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I don't want to sound like a jerk, but the red 1937 Super Eight victoria that was under the tent in Warren does NOT bear a Rollston body. I, along with several other long time knowlegable people, looked at this car very closely at Warren last month. The body is a factory 1935 - 1936 Packard victoria body. Remember 1935 & 1936 had suicide doors while in 1937 they opened from the rear. Really the only thing unique about the body is the rear quarter windows, but the chrome frames on them looked like they were off of a car from the 1950's. The frames didn't match the front chrome window frames in the doors either. Don't tell me Rollston would have built a car with the quarter window frames a different style & width than the frames in the front doors. Some could say the car was brought to Rollston a couple years after it was built to be updated. While this did occur on a few occasions, those rear quarter windows frames were obviously "factory made" and came off of another car. My guess is that when the prior owner was trying to made a hot rod out of it this was one of the modifications they did for better vision. I don't have a problem with the car itself, and I'm glad it was put back to resemble something that was made in 1936/1937, but calling it a Rollston body is inaccurate.

Your argument is logical and could well be so, I was only going by what the owner told me.

Unfortunately it was one of the few 37 cars in the showroom where I didn't get a chance to note the body serial number which would tell if it was a 36 or even 35 body number. As I'm sure you know there are many examples of these bodies being left unsold at the end of a model year and updated for sale as a following year vehicle, though it is much more often the case with a Twelve.

I personally thought the car had a rather homely, awkward style.

I found the car curious as well, but I am no expert on Senior cars. The good news is Rudy Creteur (probably spelled incorrectly) still maintains the records at Rollston and has researched many cars in the past, so me thinks the truth is available.

J W Gehring: I am no Packard expert and I am probably getting in over my head but here I go any way.

Rollston in 1937 built a Series 1507 Sport Sedan. The doors on the Sports Sedan as hinged at the B pillar. So it might just have been possible for Rollston to have built the 37 Victoria in question.

The 37 Rollston Sport Sedan I refer to is on page 335 of the book Packard by Dammann & Wren.

John F. Shireman

I'm very familiar with the car you refer to from the book. The book has it mislabeled though. First of all it's a LWB 1508, not a 1507, and second it's really a formal sedan, as it has a black leather roof, division window, and leather front seat/cloth back seat interior. This just goes to show us that you can't always believe everything printed in these books written by these so called experts. If you look at the body lines of the car in question and compare it to any other 1935/1936 Packard victoria (Standard 8, Super 8, or Twelve) you'll see the lines are identical. The hardware, hinges, ect are all the same as any standard bodied Packard of that era. Rollston used their own hardware and used a one piece bronze casting windshield frame (JN Duesenbergs all have this to). There is an authentic 1937 Rollston victoria in Northern NJ and it looks nothing like the car in question. Again, I commend the owner for saving the car from an abandoned hot rod project, just don't call it a Rollston.

J.W., I believe this is the car you're referring to. Dick has owned it for many years. Photo from the Metropolitan Skyline, CCCA Metro Region's publication, Fall 2009.

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That's it. Beautiful car, isn't it?

Wow and double Wow!! And some (few) wonder why I am a '37 guy... Now if the 37-120 Derham Town Car would please surface...

I'm guessing you want the real thing as a survivor and not a period photo, this from Pfau's The Coachbuilt Packard.

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Yeah, that one....can park in my garage anytime. I don't know if this car still exists - I'd like to know, and like to own it.