Packards in France – and from France

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‘Ask the man who owns one’ used to be Packard’s advertisement phrase. And it was not for Americans only. Packards and France may not seem an obvious blend, but there appears to be at least one huge Packard-enthusiast over in France. Or should we say have been, as he or she appears to be selling all of the cars soon. Yep, a Packard collection from France will make it to an Osenat auction in Fontainebleau, Paris. The auctioneer describes the lot of seven cars as ‘La plus belle collection de Packard d’avant-guerre en Europe’ or ‘Europe's finest pre-war Packard collection’. Let’s have a little look here.

Chronologically they are a 1917 Packard Twin Six, 1929 Packard 633 Torpedo, 1929 Packard 733 Roadster, 1930 Packard 733 Coupé, 1930 Packard 745 Sedan, 1930 Packard 745 Coupé and 1931 Packard 840 Convertible by Dietrich. Most seem to come with bodies by Packard’s own Custom Body Division although the last one (picture 1 here) has its coachbuilder mentioned: Dietrich Inc. of Michigan Detroit. This company did a lot of work for Packard – as for several other American motor manufacturers so a Dietrich bodied Packard is perhaps not too unusual?

Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any French bodied Packards in this American-French collection. Were there any? Oh yes, there were. We found Packards bodies by Gallé (picture 2, 3 and 4), Franay (pictures 5, 6, 7 and 8), Chapron (9 and this postwar oddball), Hibbard & Darrin (10) and even Kellner (11). Now, wouldn’t that be a fantastic goal to organize a get-together – in France..?

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy Osenat and Coachbuild.com.

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