This 120B is a very unusual example of late LeBaron custom coachwork on the “junior” Packard One Twenty chassis, and it is one of a believed two examples built with similar styling as part of 1936’s Fourteenth series. The two cars were reportedly designed for LeBaron’s Ralph Roberts by Thomas Hibbard, formerly Howard “Dutch” Darrin’s partner in Paris coachbuilding and one of LeBaron’s co-founders.

While it has never been documented, both cars are accepted by Packard historians as having been built for George Washington Hill, of White Plains, New York, the second-generation president of the American Tobacco Company. Daniel Armstrong, a former owner of this car, notes that, when he first saw the car at an Oldsmobile dealer near White Plains in the early 1950s, he was told that it had been Mr. Hill’s car and that it was often seen being driven to church on Sundays. Of the two LeBaron One Twenties built for Mr. Hill, this was his car and the only convertible; the other, essentially the same design but with a fixed roof, was for his wife.

Following Mr. Hill’s passing in 1946, his Convertible Victoria made its way to the Olds dealer, where Mr. Armstrong spotted it. He arranged the car’s sale to a co-worker at a Wall Street brokerage firm and eventually purchased it from her for $100 plus a very nice dinner at the famous Manhattan Japanese restaurant Saito. Mr. Armstrong owned the Packard from the mid-1950s until 1993, when he sold it at Hershey. During his 40-odd years of ownership, the car was seldom driven or seen and remained largely unknown to enthusiasts.

That would change in the Packard’s enthusiastic ownership by renowned enthusiast, award-winning actor, and beloved member of the car-collecting community Edward Herrmann. A longtime friend of the RM Sotheby’s family, Mr. Herrmann had the car restored to its present appearance by RM Auto Restoration in the mid-1990s. (The restoration was the subject of a History Channel documentary narrated by Mr. Herrmann!) It was refinished in a special, eye-catching Caramel, with a brown leather and taupe whipcord interior and a tan three-position top, using the same pattern as was originally fitted. The car has been well maintained since, including time in the famous collection of Ray Scherr, and has made numerous concours d’elegance appearances.

An unusual example of custom coachwork on the One Twenty chassis, this is a Packard that has benefitted from long-term, known history, as well as restoration and conversation by noted enthusiasts—not least among them, that friend to many, Edward Herrmann.