Beschreibung:

Believed to be one of two extant 1931 PACKARD 845 DELUXE EIGHT CONVERTIBLE COUPE COACHWORK BY DERHAM Vehicle No. 845 40 Chassis No. 188684 Engine No. 188688 Black with black leather interior and beige cloth top Engine: eight cylinder, in-line, 120bhp with single carburetor; Gearbox: four speed manual; Suspension: live axles with semi-elliptical leaf springs; Brakes: four wheel mechanically-actuated drums. Left hand drive. Under Alvan Macauley's management, Packard Motor Company moved steadily to integrate its operations to manufacture as much of each Packard as possible within its own facilities. In practice its policy was much like Ford's and General Motors', although its motivation was completely different. While Ford and GM sought to exploit the economies of scale their huge volumes made possible and to control their suppliers' ability to dictate prices, Packard's goal was to maintain the quality and integrity of its automobiles by ensuring that each Packard was built to the highest standards from carefully controlled and inspected materials and components. One area that particularly benefited was Packard's own coachworks. Packard had made no secret that it priced chassis for coachbuilt bodywork at ample markups, an astute position that encouraged work for its own shop and also recognized that clients for coachbuilt Packards were both able and willing to pay top dollar for exclusivity. Its arrangements with Hibbard & Darrin, Dietrich, Inc. and other consultant designers fed a constant stream of fresh, up-to-date ideas to Packard's own designers. These were rapidly and tastefully incorporated in Packard's catalog and particularly into the individual custom catalog. Even labeled custom bodies were frequently built in Packard's own shop and then shipped to outside coachbuilders for final trimming, painting and affixing the coachbuilder's plaque. By 1931 this process was essentially streamlined. Individually-specified, unique coachbuilt bodies for Packards were extremely rare and usually limited to elaborate formal limousines, town cars and convertible sedans. The long (145 ½ inch) wheelbase Deluxe Eight chassis powered by the 120 horsepower, 385 cubic inch, nine main bearing Packard inline eight formed the basis for these exclusive automobiles. Cost - a crucially important factor in the early years of the Great Depression - and the attractive, contemporary designs in Packard's catalog made it highly unusual for a buyer even to consider a coachbuilt coupé, roadster, sedan or phaeton. The 1931 Packard Deluxe Eight 845 Convertible Coupé by Derham offered here is extremely rare and one of only two known to exist (the other being chassis 188777.) The 845 chassis was generally reserved for seven passenger coachwork and its cost, F.O.B. Detroit, of $3,050, was only $590 less than the complete 840 convertible coupi. It was a daring young blade who would step up to the counter at his local Packard dealer in 1931 to order an 845 chassis and then contract for a custom 2/4 seat open body to go with it. Circumstances, however, might have presented an opportunity as the year progressed and sales did not keep pace with even Packard's scaled-back production. This Packard's chassis was delivered to the local distributor in Philadelphia on November 5, 1931, long after the June 1931 introduction of the 1932 Packards. In common with many 1931 Packards, it was fitted with a variation on the vee-shaped radiator grill shell which the manufacturer had adopted for 1932, and an extended 147½ inch wheelbase to accomodate the special aluminum Derham body. Derham Body Company outside of Philadelphia supplied east coast dealers, primarily Hudson and Packard, with bodies in low volume series, typically building 10 to 25 bodies which then could be quickly finished to individual specifications and mounted on their clients' chassis at a price less than those of full custom coachbuilders. They prepared a catalog of designs for the 1931 Packard and ach