1912 Packard Model 1-48 Runabout

A unique one-off built for Packard director Frederick Alger, the 1912 Packard Model 1-48 Custom Roundabout is being auctioned at an estimate between $300,000 and $400,000 on Saturday, March 12, 2011, at the Amelia Island auction. With a wheelbase of 121.5' and two-wheel mechanical brakes, the 1-48 features a 74 bhp, 525 cubic inch L-head six-cylinder engine with a rear-mounted three-speed transmission and a solid front axle and live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs.

Packard brothers James Ward and William Doud began the Packard story in Warren, Ohio when James Packard was unhappy with a car he purchased from Alexander Winton and he decided to make improvements on it. The Packard Motor Car Companies fortunes are attributed to Henry Joy, the song of a Michigan railroad magnate and various associates from Detroit. One of the less-mentioned sponsors was Russell A. Alger, Jr. and his brother Frederick M. Alger. Russell Jr. and Frederick were the sons of the Governor of Michigan and U.S. Senator from 1902 to 1907. Russell met with Henry Joy and James Packard at the Grosse Pointe Country Club and the result of this meeting transformed the Packard brothers' Ohio Automobile Company becoming the Packard Motor Car Company on October 23, 1902.

Joy invested $50,000 Russell Alger matched with $50,000 and Fred Alger put in $25,000 while another $125,000 was raised from Joy's brother Richard and six other Grosse Pointe investors. The company relocated from Ohio to Detroit the following October, a move attributed to Russell Alger's authority. Russell Alger, Jr. became the vice-president of the new Packard Company while Joy became the general manager and Fred Alger was named a director of the firm. Russell continued on as Vice President under the succeeding administrations of Joy and Alvan Macauley, while Frederick remained on the board until the 1920s when he brought some custom bodies from Europe and became famous for producing the coachbuilt Packard.

The new Model 30 was introduced in 1907 and became the backbone of the catalog and placed Packard at the top of the Luxury Market, a member of the 'Three Ps' with Pierce-Arrow and Peerless. Sales topped 1,400, and Packard far outdistanced the luxury competition. The six-cylinder engine became more popular in the upscale car market by 1910 and the new Packard Six was debuted in April 1911. Rated at 48 hp, a T-head engine was cast in three blocks of two and mounted on an aluminum crankcase. The name '1-48' was picked after the model's successor, the 2-48 was debuted in June of 1912. The 1-48 had bore and stroke of 4.5 x5.5 inches and displaced a massive 525 cubic inches and produced 74 hp when measured on a brake. Along with Packard's own float-feed carb with automatic mixture control the 1-48 used Bosch dual ignition, both magneto and battery.

This model was built exclusively for Frederick Alger and was used as a promotional car and featured a 45-gallon fuel tank, made for long-distance travel back in the day when gas stations were very spread apart. The 1-48 was kept by Alger until 1920 when it was purchased by Oakleigh Thorne of Millbrook, New York. Thorne was a business-savvy man who published tax guides for accountants and lawyers and was a director for Wells Fargo Company. After Thorne's death, the Packard 1-48 was sold to Walter Levino, a New York collector who ran the Phoenix Garage in Peekskill in 1949. In 1965 Jack Tallman purchased this car. This Packard I-48 is from the Jack and Marilyn Tallman Collection and featured a Leonard Davis restoration in 1969.

The restoration involved the rear seat and a seat on the left rear fender being added along with an electric starter, stop and turn signal lights, electric klaxon horn, and exhaust whistle being fitted. Other updates included the engine being overhauled and fitted with a pressure oil pump, a new radiator, new fenders, wheels, rims and tires.

By Jessica Donaldson