Found that picture a while ago. Wondering whether this wouldn't be the same photographed at the Arc de Triomphe, above.

Given the flag under the Arc de Triomphe, the emptied Champs Elys?es, in addition to the good wheather and the incredible amount of black official cars and officials, I'm wondering whether the picture has been taken on a July 14th. Photo is from 1960.

Picture Roger Viollet.

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Found a postcard showing a fearless driver of 56 Patrician at the Arc de Triomphe.

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Just cars, and what's in them. See below the backseat of that Clipper. Quite a mess. As to the history of this car, it is unknown. In France, Ets Barbezat was (well, were, since Ets stands for Etablissements, which is plural ) the official importer of Packards.

And indeed, as said, during the era (1940s and early 1950s), only a very limited amount of people could afford such cars. In fact, in France, you needed to have Sterling Pounds or US Dollars to buy such cars. French francs weren't good enough. This restriction was removed in 1953 here.

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I was puzzled by this RHD Clipper that is going to be auctioned in France early next year, but I found this thread which explains it all. Not sure how many do survive today.

I tried to read the sticker, but it's hard to guess. Here's a try (a dot denotes I can't read or guess, blue is a guess):

SUPPLIED BY
LEONARD WILLIAMS Co Ltd
SOLE CONCESSIONNAIRES
GREAT WEST ROAD
BRENTFORD
Phone: EALING 3400
MAIN SER........... & GENUINE
PACKARD SPARE PARTS
DEPARTMENT

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Thank you for your replies! The car has a mph speedometer, but it seems to have been shipped to France during the 1940s. The owner says he has a picture of it in front of the US Embassy in Paris, during WWII (but this needs to be further investigated). For sure, the more I know about it, the better it is. I suppose there is no database listing the Rollson-bodied Packards.

And indeed, the body is really archaic, both in style and construction, it's all made of wood.

The club I'm a member of displayed it last week-end, together with my Patrician, for the Epoqu'Auto old car show in Lyon. The public was impressed by this body style, that is indeed more of a carriage than of a car.

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I've been able to have a look (and drive a bit) this old lady this week-end. The serial number stamped on the car starts with 1801 followed by 4 digits (2017). I had a look to the "model info" pages, and I'm a bit puzzled, as I thought the first digits should have been the body number. Could it be that this car was numbered 1801-xxxx because it was built as a chassis to be bodied by Rollson, meaning shipped without any body at all?

The plate also tells the date and the destination, P.M.C.CO NEW YORK. Would P.M.C.CO stand for Packard Motor Car Company?

Took me a little while but not that much (thanks Google), the '55 wagon is still for sale in Portugal. Original export (kph speedo), formerly automatic, now manual with floor shift. Looks like the rear seat is split in 3 parts (1 large center, and 2 narrow sides).

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D'Ieteren is still in business today, but they do different things: car leasing, car financing, and are a major company in car dealerships. They represent 22% of the Belgium car sale market (VW, Skoda, Audi...).

One can see quite a number of Packards at the D'Ieteren Gallery in Brussels (not opened to the general public).

Regarding custom built wagons in Portugal, that's not surprising, they built there quite a number of those. Even when the wagon existed in the catalog, they took sedans to convert them into wagons, that were usually used as hearses.

Here are two pics of a 1955 Patrician. The car is supposed to be still in existence. It was (is ?) part of the Funer?ria J. da Silva.

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Here are two pics of a rear antenna on my Patrician. Hope this helps to illustrate what was said.

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The museum is near Lyon, so it is probably 5699-1228. I'll try to get more info once on site.

The car was probably painted that scheme a long time ago, as there is a Fran?ois Truffaut film (1958) where a '56 Caribbean can be seen. I doubt there were two of those convertibles in uncommon paint scheme back in the day. The upper paint is definitely not white on that one.

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