1938 Packard 1601 Eight Cabriolet

Swiss coachbuilder Graber bodied this American Packard chassis. The car was originally sold and titled in Switzerland and it was evidently used very rarely. Road conditions and tax considerations led to the frequent use of Packard's shorter chassis for European custom body creations. This cabriolet is built on a 127-inch wheelbase Packard Eight chassis. It received Marchal headlamps and is powered by the 257 cubic-inch straight-eight engine developed for Packard's very successful One Twenty series.

First shown at the Geneva Auto Salon in 1938, this is one of just two or three Packards that were bodied by Graber along with three Duesenbergs. This Packard was a real barn find in the early 1990s, but it took the owner the best part of two decades to convince its reluctant owner to sell. It had spent all its life in Switzerland but the car had not been on the road since the 1950s. At that time the car was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Messerli. At some point, Mr. Messerli was taken ill, and his wife put the car away for safekeeping in a garage in Switzerland. The new owner of the car and the Graber Coachbuilding name bought the car in 2009 and after a little mechanical work, the car runs like new again.

Prior to these events, the car had not been on the road since the late 1940s. The car was researched and restored by Automotive restoration in Lebanon, New Jersey.