1930 Packard Series 734 Eight Speedster Roadster

The Packard Speedster Eight 7-34 was one of the first cars produced using the muscle-car recipe, long before the term was born - a lightweight body mounted to the company's shortest chassis and fitted with a heavily modified version of its biggest engine. Two Speedster bodies were offered to the public in 1929 for $5,000, and again in 1930 in five body styles. The 385 cubic-inch Deluxe Eight was fitted with a high-compression head, high-lift camshaft, larger exhaust ports, and a dual-throat carburetor, all of which helped bump horsepower from 106 to 145 giving the car an honest 100 mph capability.

On January 21, 1930, Packard announced the addition of the four-passenger Runabout, known as style #452, mounted on the 734 speedster chassis - and records seem to indicate seven Runabouts were built that year.

The Speedster line was not advertised, and quietly disappeared without fanfare; most Packard dealers weren't even aware it was available! Packard produced 113 to 118 Speedster Eights (although it is generally agreed that just 115 were produced for 1930) with models consisting of boat-tail 2-passenger roadsters, 5-passenger sedans, 4-passenger phaetons, 5-passenger Victoria coupes, and the 2 and 4-passenger roadsters. They were all fitted on a 134-inch wheelbase.

Of the roughly seven roadsters thought to have been built, only two are known to exist. The new design featured a bench front seat, with a rumble seat in the rear deck to accommodate two extra passengers. Due to the installation of the rumble seat, the original torpedo design had to be abandoned and a single spare wheel was mounted on the rear.

The original owner of this car was polo star, aviator, and World War I hero Tommy Hitchcock Jr. of Long Island., who was instrumental in convincing the military to install the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, built by Packard, in the P51 Mustang fighter, thus giving the Allies air supremacy over Europe. The car was restored about three decades ago and retains all of its original speedster features. The current owners acquired the car in 2020 and brought it to the Pebble Beach Concours for its West Coast debut.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2019