This special 12-cylinder Packard with its handsome bespoke

　　coachwork by Fleetwood on a custom 145-inch chassis was reportedly

　　built for the great A. Atwater Kent. Atwater Kent's excellent

　　radios and automobile ignition components made him and his family

　　quite wealthy, owning several superlative automobiles; in the

　　Winter 1927 Packard magazine, he was recounted as owning "probably

　　the largest fleet of Packards, 19." In Automobile Quarterly Volume

　　19, Number 3, published in 1981, Beverly Rae Kimes included this

　　town car in an article on "Five Great Packards." She noted that it

　　was "ordered by the Atwater Kent family of radio renown in 1919,

　　delivered in 1920 and seen thereafter in only the best places ...

　　it was probably the haughtiest car in all Philadelphia. It was

　　special, from its wheelbase (145 inches, a specially prepared

　　chassis 9 inches longer than standard) to its hood (again higher,

　　longer than standard) to its bumpers (steel completely

　　rubber-encased) to its collapsible top (converting it to a touring

　　car) to its sparkling varnish ... to its drum headlamps and disc

　　wheels." George Wendling, a former Fleetwood employee turned early

　　automobile restorer, was quoted as having seen the car and

　　recounted, "Ah, the memories it brought back." Prior to delivery,

　　the car is believed to have been featured at the 1920 New York Auto

　　Salon, as seen by a virtually identical example pictured in that

　　year's catalogue. The car was listed by its engine number, 160326,

　　believed to be an early replacement, with Martin L. Schaffer of

　　Lafayette Hills, PA, in the 1954 and 1961 Antique Automobile Club

　　of America rosters. It was soon acquired by early collector Stanley

　　Tarnopol, a Philadelphia furrier by trade. Tarnopol owned the car

　　until at least 1975; in 1972 he was reported to have driven it from

　　Boston to New Orleans. In the late 1980s, this custom Packard

　　joined the Blackhawk Collection, where it was on display amongst

　　the world's finest cars in the Blackhawk Auto Museum. The Packard

　　is in excellent running and driving order and continues to wear its

　　original restoration, likely from the early 1960s, in rich black

　　lacquer with red-orange wheels. A Classic Car Club of America

　　(CCCA) Full Classic, this Packard was a 2023 award-winner at the

　　Amelia Concours D'Elegance. From the Don Williams Collection. **

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