1939 Packard 1703 Super Eight Convertible Coupe

Calling its 1939 cars the Seventeenth Series, Packard's new models were introduced on September 20, 1938. The Super Eight fell victim to the company's penchant for alterations in designation now referred to as the Super-8. A changing market caused Packard to reduce the offerings in the Super-8 mode line from 15 in 1938 to just 6 body styles in 1939. And a shrinking market for Senior Packards meant the 1939 Super-8 Series 1703 shared its 127-inch wheelbase with the medium-priced One Twenty series. New for 1939 was a column-mounted gearshift with optional overdrive along with a hill-holding device and tachometer. Packard produced 3,962 Super-8s for the model year, some 1,500 more than the previous model year as the Super-8s moved to the production line of the Junior One Ten and One Twenty models.