There is no longer as much mystery about these cars as there was just 3 years ago, the history of it and three other similar cars is clarified a bit and documented in Bob Neal's book "Packard 1951 to 1954", - see pages 198 - 202 for specifics. Designed by Dietrich, built by Henney. The theft-proof number (B02167) falls into the 1951 range and the Briggs number is also 1951 - Ray Dietrich's shop was still active in 1951 so that's probably where it started. I was involved with Bob in getting some of the photos for Bob's book, including those taken at Kanter's, and working to track down the history. We believe one of the 4 was built for the then-President of Champion Spark Plug though letters to them have long gone unanswered. And IIRC the car carries a 1952 VN, not 1953 but in any case it is clearly NOT a 1953.
That the basic design is Dietrich is confirmed in a surviving letter (in Neal's book) from the Packard/Toledo OH dealer Laurel Worman to PMCC offering to let them inspect the car (for prospective future production?).
Here on the PAC forum is a thread going back about 3 years, specifically on this car.
http://www.packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1519This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=176364