To Be OFFERED AT AUCTIONEstimate:
$1,000,000 - $1,250,000
- Formerly owned by renowned enthusiasts John Mozart and Otis
Chandler
- Among the most beautiful vee-windshield Dietrich Individual
Custom Packards
- One of just four surviving examples; original chassis, engine,
and coachwork
- Superb full concours restoration completed in 2017
- Amelia Island Concours Best in Class and Pebble Beach Concours
Class Award winner
- Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic
The most prestigious Packards of the Classic Era were the so-called
Dietrich Individual Customs, which were produced on Super Eight and
Twelve chassis from 1932 through to 1934. Built largely to
individual tastes, as true "factory customs" are, these striking
bodies were known for their lithe and sporty lines, which were
created by the vee'd windshields, a beltline that curved away from
the windshield, and an extraordinary long hoodline, and they were
assembled on massive 147.5-inch wheelbase chassis. They were
tremendously expensive, particularly in 12-cylinder form, and with
a modified L-head V-12 that could displace 445.5 cu. in. and
develop 160 bhp under the hood, the Dietrich Packard had power to
match its style. It was a masterpiece of form and function.
VEHICLE NO. 904-85: AN EXTRAORDINARY PACKARD
The Convertible Victoria offered here was delivered by the Park
Avenue Packard dealership in New York City on April 13, 1932.
According to research by a well-known historian, it evidently
remained on the East Coast with its earliest owners, as in 1950 it
was titled to Russell Lewis of Washington, New Jersey. Mr. Lewis
was a great Packard enthusiast; according to his son, this was his
favorite automobile, maintained in his ownership in still largely
original condition. With it he became one of the charter members of
the Classic Car Club of America, listing the car in the Club's
earliest rosters. He kept the Packard until 1968, when it was sold
to longtime admirer Richard Cantwell, also of New Jersey.
Graham Rowley of Goffstown, New Hampshire, bought the car only two
years later, and in 1975 sold it to James Tharp of Palos Park,
Illinois. Five years later the car was sold to the renowned
collector John Mozart, an avid connoisseur of the Dietrich
vee-windshield Packards, with whom it remained for over a
decade.
In 1986 the Packard was purchased from Mr. Mozart by Otis Chandler,
a name which also requires no introduction to the serious student
of Full Classics. Shortly after beginning a restoration, Mr.
Chandler was convinced to sell the car to Charles Wallace of
Massachusetts; Wallace, in turn, passed the Packard to the Imperial
Palace of Las Vegas, in whose hands the work was completed.
Imperial Palace curator Richie Clyne well remembers insisting on a
test drive of the completed Packard, with the restorer at his side
- on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After driving the Packard at its
limit and finding it without fault, Clyne happily took delivery and
the restorer, somewhat green around the gills for the experience,
accepted payment.
The car remained with the Imperial Palace until 1998, when, at the
collection's dissolution, it was bought back by an overjoyed Otis
Chandler, who had always considered it something of "the one that
got away." It was acquired at a time when Chandler was building his
second collection of Full Classics, having transitioned to muscle
cars in the late 1980s before returning to his roots.
Significantly, while other vehicles came and went from the Chandler
stable, this Packard remained, indicative of the esteem in which it
was held, until Mr. Chandler's passing in 2006. Happily, it
remained in the family, acquired from his estate by his cousin
Franklin Otis Booth, Jr., also a prominent Los Angeles businessman
and philanthropist. Booth, too, kept the car for the rest of his
life, at which time it joined the current owner's superb collection
of Full Classics over a decade ago.
In 2016-17, the car received a full, 22-month-long concours
restoration in the owner's personal shop. Testament to the
outstanding love and care given its presentation, it has since been
a major award-winner, earning Best of Show at the Morgan Adams
Concours d'Elegance in 2016, followed by a 2nd in Class at Pebble
Beach in 2018 and Best in Class at Amelia Island in 2019, honors
achieved amidst very strong competition. It remains extraordinarily
beautiful, credit both to the care of its owner and the
craftsmanship of the work, and it retains its original chassis,
engine, and body, as-delivered in 1932.
There are many exceptional Packards, but this particular Individual
Custom Convertible Victoria is something truly special -
much-adored and treasured by enthusiasts literally back to the
beginning of Classic Cars, carefully restored and maintained, and
loved by all who know it. It is an automobile that inspires
dedication. No wonder that Otis Chandler owned it twice.To view
this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please
visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/mo20.