Vehicle Description
Vehicle No. 182152
Chassis No. 181480
Engine No. 182246
Body No. 422-26
Packard offered some of its most impressive vehicles of the Classic
Era on the 1930s Seventh Series. At the top of the company's
offerings was the 745 Deluxe Eight, which as its name suggested
rode a 145�-inch chassis, the longest available, carrying a big
inline eight-cylinder engine that ran on seven main bearings,
producing 105 horsepower but prodigious amounts of torque. It was,
with any body, an excellent driving automobile, with plenty of
smooth grunt that made it wonderful for cruising.
Coachwork options on this long frame were for obvious reasons
focused mainly on vast touring cars, limousines, and the like, but
Packard did also catalog it with a two-passenger roadster body, the
same utilized more often on the shorter 740 frame. The extra five
inches made all the difference, resulting in exceptional
proportions, with a tremendously long hoodline compared to the
tense close-coupled lines of the coachwork. In sum, a 745 roadster
looked the part of its power.
However, as was common in these more conservative years at the
start of the Great Depression, relatively few of these conspicuous
examples of consumption were built. The survivors are much-desired
by enthusiasts and have always been considered some of the finest,
most beautiful of all Packards. Relatively few of those that exist
today have well-known histories, but that offered here is one with
a rich and fascinating past.
According to history long passed with this example, it was
reportedly originally delivered to wealthy sportsman John Shibe,
whose father had invented the machine used to stitch baseballs,
enabling their standardized production in mass quantity by A.J.
Reach & Company of Philadelphia. The Shibe sporting goods fortune
continued into a second generation, with John and his brother both
being part-owners of the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team that
their father had helped to establish. In their early years, the
Athletics played at the namesake Shibe Park, of which John Shibe,
placed in charge of the team's facilities, oversaw a full
renovation and expansion in 1925. It is said that Mr. Shibe
eventually gifted his Packard to Connie Mack, a legendary figure in
American baseball who was another of the Athletics' owners, their
longtime manager, and one of John Shibe's longtime closest friends
and advisors, though no documentary evidence exists to verify
this.
In any case, the roadster eventually found its way to a salvage
yard in the Philadelphia area, from which it was plucked in the
1950s by a farmer by the name of Dallet. Mr. Dallet stored the car
at his Quaker State farm for some thirty years. In the mid-1980s it
was acquired from his heirs by Mark Smith, the prolific collector
and dealer of automotive rarities, known for his remarkable ability
to ferret out lost Full Classics and acquire them from their
longtime owners. As a Pennsylvania native and an avid enthusiast
since his childhood, Mr. Smith likely knew well of this Packard and
its location. Upon purchase, he found that, as documented by
photographs remaining in the file, while the car remained largely
intact save for a few pieces of trim, its fenders were heavily
dented, the Dallet family cows having often leaned against them
over the years!
Mr. Smith eventually sold the car to a buyer in Canada, who
retained it for several years before passing it to Robert Thayer of
Georgia. Mr. Thayer had avidly pursued the special Packard with
intentions to make it one of the crown jewels of his small, select
collection, and soon undertook a complete restoration in the hands
of RM Auto Restoration, which reportedly took some three years and
6,000 man-hours to complete. Afterward, the car was shown at the
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1998, winning First in Class,
and went on to score 100 points in CCCA National judging, win
People's Choice at Hilton Head in 2005, and claim an Amelia Award
at Amelia Island in 2015; it was then exhibited again at Pebble
Beach later that year, in its last showing during the Thayer
ownership.
After a quarter-century in the Thayer stable, the Packard was
acquired by the present owners, dedicated collectors and
connoisseurs who have both showed and won extensively at all of the
world's great concours events for over thirty years. The new
caretakers were thoroughly impressed with the Packard but chose to
commission an extensive body-on restoration in order to not distort
the originality of the well-preserved bodywork, again with RM Auto
Restoration, to the standards of the other extraordinary
automobiles that have graced their collection. This included, but
was not limited to, having the bodywork carefully refinished in
black with deep green pinstriping, the top properly redone in black
Stayfast material with green piping, and the interior completely
fitted with new green leather, immaculately cut and stitched in a
button-tufted pattern. A thorough mechanical recommissioning also
accompanied to ensure that the car would be ready for touring, as
well.
The result of this work was a Packard that, with its dual Pilot Ray
headlights and Goddess of Speed mascot sparkling against a black
background, is utterly spectacular to behold and once again
suitable for competition at the highest levels. This is recognized
by the fact that in 2022 it returned to Pebble Beach and, for the
second time, was an award-winner in its class. Aside from its debut
at Pebble Beach, it has otherwise remained unshown since its
completion and thus has numerous other concours opportunities open
to it in the near future, as well as AACA and CCCA competition.
Among the very finest examples of its kind, this car is the utter
image of an American Full Classic, with virtually perfect lines and
an immaculate, crisp and fresh presentation all over, and
long-term, well-known history with respected enthusiasts. It is a
proven winner.
