1934 Packard 1108 Twelve takes Best in Show – American at St. Johns

The 2016 Concours d’Elegance of America at St. Johns Best in Show winners. Photo courtesy of the Concours d’Elegance of America.

Prewar Packards have won their share of concours gold at events from coast to coast, so the Best in Show awarded to a 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria at last weekend’s Concours d’Elegance of America at St. John’s shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

What is surprising, perhaps, is the history of the car now owned by Judge Joseph and Margie Cassini III of West Orange, New Jersey, which previously demonstrated the quality of its restoration by taking Best in Show at Pebble Beach in 2013. Said to be one of four or five Packard 1108 Twelve models to wear a Dietrich Convertible Victoria body, this example boasted custom touches like teardrop fenders styled by Raymond Dietrich and dual rear-mount spares. To promote the elegance of the Packard brand, the car was one of several chosen to participate in a Traveling Salon that ran from Detroit to New York, visiting key dealers along the route.

The Cassini’s 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria at Pebble Beach in 2013. Photo by Matt Litwin.

Its first owner of record was said to be a Ricardo Lacosta, a successful lawyer (and later, judge) from Puerto Rico. After its days with Senor Lacosta, the car remained with his family on the island, later surfacing as a taxicab and eventually becoming, perhaps, the first taxicab to take a Pebble Beach win. When its cab days were over, the Packard was acquired by a serviceman stationed at Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla, who saw past the classic car’s tattered condition.

In 1968, it was returned to the United States, but as Cassini explained to the New York Times in 2013, the car was nearly beyond repair, with much of the original metal rusted through by decades spent in the salt air. After passing, largely unrestored, through owners in New Hampshire and Ohio, the Cassinis acquired the car in 2010, kicking off a restoration that would consume over 10,000 man hours and nearly three years. The Packard was completed just in time to appear at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it captured a class win, a Best in Show and the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible award. Sunday’s win at the Concours d’Elegance of America, held at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan, represents the car’s second victory at a major show event.

1937 Talbot-Lago T150 CSS, the Best in Show – Foreign. Photo courtesy Richard Grubola.

Best in Show – Foreign went to a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150 CSS owned by J.W. Marriott, Jr., of Bethesda, Maryland. Said to be the prototype “teardrop coupe,” as well as the only example to wear a full aluminum body (including aluminum fenders), the Figoni et Falaschi creation was first shown at the 1937 New York Auto Show. Since a restoration completed in 2011, the curvaceous French coupe has captured awards at concours events from Pebble Beach to Kiawah Island, and can now include St. Johns on its list of show wins.

Other key winners included the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Coupe owned by Dean Rogers of Santa Fe, New Mexico, which received the Car We Would Most Like to Drive Home Award; the 1934 Packard 1108 Convertible Sedan owned by Tony Ficco of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, which received the Don Sommer Award for the Most Significant Classic Car; the 1935 Auburn 851 Speedster owned by Lammot DuPont of Sterling, Virginia, which received the Chairman’s Award; the 1934 Packard 1108 Stationary Coupe owned by Samuel Lehrman of Palm Beach, Florida, which received the Most Elegant Car Award; and the 1955 Doretti Swallow Convertible owned by Michael Ryan of North Barrington, Illinois, which received the This Car Matters: HVA (FIVA) Award.

For a complete list of 2016 winners by category, visit ConcoursUSA.org.

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