1925 Packard Model 236 Speedster Phaeton

This example of a second series, eight-cylinder Packard has a very rare and desirable Speedster Phaeton body built by the noted coachbuilder Le Baron. The original owner was Grover Parvis, general manager of the Packard Motor Car Company in New York, for the Packard display at the 1925 New York Automobile Salon at the Commodore Hotel. Once the Salon ended, the new owner took delivery of the car. The body was designed by Raymond Dietrich, who was working for LeBaron at the time. Dietrich would later open his own coachbuilding company and would become the principal and most prolific designer for the Packard Motor Car Company.

To promote the notion of a Speedster, the entire body line was lowered six inches. The body was narrowed four inches and the cowl and hood assemblies were four inches longer. Adding to the sporting theme, the unique one-piece windshield was given a dramatic, rearward rake. The cost of this custom-built car was an outlandish $10,500, which was nearly twenty times the cost of a new Ford Motor T and six times that of a six-cylinder Packard.

This was the first Packard vehicle given the connotation of 'Speedster' and was the impetus for Packard to produce the famous speedster line in later years. It is one of only two Speedster Phaetons built in 1925 and is the sole survivor.