Packard’s “Senior” Eight Series models of 1931 featured a 20 percent gain in horsepower over the previous year, thanks to more efficient breathing and carburetion. Other important updates included fully automatic Bijur chassis lubrication, and a Stewart-Warner mechanical fuel pump that replaced the vacuum tank setup of earlier cars. Reportedly fewer than a dozen authentic examples of the Custom Eight roadster, the sportiest and most flamboyant model, remain in existence today.

The Custom Eight roadster offered here was an AACA National First Prize winner in 1979. Reportedly it was freshly cosmetically restored in 1990, and afterward moved for a time to Europe, winning a First Prize at the Concours d’Elegance Chopard in 2000. Former owners included Adrian Winchell of Beloit, Wisconsin. The car was later acquired by Mr. Burdick in 2009, and has remained on museum display ever since.

The car bears a reproduction vehicle number plate identifying it as having been delivered by the Star Garage Company of Streator, Illinois, on 26 July 1931. The stampings of the chassis frame, engine block, and steering gear all appear authentic and are close together in their numbering, indicating that they left the factory in this combination. While the restoration is older, it has held up remarkably well, with excellent paint in the beautiful era-correct Packard combination of Coral and Russett, and a rich brown leather interior with only minor creasing and stretching. The engine compartment and chassis are both clean and have a pleasantly authentic appearance. Desirable accessories include dual Pilot Ray driving lights, a spotlight, radiator stone guard, “Goddess of Speed” mascot, and chrome wire wheels. The odometer at the time of cataloguing recorded 8,718 miles, likely since the original restoration.

This car would be a superb choice for light freshening and continued showing, or, with mechanical sorting, a bulletproof tour automobile for CCCA CARavans or any other adventure its new owner may wish to undertake.