1929 Packard 626 Eight Speedster Roadster

Packard established its impressive reputation by producing luxury automobiles, but the 1929 Speedster was all about performance. The company took its smallest body, shortened it by several inches, and then dropped in an eight-cylinder, high-compression engine. The result was a sporty car capable of 100 mph and much akin to today's muscle car.

The Speedster is powered by a 6.3-liter, 130 horsepower, straight-eight, L-head engine mated to a three-speed transmission. The wheelbase measures 126.5 inches and the car weighs 3,830 pounds. Packard built some 70 Speedsters for 1929 in Runabout and Phaeton body styles, but this is one of only three known survivors.

The car's original owner, Emil Fikar Jr., was said to be a Chicago brewer of low-alcohol beer who occasionally needed an exceptionally fast car for 'professional' reasons during Prohibition. Thirty years later, Montgomery Young purchased the car in a rather modified state with cut-down doors, a lowered roof, and a raked windshield.

Montgomery L. Young devoted seven years to researching and restoring this car in the 1960s. He donated the car to The Henry Ford in 1976. It has been part of the museum's collection from that time forward. Museum staff and volunteers returned the car to operating condition in 2013.