1928 Packard 443 Custom Eight Runabout

Richard Dix standing next to a 1928 Packard model 443 (form the collection of the author)

From the beginning, the stars born of the Hollywood movie industry have wanted to be seen in the best cars available. Richard Dix, seen posing with a 1928 Packard 443 custom eight roadster, was just such a leading man. Born Ernest Brimmer, he studied to be a surgeon, but his talent for acting blossomed in dramatic club at school. Dix went on to be one of the few stars to transition from silent pictures to the “talkies”.

This picture is dated February, 25^th, 1930 and the featured Packard would already have been a used car. The shot is clearly taken on the set of a movie lot; if you look carefully, you can see the backdrop is a prop. I suspect that the car may actually belong to Dix – check out the custom figurine that’s been added to the motometer - and that the image might be taken at the RKO lot in Los Angles. Dix had just left Paramount to sign with RKO in 1929.

Packard introduced the fourth series cars (443) in July of 1927. The custom eights were offered in nine standard body styles – all on the 143-inch chassis. This Packard runabout, style number 312, is one of those standard body styles. The car has a 385 cubic inch straight eight engine developing 109hp. Packard produced 7,800 model 443’s in 1928 and this car would have sold new for $3,975.

Although Packard had dealers in both Beverly Hills and Hollywood, the most prolific dealer was Earle C. Anthony, Packard’s west coast distributor. I don’t know if this Packard came out of the showroom on 1000 S. Hope Street, but it very well may have been. Today, I can only imagine what it must have been like to see cars like this Packard rolling through the streets of Hollywood. 

The Stutz Super Bearcat

1932 Stutz Supe Bearcat (from the author's collection)

 

Wearing a set of Goodrich Silvertown whitewall tires, distinguished by the double diamonds seen on the side wall, the shortened chassis of the Stutz Super Bearcat is clearly apparent. At only 116 inches, the wheelbase was a full foot and a half shorter than the standard offering. As a point of comparison, today’s Ferrari FF rides on a 117.7 inch wheelbase. The cut-down chassis and Weymann style fabric body (designed by Gordon Buehrig) were both focused on weight reduction, but the heart of the car was the DV-32 straight–eight engine. The twin overhead cam, four valves per cylinder engine produced 156 horsepower – a 40% increase over the old “vertical eight” that it was based on. Not the most powerful engine of the era, regardless the Super Bearcat had one of the best power-to-weight ratios of the time.

From its inception in 1911, the Stutz Motor Car Company was all about racing. Although Stutz halted factory-supported racing in 1929, Stutz cars continued to be raced by privateers. The 24 Hours of Le Mans saw numerous Stutz cars competing until 1932. The Blackhawk version of the Stutz Vertical Eight came to dominant AAA stock car racing, winning the championship in 1927. Stutz also competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the sole Stutz losing its lead on the final lap to one of the factory-entered Bentleys in 1928. The best showing of any American entry until Ford’s GT40 claimed victory thirty-eight years later. The Stutz DV-32 engine, in a different chassis, raced at LeMans as well – achieving a 5th place finish.

Harry Stutz, founder of his namesake company, had departed back in 1922. Fred Moscovics had brought a newfound success to the Stutz brand upon his arrival, buy even his engineering prowess couldn’t halt the economic decline initiated by the stock market collapse of 1929. Kept alive by the personal fortune of Charles Schwab, who held controlling interest, the company soldiered on until closing its doors for good in 1934.

These cars were quite expensive at the height of the depression and only about twenty are thought to have been made – fewer than a dozen are thought to survive. The last Super Bearcat to come to auction was sold by Bonhams at Amelia Island earlier this year. It sold for $1,012,000.

1930 duPont Series G Special Sport Sedan by Merrimac

1930 duPont Special Sport Sedan in Manhattan

As you could probably guess, I enjoy searching for old photos of early cars. When at Monterey’s classic car week, this means a stop at Automobilia Monterey and it was there that I found this image of a uniquely bodied duPont series G.

Honestly, all duPonts are unique as only an estimated 600 total cars were produced by the duPont Motor Company in the thirteen years they were in business. E. Paul duPont founded the company to produce marine engines for the Allied war effort in World War I.  They introduced their first automobiles at the 1919 International Salon held at the Commodore Hotel in New York City. The series G was introduced in 1929, with a 125hp straight-eight engine. These luxury cars were bodied by some of the best firms of the day with Merrimac being the largest supplier - said to be over 120 bodies.  The Merrimac Body Company, a spin-off of parent company J.B. Judkins was named for it’s location – Merrimac, MA. The body company got it’s start in 1920 when Judkins couldn’t handle a series production body order from Mercer. The Mercer fell through when Mercer filed for bankruptcy, but the company survived to serve duPont, Franklin, Locomobile, and most notably Rolls-Royce of America.

This car wears a Merrimac body described by duPont as a Special Sport Sedan. The body style was advertised in the day by duPont, but I would guess that few were built and this is where our story takes a wild turn.

It just so happens that The Pebble Beach Concours was hosting a featured class of duPonts this year and as I strolled though the cars lining up for the Tour d’Elegance Thursday, I spot this car. Not one like; but this very car! Apparently, Merrimac only built one Special Sport Sedan and it’s currently owned by a member of the DuPont family – how cool is that.

At the time of this picture, duPont had four dealer show rooms across the country: New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. The car is seen in front of 1 Sutton Place in Manhattan, an upscale apartment building completed in 1927 on the banks of the East River in mid-town. E. Paul duPont became president of Indian Motorcycles in 1930, saving Indian from impending financial ruin. The Du Pont Motor Company ceased building cars in 1932 due to the depression and was merged with the Indian Company.

The duPont Special Sport Sedan on the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance (author's photo)

2015 Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance

One of the great pleasures of Monterey's classic car week is seeing the cars under power on the Tour d'Elegance. Honestly, there are too many people and too many cars to shot photos of everthing, but here's a few that caught me eye.

Mercedes C-111

T.G. Mittler's Cunningham C2R

Rolls-Royce Ghost from the McGee Collection

Stutz Bearcat driven by Wayne Carini

Mercedes from the Keller family collection

Duesenberg Model J from the Yeaggy Collection

Ferrari 275 Competition from the Mozart Collection driven by a friend (yes, I'm jealous)

1902 Thomas

Mercer from the Jack Rich Collection (driven by John Rich)

One of the nicest Pope-Hartford's attending this year

Rolls-Royce PII Newmarket Sedan

Pope-Toledo

Astro-Damlier from the Nethercutt Collection

Spectacular T57 Bugatti

Isotta-Fraschini from the Patterson Collection

duPont race car

duPont Merrimac Sport Sedan owned by the duPont family

Sites and sounds from 2015 Monterey Auctions

What a wonderful, crazy, hot, crowded, and marvelous week it's been in Monterey this year. Here's a few cars of interest at the various auctions held on the peninsula this week.

2014 Pebble Beach Concours Class winner form the Off Brother Collection

Ex Henry Austin Clark whom purchased the car from Mr. Pungs in 1955.

Judge Cassini brought a different Stutz Monte Carlo to the Pebble Beach Concours this year.

2015 Copperstate 1000

Always a great event and right here in my backyard, here's a collection of photos from this year's event.

Cars gathered on the filed getting ready for the start (author's photo).

Alfa Romeo TZ1 (author's photo).

Maserati Bora owned by a local collector (author's photo).

Great old Volvo ready to rally (author's photo).

Lovely Alfa Romeo 1900 (author's photo).

A friend's Volvo P1800 (author's photo).

Maserati 200S (author's photo).

Author Clive Cussler's 4 1/2/ liter Bentley (author's photo).

Fantastic Ferrari Superfast (author's photo).

AC Aceca coupe (author's photo).