A 1940 Packard 110 awakens from a 62-year slumber.
The 1940 Packard 110 as recently found in a Los Angeles garage.Rodney Kemerer
In this “Tales From the Garage,” we stumble upon a “Sleeping Beauty” resting peacefully for 62 years and waiting for that automotive kiss to open her eyes.
Let’s turn back a few pages to the fall of 1940. Packard, having struggled through the Great Depression with weak luxury car sales, introduced a lower-priced model wearing the famous nameplate. The Model 110 was a less-opulent six-cylinder Packard for 1940 and 1941. That first year saw more than 62,000 new smiling Packard Model 110 owners driving out of the dealership.
The Packard retains all of its trim, including its stalled “Goddess of Speed” hood ornament looking ready to lead the road again one day.Rodney Kemerer
This particular Packard caught the attention of a Los Angeles surgeon who had an eye for practicality and a desire for something more refined. The Model 110 was the perfect solution. Nothing fancy: no radio, just four doors and that fabulous wheel-holding goddess pointing the way at the end of a forever hood.
It was a daily driver for the good doctor from home to office to hospital and, given the time period, some long-forgotten house calls. From the day of purchase in 1940 until the year our doctor could not heal himself, the Packard saved others by transporting him on his weekly rounds.
Some time in 1961, the doctor pulled the Packard into his garage for the last time. Most likely, even he did not know it was for the last time. He turned off the ignition and closed the door. The car closed its eyes and fell fast asleep. For 62 years.
The doctor’s house and all of its contents sat vacant and undisturbed for many of these years, the car all but forgotten, tucked away in the last of three garage bays. Time marches on and suddenly the family realized it was time to actually deal with the house and the 90 years of accumulated history.
Even the clear extension remains on the Packard’s hood ornament. Note dust on the hood.Rodney Kemerer
My phone occasionally rings with calls like this. Someone knows someone who knows someone who knows me. “He likes old cars, call him.” You do not have to ask twice. Within a few hours, I was standing in the garage, staring at Sleeping Beauty. The rarity of the story — one owner, secure dry storage — overshadowed the rather plain spec of the car itself. Complete and dry, nothing taken apart in failed attempted repairs. The trunk was not full of “parts.”
One owner, 63,000 miles and an uncreased owner’s manual sitting on the front seat, its story waiting to be told.
The family had no idea what to do and looked to me for guidance. I offered to take photos and spread the word to my community of car guys, knowing that “six degrees of separation” to find a “Packard Guy” could not be that difficult.
The owner’s manual for the good doctor’s Packard remains in the car.Rodney Kemerer
More than six decades is a long time to wait for the awakening kiss, but I feel certain that our beauty will wake up soon and “The Goddess of Speed” will fly down the road again and, who knows, perhaps she has more lives to save.
Plastic on the instrument panel shows the effects of time. Note absence of a radio.Rodney Kemerer
Rear seat looks as though it received minimal use.Rodney Kemerer
The six-cylinder appears as though it could be fired up for the next house call.
The whitewall tires are decades old, but still hold air.Rodney Kemerer
The Packard’s “110” designation appears on the hood sides.Rodney Kemerer
The odometer is believed to reflect the Packard’s actual mileage.Rodney Kemerer
Want more “Garage Tales?” Rodney Kemerer’s new book “Tales From the Garage” is an illustrated collection of his best essays and will be available from Amazon Books. Learn more about the book at TalesFromtheGarage.com.
*Editor’s note: Rodney Kemerer’s “Tales From the Garage” column appeared for many years in Garage Style Magazine. This is his first column for Old Cars, and the staff is proud to welcome Rodney and his contributions.
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