You usually only encounter a car like this 1940 Packard 160 Super 8 Convertible Sedan at a prestigious auto show, so I was impressed to see this vehicle in use as a daily driver. Joe Santana is the proud owner and restorer of the car affectionately named “The Duchess.”
During the first half of the 20th Century, owning a Packard implied prestige and status in the same vein as a Cadillac, Duesenberg, or Lincoln. According to Packard production records, only 149 examples of this specific model were produced.
Joe noted his Packard was purchased on the first day of the model’s introduction, August 20, 1939 in San Francisco. Its original owner was Oscar Kennedy Cushing, a prominent local lawyer, who chose Harbor Gray as the color—very appropriate for the Bay Area.
When Cushing died in 1948, Joe’s stepfather purchased the car from the owner’s widow. The odometer had registered just 8,000 miles, attributed primarily to chauffer-driven trips to Palm Springs.
Joe first took possession of the car in 1959 while in high school. In 1964, he sold it for $800 and replaced it with a new Mustang. “As the tail-end tipped over the hill on California Street in San Francisco, my heart sunk,” he recalls. One year later he was able to reclaim the Packard after he learned its current owner had fallen in love with another car. Joe managed to get the car back for the same price he had initially sold it for.
In 1960, Joe Santana behind the wheel with classmates at Bellermine Prep School in San Jose, Calif.
“I couldn’t resist. I kissed the ground,” said Joe. “I drove it almost every day until 1984, putting on well over 325,000 miles when it became unsafe to drive. My kids grew up in it.”
Two years later, Joe and his son John began dismantling the car in preparation for a full restoration. After working on the engine and purchasing some needed parts, everything went into storage in 1993. In 2002, the Duchess came back home. The following year Joe attended a class in vintage auto restoration at a local community college and began a full restoration in earnest.
Over the next six or so years, the painstaking process of rebuilding existing pieces or searching for proper replacements consumed many of Joe’s nights and weekends. He relied heavily on advice he gained from an online Packard forum, where other owners were eager share their expertise.
The One-Sixty Super Eight is powered by an inline eight-cylinder. This exceptionally smooth 356 cubic-inch engine produces 160 horsepower and Packard claimed it was the most powerful eight on the market, eclipsing even Cadillac’s powerplant. The transmission is a column-shifted three-speed manual with overdrive.
Joe drives his Packard as much as possible—whether it’s a road trip from Oregon to the Pebble Beach Concours, or a local errand from his office to the grocery store. The car attracts young and old alike. It’s a magnificent machine with a proud history, and Joe loves sharing it with others.
See Packard Cars & Trucks for sale on eBay.
