1999 Packard Twelve Prototype

Offered by RM Auctions | Plymouth, Michigan | July 26, 2014

Photo – RM Auctions

Packard is one the most revered American automobile manufacturers of all time. Their glory years were from their founding by James Ward Packard and his two partners in Warren, Ohio, in 1899 up through their huge pre-war touring cars and limousines. They built some of the finest cars money could buy. Unfortunately, their post-war fortunes were not as grand. They merged into Studebaker and the marque disappeared for 1959 (after two years of selling re-badged Studebakers).

Or did it? Well, yes, it did – but that didn’t stop the new owners of the Packard trademark – Packard Motor Car Company of Phoenix, Arizaon – from constructing this “new” Packard in 1999. The styling is unique and has little bits of classic Packard styling added in (like the grille). It’s a four-door luxury sedan prototype in working order – a concept car for the road. The styling can be polarizing for some, but I don’t really mind it as it reminds me of the kind of crazy era of concept cars that proliferated through the 1990s. I’m thinking “Chrysler Thunderbolt” here.

The coolest part is that this car is all-original. It’s not a re-bodied Lincoln or something like that. The chassis is aluminium. It has four-wheel drive. The engine is a 8.6-liter V-12 making 573 horsepower. It’ll hit 60 mph in only 4.8 seconds. Not bad for a sedan – from 1999.

This car popped up on eBay in 2009 and I don’t know the outcome, but it hadn’t met its reserve by the time it hit $125,000. So I’m guessing they want more. On the plus side, should you choose to spend it, you’ll have the newest Packard on the block. Read more here and check out more from RM here.

Update: Sold $143,000.