1939 Packard 1707 Twelve

1939 was Packard's 40th anniversary and the final year for the mighty Packard Twelve. Alvan Macauley, Packard's president for 33 years, passed the reigns to Max Gilman. Sadly, the era of beautiful, long-wheelbase high-powered ultra-expensive custom cars was coming to an end, yet Packard continued to offer bare chassis to an ever-diminishing number of custom coachbuilders upon which custom bodies were fitted.

The economy had enjoyed steady growth and recovery from the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Depression, enjoying a banner year in 1937. Packard, after surviving a two-year period in 1933 and 1934 when barely 15,000 cars had been registered, saw its annual registrations climb dramatically: 37,653 in 1935, 68,772 in 1936, and 95,455 in 1937. Packards growth was helped along by a line of low-cost, high-volume Sixes, and some of those profits were passed along to its workers in a new labor contract. Earnings were also reinvested in badly needed manufacturing plants and equipment.

The dramatic upswings of the mid-1930s were reversed in 1938 as the rumblings of war in Europe affected consumers' confidence. The entire automotive industry suffered as production and sales plummeted. Ford's sales dropped by 53 percent, Dodge's by 59 percent, and Chevrolet's by 44 percent. Packard's sales declined by 49.5 percent with the Twelve suffering the most, dropping from a record 1,300 units in 1937 to 566 in 1938. After eight years in production, the Packard Twelve would enter retirement following 1939.

Packard's first line of twelve-cylinder models entered production in 1916 and was called the 'Twin Six.' Production hovered around 4,000 or so annually, until the post-World War I Depression reduced demand to uneconomical levels, signaling the end of Twin Six production in 1923. The so-called 'cylinder wars' intensified during the 1930s with Cadillac and Marmon offering massive sixteen-cylinder models, and nearly every luxury marque responding with impressive engines of their own. Packard's response with a V12 model in 1932, once again called the Twin Six. Its nomenclature was simplified in 1933 to Twelve. The top-of-the-line Packard model shared many chassis features with the Super Eight, with both catalog and custom bodies available. It was exclusive and expensive, with enough prestige to keep it comfortably ranked among the best in the world. A quarter-inch longer stroke in 1935 brought displacement to 473 cubic inches. Along with aluminum cylinder heads, this increased the Twelve's power to an advertised 175 horsepower, only ten fewer than Cadillac's V-16 and 25 more than Lincoln's Model K. In its final year, the Twelve was available in two chassis of 134 3/8 inches (1707) and 139 3/8 inches (1708) and offered with a list of fourteen different catalog bodies including three coach-built formal cars by Brunn and Rollston.

The Packard 1707
Packard offered eight different body styles on the long 1707 chassis, the same as the previous year. The 1707 series measured just over 134 inches with the 1708 Series being five inches longer. Six catalog body styles were offered on the 1708 Series. The L-head twelve-cylinder engine displaced 473.3 cubic inches, had four main bearings, breathed through a Stromberg carburetor, and offered 175 horsepower. The bore measured 3.4 inches and its stroke at 4.25 inches. The transmission was a three-speed selective synchromesh unit with floor-mounted gearshift controls. A column shift was available as optional equipment, as was a push-button radio, burled walnut instrument panel, higher compression ratios for the engine, and many other options. Hydraulic brakes with vacuum boosters provided the stopping power. The suspension used independent coil springs at the front and leaf springs at the back.

Total production for the combined 1707 and 1708 Series fell by 120 units over the previous year, to 446.

by Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2019