Among the most desirable of all American Full Classic automobiles is the 12-cylinder Packard, and few are more sought after than the Eleventh Series models of 1934, widely considered one of the most beautiful years for the manufacturer. Especially elite are the handful of surviving 12-cylinder Coupe Roadsters, built on the 142 1/2-inch 1107 platform.

This particular Coupe Roadster is vehicle number 739-15, making it the fifth example produced, and is one of the known authentic examples recorded in the standard reference work on the model, The Magnificent Packard Twelve of Nineteen Thirty-Four by Edward J. Blend. Its original firewall vehicle number tag identifies it as having been sold by the Zell Motor Car Company of Baltimore on 21 June 1934. At the time of Blend’s compilation, the car was in the long-term ownership of Woodrow Portz of Solon, Ohio, who retained it well into the late 1970s. It subsequently passed from Mr. Portz to a collector in St. Louis, then through the hands of Pete Davis, Dr. Larry Morawa, and finally the respected enthusiast Bill Chorkey of Michigan. Restoration was undertaken for Mr. Chorkey by the late John “Jocko” McNeal of Orchard Auto Restoration in Michigan, one of the foremost specialists in the Eleventh Series Packard.

Mr. Chorkey eventually sold the car to Dr. Joseph Murphy of New Hope, Pennsylvania, at the time building a select and very impressive collection of Full Classics. While in Dr. Murphy’s ownership the car was featured in Dennis Adler’s book Packard, as well as in the book written by Mr. Adler on the Murphy collection, In Search of Excellence, and in his The Art of the Automobile, in which it is named as one of the 100 most beautiful cars of all time. Such was the car’s appeal that when Dr. Murphy dispersed his collection, Mr. Chorkey proceeded to buy it back!

After finally leaving the Chorkey stable for good, the Coupe Roadster spent several years in a large collection in the American West, before being acquired by the current owner in 2010. Maintained as one of the longest-term denizens of his distinguished private museum for the last 14 years, its restoration is older but still highly attractive, in an appealing combination of rich silver and red leather. Furthermore, its original restorer’s sensitive touch is visible in the original Packard Proving Grounds test sticker, preserved on the wall of the glove box.

Every collection of fine Classics requires a 1934 Packard, and few are better than this authentic Twelve Coupe Roadster—a beautiful example of the type, restored by an authority and maintained in superb collections ever since.