed the Pilot Ray driving lights. Invited to Pebble Beach in 1991, it took Most Elegant honors. Chorkey then sold it to Ron Benach of Lake Forest, Illinois. Dr. Jospeh Murphy in Pennsylvania purchased it from Benach, selling it to Otis Chandler in 1998. While in Chandler’s care, it took a CCCA National First Place at San Ramon, California and Best of Show at the June 2000 Silverado Concours d’Elegance. The late John M. O'Quinn acquired the car in 2006 and maintained it in his large private collection ever since.

Remarkable for maintaining a prize-winning record without having ever been fully restored, this car still presents virtually as well as at its New York delivery almost 78 years ago. The maroon paint remains in excellent condition, harmonizing nicely with the tan canvas top. The black leather upholstery is fine, and the brightwork is of excellent quality. Packard’s Individual Customs were built in tiny numbers. One of perhaps three Sport Phaetons for 1933, it is certainly the only one with this history and in this state of preservation. It will be a credit to any collection.


Addendum:

Please note that the Serial No. is 10062.