1920 PACKARD TWIN 6 TRANSFORMABLE TOWN CAR

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This special 12-cylinder Packard with its handsome bespoke coachwork by Fleetwood on a custom 145-inch chassis was reportedly built for the great A. Atwater Kent. Atwater Kent's excellent radios and automobile ignition components made him and his family quite wealthy, owning several superlative automobiles; in the Winter 1927 Packard magazine, he was recounted as owning 'probably the largest fleet of Packards, 19.' In Automobile Quarterly Volume 19, Number 3, published in 1981, Beverly Rae Kimes

included this town car in an article on 'Five Great Packards.' She noted that it was 'ordered by the Atwater Kent family of radio renown in 1919, delivered in 1920 and seen thereafter in only the best places ... it was probably the haughtiest car in all Philadelphia. It was special, from its wheelbase (145 inches, a specially prepared chassis 9 inches longer than standard) to its hood (again higher, longer than standard) to its bumpers (steel completely rubber-encased) to its collapsible top (converting it to a touring car) to its sparkling varnish ... to its drum headlamps and disc wheels.' George Wendling, a former Fleetwood employee turned early automobile restorer, was quoted as having seen the car and recounted, 'Ah, the memories it brought back.' Prior to delivery, the car is believed to have been featured at the 1920 New York Auto Salon, as seen by a virtually identical example pictured in that year's catalogue. The car was listed by its engine number, 160326, believed to be an early replacement, with Martin L. Schaffer of Lafayette Hills, PA, in the 1954 and 1961 Antique Automobile Club of America rosters. It was soon acquired by early collector Stanley Tarnopol, a Philadelphia furrier by trade. Tarnopol owned the car until at least 1975; in 1972 he was reported to have driven it from Boston to New Orleans. In the late 1980s, this custom Packard joined the Blackhawk Collection, where it was on display amongst the world's finest cars in the Blackhawk Auto Museum. The Packard is in excellent running and driving order and continues to wear its original restoration, likely from the early 1960s, in rich black lacquer with red-orange wheels. A Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic, this Packard was a 2023 award-winner at the Amelia Concours D'Elegance. From the Don Williams Collection.