A 1932 PACKARD DELUXE 8 SPORT PHAETON.

NOW ONE OF THE RAREST OF THE RAY DIETRICH DESIGNS, THIS DUAL-COWL PHAETON WAS BUILT ON THE LARGEST OF THE 8-CYLINDER CHASSIS

PACKARDS
VEE-WINDSHIELD REMBRANDTS
The Genius of Ray Dietrich
By John Kilkenny and Matthew Kilkenny that Raymond Henri Dietrich penned the lines of what arguably were the ultimate Packardsthe raked vee-windshield Dietrichs, built from 1932 to 1934. Entertainer Al Jolson, golfer Gene Sarazen, and I. Magnin clothing-store founder Mary Ann Magnin were amongst the privileged owners of these cars, which earned accolades from not only the press and the public but other designers of the day.

It was during the depths of the Great Depression

Famed body designer Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky later stated, In my memory from the great number of body men, a small group emerges head and shoulders above the rest. Those are the few whom we can thank for the lovely cars created during the roughly fifteen years of Classic Car Era. I enjoy thinking of tall, pale Ray Dietrich, the man who did most to make styling leaders out of Packard and Lincoln.

In 1925, the Murray Corporation, which had grown to be one of the largest body builders through industry consolidation, lured Dietrich to Detroit by financing a new custom body firm

Feeling constrained by the Brewster look, he and colleague Thomas Hibbard separated from Brewster and started LeBaron Carrossiers in 1920 in Manhattan to provide custom body design servicesa novel concept at the time.

Ray Dietrich started as an apprentice at body builder Brewster in 1913, studying the craftsmens designs and layout techniques. At night, while at Brewster, he attended the Mechanics Institute, studying the development of surfaces and body construction. Additionally, Dietrich gathered inspiration from nature; he once told me [John] that he liked to go see birds at the zoo to study color ideas and combinations for his designs.

TOP LEFT: A 1932 PACKARD DELUXE 8 CUSTOM CONVERTIBLE COUPE. BOTTOM LEFT: GLAMOUR HAS ALWAYS SOLD MOTORCARS. THIS PUBLICITY SHOT FROM 1934 SHOWS A 12-CYLINDER CAR IN THE PACKARD SHOWROOM. RIGHT:FAMOUS GOLFER GENE SARAZEN, ON THE LEFT, TAKES DELIVERY OF HIS PACKARD 12 CUSTOM DIETRICH IN 1932. SARAZEN WAS ONE OF ONLY FIVE PLAYERS IN THE HISTORY OF GOLF TO WIN ALL THE MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS DURING HIS CAREERAND HE PLAYED AT PEBBLE BEACH.

Macauley and Packard were realizing the importance of styling to sales. Packard styling was then under the guise of the engineering department, and it clearly needed an infusion of outside styling talent. So Dietrich was hired as a Packard consultant. From 1929 to 1931 Packard labeled many pseudo customs with either a Custom Made by Packard or Dietrich, Inc. tag, as Dietrich became one of its main custom catalog offerings. By 1931, Dietrich-bodied Packards were cataloged by Packard as Individual Customs, which werent one-off full custom bodies, but designated limited production semi-custom designs.

in his name. Dietrich sold his LeBaron shares and headed to Detroit to head Dietrich, Inc. Initially the new firm produced bodies for Lincoln, but Dietrichs work quickly caught the eye of Packards President, Alvan Macauley.

For 1931, Dietrich designed a special Packard Sport Sedan that was one of the first Packards with an overhanging body sill blending out the chassis frame below the body. Earlier, Dietrich had designed a 1926 Lincoln Sport Phaeton with an at-the-time radical vee-windshield. These two elements would become the foundation for the vee-windshield Packard, which debuted in 1932.

The 1932 Packards, including the new line of vee-windshield Dietrichs, debuted in June 1931. Because Packards new 12-cylinder motor would not be shipped until April 1932, the 1932 vee-windshield Dietrichs initially could only be obtained with the Deluxe 8 motor. Packards 1932 Deluxe 8 series ran from June 1931 to December 1932, a very long production year. Twelve-cylinder Packards finally began to be shipped in April 1932 and this continued through December 1932, resulting in a very short 1932 12-cylinder model year. As a result, 1932 12-cylinder Individual Custom Dietrichs are the rarest

Dietrich ultimately submitted designs to Packard for six body styles for his vee-windshield cars: Stationary Coupe, Sport Phaeton, Convertible Sedan, Convertible Roadster, Convertible Victoria, and Sport Sedan. All six body styles can be seen at the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance today and all exhibit both grace and grandeur. Ray Dietrichs sweeping lines and angles lengthen each cars appearance and provide a satisfying sense of movement even when the cars are at rest. In keeping with Packards rather conservative image, even the smallest details are designed with good taste in mind, so everything adds to and nothing detracts from each cars elegance. Simply stated, Dietrichs vee-windshield Packards possess a certain timelessness.

While the 1932 versions sat on a chassis that had a dip where the hood and cowl met, the 1933 and 1934 versions shared Packards new x-member chassis, which was stiffer than the 1932 chassis. Also new in 1933 was the airplane-type instrument cluster that blended well with the cockpit dash. For all three years, the Dietrich bodies shared the same basic design themes as their production-body counterparts, including fenders, radiator shell, lights, and running boards. The Dietrich line incorporated the production-bodied hoods for 1932 and 1933, but in 1934 they deviated from their production brothers by incorporating a de Sakhnoffsky false hood. In early 1931even before his masterpieces had debutedRay Dietrich had been ousted from Dietrich, Inc., due to political forces within

The Individual Custom Series was meant for clientele that could afford a more individualized car. During the harshest years of the Depression, a productionbodied Deluxe 8 Convertible Victoria listed for $4,495, while the Dietrich vee-windshield version listed for $6,150quite a price difference.

of the vee-windshield Packards.

Alvan Macauley had first met body designer Alexis de Sakhnoffsky in late 1928 on a European trip and was close to hiring him at a yearly salary of $17,000, as noted in the Packard Board Meeting Minutes of December 1928, but ended up not doing so. De Sakhnoffskys groundbreaking Vanden Plas Convertible Victoria design, mounted on a 1928 Packard and shown at the 1928 Paris Auto Salon, had gained worldwide attention. De Sakhnoffsky later said, Early in the Twenties, I started developing designs of bodies with false hoods. I found that though the actual distance from the radiator to the front door remains the same, by extending the hood almost to the windshield, the effect of length is considerably increased. . . . By discarding the short hoods we were free to lengthen and widen them and carry the flowing lines into the body. Jesse Vincent, Packards Vice President of Engineering who had a considerable hand in Packard styling decisions, commented in his April 1932 diary notes that Packard was

Murray. And after Alvan Macauley promoted his son Ed to help unify Packard styling, Ed Macauley fired Ray Dietrich in January 1932 from his consulting position as Packard Body Critic, replacing him with de Sakhnoffsky.

TOP LEFT: THE ONLY KNOWN PACKARD VEE-WINDSHIELD DIETRICH ADVERTISEMENT. ABOVE: THE 1932 PACKARD 904 DIETRICH SPORT PHAETON OWNED BY JOHN D. GROENDYKE WAS PLACED SECOND IN CLASS AT PEBBLE BEACH IN 2008. LEFT: THE 1934 PACKARD 1108 DIETRICH COUPE OF FRANK AND MILLI RICCIARDELLI WON THREE AWARDS AT PEBBLE BEACH IN 2005: FIRST IN CLASS, MOST ELEGANT CLOSED CAR AND THE CLASSIC CAR CLUB OF AMERICA TROPHY.

A PACKARD FACTORY PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS A 1934 VEE-WINDSHIELD DIETRICH CONVERTIBLE SEDAN.

Meanwhile, Packard learned that Duesenberg, Cadillac, and Pierce-Arrow were entering special showstopper cars in the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago in August 1933 and it reacted accordingly, entering a special Dietrich Sport Sedan with the long hood modification. A host of antique and modern modes of transportation were on display at the domed Travel and Transport Building at that exhibition, but an art jury selected the Packard as the highest expression of personal transportation that mankind has been able to produce. This car, now known as The Car of the Dome, is on the field today.

considering long bonnets for production Packards in 1933. De Sakhnoffsky was being consulted regarding this, but the idea was probably scrapped due to costs. Vincents January 1933 diary notes mention discussion of a possible V-type windshield for production Packards in 1934. This idea was also scrapped due to costs or to Packards desire to preserve its higher-priced individual custom line of cars. In the end, despite Ray Dietrichs earlier firing, Packard decided to continue the Individual Custom Dietrich line for one more year, but now with the long hood with slanted hood vents, and corresponding slanted suicide front doors. By 1935, Packard no longer had an individual custom body line, which ended an era.

Many historians consider the period from 1932 to 1934 to be the zenith of timeless automotive design, and the vee-windshield Dietrich Packards sit at the head of the class, whether they are the pure Ray Dietrich vee-windshield body designs of 1932 and 1933 or those with the elegant touches added by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky for 1934.

Just 59 vee-windshield Packard Dietrichs are estimated to exist today. The original Packard build sheets were destroyed long ago, so it is difficult to determine how many were actually made, but special cars like these tend to be saved and have a high survival ratio. For comparison, 481 Model J Duesenbergs were built between 1929 and 1937 with 378 surviving.

John and Matt Kilkenny are a father-and-son Packard aficionado team focused on Classic Era Packards. John owns a 1934 Packard 1108 Dietrich Convertible Sedan and has had an unwavering passion for Packards for over 35 years. Matt grew up playing cops and robbers on Packard parts cars and currently owns a 1934 Packard 1108 7-Passenger Sedan. Matt, a Generation Xer who writes articles for The Packard Club, remembers meeting Ray Dietrich as a child in 1979.