1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Convertible Sedan

Built in Detroit from 1899 until 1958, Packard was long considered to be the premier luxury automobile. Along with Peerless and Pierce-Arrow, Packard was often referred to as one of the 'Three P's' of American motor car royalty. During the 1930s, when custom coachwork was an option to a buyer, Packards were the choice of many. There weren't many companies offering Twelve Cylinder engines either, but the Packard was considered one of the best.

Packard built just over 5,800 twelve-cylinder cars from 1932 to 1939. Most Packard Twelves received factory bodies; only a handful received custom coachwork by LeBaron and Dietrich.

This 1108 V12 Convertible Sedan was one of eight such cars designed and built by Ray Dietrich on a stretched 147-inch wheelbase in 1934. Each cost $7,185. The original owner of this car was Miss Louise Boyd, a delegate to the International Geographical Congress in 1934. In 1935 she took this car to Poland at the request of the American Geographical Society to make a photographic study of the country. This is the car that was used to create the Franklin Mint 34 Packard 1108 Series Model car. This car has been on 6 National CCCA tours and competed in every one of them in fine fashion. The car has been in the same ownership for the past 14 years and was recently restored.

This Packard represents the final year for Dietrich Individual Custom bodies, featuring the famed 'V' windshield. This example wears body style 4074 mated with the 147-inch wheelbase chassis powered by the 445 cubic-inch V12 engine. For the handsome price of $6,555, this Packard was first owned by Louise Arner Boyd of San Rafael, California, a renowned socialite, leader of several arctic explorations, and the first woman to fly over the North Pole.


Louise Boyd had inherited the entire estate of her father, John Franklin Boyd, which totaled over $3 million. She had a passion for traveling and expeditions and brought the car with her when she went to Poland in 1935 as a delegate of the United States government to the International Geographic Congress in Warsaw. Driven by her longtime chauffeur, Percy Cameron, the car was driven on many roads that had likely never seen an automobile.

The car had been built to her order, with a division window between the front and rear seats and reading lights. The individual custom convertible sedan was built by Dietrich and built atop the 1108 Packard chassis.

Later owners included Richard Jenkins of New Jersey and Phillip Goddard of Iowa. It was then acquired by the late Bill Hirsch of Newark, New Jersey who had it restored to its original condition. The present owner acquired the car in 1999. Since then, it has been used on at least four CCCA CARavans, and achieved its AACA Senior First Prize in 2000, followed by, in 2001, its CCCA Premier First and the AACA's Joseph Parkin Award.

In 2015, the car received a cosmetic restoration by Colour Restoration of Longmont, Colorado, in time for an exhibition at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it was an award winner in the American Classic Open Packard class. A year later, it received the Don Sommer Award as Most Significant Classic at the Concours d'Elegance of America at St. John's.

The JBS Collection acquired this Packard in 2021 and faithfully restored it to its original specification.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2019