Re: Identifying 1939 Super 8 Limo

Posted by 58L8134 On 2010/1/17 11:50:19

Hi Bill Wurts

Gadzooks! Interest Car! Whatever you do, don't let it get away! It's not everyday you have the opportunity to buy such a nicely preserved original custom bodied Packard. Yes, custom coachwork makes the value of this car much greater, whether Packard authorized or not, since it appears professionally done.

While I defer to those far more expert, I'd opine that custom work is by Derham or Brunn. They were engaged in doing semi-custom conversion work by the late '30's. Of the town cars I've seen, mostly in pictures, they retained the factory windshield stampings when opening the front section to create a town car. Again, there was no hard and fast rule to the way these companies work, just a general method of detail work for each.
Reference photos of the '41 Buick Limited Brunn town car for very similar work. For Derham's work, check out any Chrysler town car conversions in that period.

Rollston/Rollson, on the other hand, always seemed to replace the windshield structure with a flat unit with nice thin cast framing. Never say "always" I will be reminded.

If you find no cowl tags, still take a close looks, the mounting holes might still be evident. If you're lucky, even if the tags are missing, an outline of the tags may still be legible.

The CCCA Museum archive has the Derham files. It would be a long shot, but check with them too, on the odd chance they might have documentation on this car.

In the meantime, I will check the print resources I have including Hugo Pfau's Cars & Parts articles to see if this car appears in any.

West, What think you about this gem?

Please, more detailed pictures of the windshield, door and division areas will be helpful in identifying the custom coachbuilder.

Steve