This handsome 14th Series Packard coupe roadster was originally delivered by Alvan Fuller’s famous Packard Motor Company of Boston, as identified by its original firewall tag. Its earliest known owner is Roger Derby of West Concord, Massachusetts, who sold the Packard in November 1954 to F. Porter Sargent of Brookline.

Mr. Sargent was a prominent writer, editor, and publisher, and enjoyed fine automobiles, owning both this car and a Waterhouse-bodied 1930 Pierce-Arrow. Both remained in his family for decades, being acquired by his nephew John Doody of Nantucket in 1990. Photographs show the Packard to remain, in the late 1990s, a solid, intact automobile that, nowadays, would likely not have been restored, but rather preserved; they also clearly show it to have been built with and retain the original rear-mounted spare.

Nonetheless, Mr. Doody commissioned a professional frame-off restoration of the car in 2000, after which it was shown by himself and the next owner, Fred Heitman of Anaheim, California, in Packards International judging. The current owner purchased the car from Mr. Heitman in December 2003 and has maintained it now in his collection for over 14 years. The car is accompanied by photographic documentation of the restoration and many bills for the work, as well as a reprinted shop manual and assorted other documentation from the Sargent, Doody, and Heitman ownerships.

In writing to its eventual next owner, John Doody wrote of his Packard that “it drives like a dream, turns heads, and always draws applause from bystanders along the road.” We cannot say it any better than that.