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A short article in the German Wikipedia about the history of the marque shows the picture of a beautiful 1934 Packard convertible sedan:



Caption reads "1934 Packard Convertible"

Additional info is that the car was photographed 11th July, 2005 at the Bay State Antique Automobile Club's show at the Endicott Estate in Dedham, MA.

I am quite sure that it is not a Twelve (smaller hub caps), but then, I am not sure. Eight? Super Eight?

I wonder how I can distinguish these series (my eyes are not good enough to do that by wheelbase length )

The link to the article in GermanWikipedia:

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_(Automobilhersteller)

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Based on the bumper end-caps it's neither a Twelve nor an Eight; vee'd headlamp lenses rule out an Eight. That plus the hubcaps says it's a Super Eight. It has the radiator shell/shutter treatment that was standard for a Twelve (painted shell/chrome shutters) but for a few $ any model could have any of the 3 different treatments. Standard treatment for the Eight was a chrome shell and painted shutters; Super Eight was chrome shell and shutters, and the Twelve was painted shell (to create the long hood illusion) and chrome shutters. The Twelve had the very large hydraulic dampeners at the bumper ends; the Eight had a small curl and decorate thru-bolt, and the Super Eight had a slightly larger but similar arrangement to the Eight. Hubcaps are the same size on all 3 series (except for the wood or steel disc wheel option) but the Twelve of course has cloisonne and not paint.

Twelve wheels are also different, spokes with threaded nipples instead of simple shrunk non-adjustable spokes, and the Twelve wheels also mount a larger tire (7:50 x 17 rather than 7:00 x 17) and have a rolled bead rather than a simple bead. Twelves also had "blue dot" tail light lenses.

There are other differences as well but these things should all help you to distinguish an Eight from a Super Eight from a Twelve without a tape measure or opening the hood.

I will be at this show is coming Sunday with Camera in pocket. Its a very nice, one of three I attend.

That looks like a Super Eight I know, it's on his card but I won't post his name w/out his permission.

Owen...I hate to be picky but the 12 hubs are substantially larger and of course require larger diameter caps. There's only one model, the LeBaron Speedster, that used the Eight/Super Eight wheel and they afixed a 12 cloisenne' to the center of the 6 cap. I always figured this was a result of the 1103 chassis used by LeBaron to build this car. The V-12 fit the Super 8 engine compartment of the 1103 and they kept the smaller hubs wheels, drums, etc.

The vehicle pictured is an Eleventh Series Super Eight Model 1104 convertible sedan, a well known New England Packard that resides in eastern Massachusetts.

Owen...I hate to be picky but the 12 hubs are substantially larger and of course require larger diameter caps.

Thanks for correcting me on that detail, it had escaped my memory.