Lot Ended
Description
Ex-Shah of Iran; rare model, one of only 385 made; unfinished
restoration; top quality repaint; partial retrim; last running in 2017; complete
car with most of the hard work done; would make a fabulous addition to any
museum collection
Founded in Ohio
in 1899, Packard aimed its magnificent machines right at the top of the market,
selling to the rich and famous alongside marques such as Duesenberg and Pierce
Arrow.
The world
over, the name Packard meant prestige, power and sophistication. Such was their
reputation that during WW2 they manufactured the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine under
licence, the only company allowed to do so outside of Rolls-Royce
themselves.
Popular
among wealthy Americans, they also enjoyed significant success in Europe. By the
time the Depression hit, Packard had developed a unique single assembly line
system with all cars based on the same basic platform which enabled it to
survive the economic downturn.
The Packard
Super Eight 22nd Series was in production from 1947 – 1949 and
featured new aerodynamic ‘free-flow’ coachwork by Briggs in a variety of
styles including a compact sedan, shooting brake station sedan, convertible
coupe and a long wheelbase limousine. All were powered by an L-head
straight-engine in either 245ci, 288ci, 327ci or 356ci capacity with 3-speed
manual transmission.
This particular car is a
rare 2270 Limousine Deluxe seven-seater, one of only 385 made in 1948/49, the
vast majority in LHD. Many of these cars formed part of the White House fleet
for use by the President and other top officials, but a few were also exported
for use by foreign dignitaries, including this rare RHD
example.
First registered in London in May 1948,
it was originally owned by the Persian Embassy in South Kensington and had the
numberplate JYL 10. In those days Britain still had friendly relations with Iran
(as Persia is now known) and had a controlling interest in their oil industry
under the banner of The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later renamed as The British
Petroleum Company (BP) in 1954.
The Shah of Iran,
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, ascended to the throne in 1941 and made several State
Visits to London until he was deposed in the Iranian Revolution in 1979. An
accomplished pilot, the Shah spent vast amounts of money building up the
Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and was a major buyer of British military aircraft
which were essential to the cash-strapped economy of the UK in the
1950s.
The Shah was ferried around in this
Packard during those State Visits and there is a wonderful British Pathe film
clip of him visiting RAF Biggin Hill in JYL 10 in the winter of 1955 which you
can view if you copy and paste this link into your browser (no sound,
sadly):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTZZbkcSBVA
There are
other clips of the same visit (with sound) here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pWzTg3IKwI
And
here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enAsSsq27Mk
A buff logbook plus a DVLA print-out and copies of old V5
logbooks record all subsequent owners of the Packard from 1958 to the present
day. They also record a colour change from black to white in 2002 when it was
reputedly being used as a wedding car, copies of various old photos showing it
still looking nice and shiny at this point. It also lost its original JYL 10
number plate at the same time, becoming PAS 109.
Our vendor acquired the car in 2016 by which time it had been
re-registered as 5220 DG, a number which is transferable, according to the V5C,
although interestingly the original JYL 10 number has never been assigned to
another car so it may perhaps be recoverable.
Photos show that the car had deteriorated somewhat by this point so
our vendor, formerly the part-owner and publisher of The
Automobile magazine with a celebrated collection of interesting old cars,
commenced a sympathetic restoration which he has been sadly unable to complete
due to his declining health.
The bodywork has
been professionally restored and repainted to a high standard in the
original black. The interior has been partially retrimmed with new covers for
the rear seats and the fold-away occasional seats, a new headlining and what
appear to be retrimmed door cards. The red cloth front seats are among the vast
file of parts that come with the car and look to be in good
shape.
Some mechanical work was also carried out
by Benjamin Brown Coachbuilding & Historical Vehicle Resoration Ltd of
Hailsham. Although there are no invoices for this, Ben tells us that it included
cleaning all the ignition components and freeing off some of the valves. The
rest of the running gear was also cleaned and gone through and the rear
differential was swapped for a better used example. This got the car back
into running order and it was driving backwards and forwards in mid-2017.
Although the V5C records the capacity as 4.7 litres we suspect
it should be 5.3 as limos typically left the factory with the 145bhp
327ci engine but you will need to make your own minds up on that score.
The bumper cable-tied to the front of the car in the first three photos
is actually the back bumper (doh!) but the front bumper and all the
other body fittings are present, as far as we can tell (see last photo
for an idea of how the car should look when completed).
On offer here at no reserve, this rare and imposing Packard has an
illustrious history behind it and would sit well in any museum
or historically significant collection (Iran is in the headlines
more than usual these days). With most of the hard work done, it now needs
an enthusiastic new owner who can get it back on the road and fit for a Shah
once more.
Consigned by James Dennison –
07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com