“Ask the Man Who Owns One.” For most of Packard’s 58-year life, the slogan was an integral part of the company’s existence. No mere cocky catchphrase; it was simply the automaker’s best advice to its customers. Packard buyers were almost religiously faithful to what they drove, as they appreciated the company’s unique combination of slow but steady refinement, high-quality conservative engineering, and unparalleled standards of craftsmanship and construction. If one needed to know why he or she should buy a Packard, all they had to do was ask someone who already had one.

The company’s 1935 line offered something for every taste. Most prominently presented was a wide range of eight-cylinder models, from the new, medium-priced One Twenty to the vast and luxurious Super Eight. In between was the so-called “standard” Eight, which boasted a nearly identical range of both styles to its larger sibling, but it came on a slightly shorter wheelbase and with a 130-hp, 320-cu. in. engine. As the Eight and Super Eight were nearly indistinguishable to the casual observer, it is a surprise that the Eight outsold the Super Eight by a factor of three to one.

Fred Guyton’s Eight is a rare seven-passenger Business Sedan model on the 139-in. wheelbase 1202 chassis, identified by its original firewall tag as having been delivered new on 26 March 1935, by the Portland Branch of the Packard Motor Car Company of Boston. Mr. Guyton acquired it in 1994 from Whitney Miller and Robert C. Gordon of Mission Hills, Kansas. Invoices in the file indicate that the car was partially repainted and mechanically serviced shortly before its acquisition, but it has otherwise a satisfyingly original appearance, including the factory wool broadcloth interior, woodgrain trim, and carpeting; there is some moth damage to the rear compartment, but the upholstery is still serviceable. The window glass appears to be largely original and is delaminating in the rear quarters. At the time of cataloguing, the car had recorded 56,347 miles. It is accompanied by a small file of invoices and documentation, and a reprinted instruction manual.

This is a handsome and unusual Packard, and with some recommissioning would be an interesting CARavan automobile for a new owner, with high style, fine American quality, and charming originality in equal measure.