Packard

1940
by Bohman & Schwartz
by Steve Snyder

L
The man who created the Maybelline mascara company had a strong penchant for custom-built automobiles. This 1940 Packard was just one in a line of first-tier Classic Era automobiles he owned, which also included a one-of-a-kind Paige and a 1934 Packard Twelve Dietrich individual custom sport sedan that he bought after seeing one on display at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1933.

ongtime friend West Peterson sent me an e-mail recently. Attached to the note was a photo of a car my father has owned for more than 40 years, a 1940 Packard convertible victoria by Bohman & Schwartz. His dad and mine have been friends for better than 50 years, so naturally West is familiar with the cars in our garage. The Packard is a one-off custom-bodied convertible victoria with a number of visual cues that make it unique and easily recognizable. With the combination of its 148-inch wheelbase, spectacular V-shaped windshield, horse-head hood ornament, faredin Lincoln headlight doors and Cadillac parking lights, its an easy car to spot. The photo, which I had never seen before, clearly showed our car. I was astonished. What caught me by surprise was that West included solid evidence about the identify of the original owner, Tom Lyle Williams, founder of Maybelline mascara company. Up until that time, information that we had was limited at best, and, as it turns out, needed to be corrected! The Bohman & Schwartz coachbuilder photos of the car when it was new were in our files, and we had some photos from the 1950s

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Sharrie Williams, Chuck Williams, and Donna Williams, relatives of the cars original owner, were excited to finally see the Packard in person.

William and JoEllen Snyder stand by the Maybelline car theyve owned since 1971. Just this year it was discovered who owned it originally.

and 1960s, but its history had gotten twisted through time. It was thought that the original owner was linked to the Williams shaving cream and soap company. West found the photo online at Sharrie Williams Vintage Maybelline Docu-blog, which details the history, invention and marketing genius behind the Maybelline mascara company (maybellinebook.com). Sharrie is the grandniece of Tom Lyle Williams, and she also wrote a book about her family titled, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. I sent Sharrie an e-mail with my contact information, and she called me right away to tell me about her great uncle, Tom Lyle Williams. One thing that captures your attention on Williams Packard, besides the extra long hood, is the hood ornament. Its a horses head! While the real reason for the steed mascot may never be known for sure, its thought that it was because Maybelline was ahead of the pack, as far as competition was concerned, and the Packard outhorsepowered any other car on the road in 1940. Tom Williams, called the King of Advertising, equated the powerful symbol, with Maybellines super-power in the cosmetic industry. Then, as now, there was a fortune in store for anyone with a successful cosmetic product, and Tom Lyle Williams soon found himself able to afford the best. He moved to Hollywood in the 1930s, onto an estate called Villa Valentino, a Spanish-type home once owned by the famous silent film star in the 1920s, Rudolph Valentino. Along with the ability to buy the best, Williams had a good eye for motorcars, purchasing cars that today are considered some of the best of the Classic Era. For example, a custom-bodied 1916 Paige roadster [featured in the September/October 2009 issue, and mentioned on page ?? of this issue Ed], a 1926 Kissel Gold Bug speedster, and

a 1934 Packard Twelve Dietrich individual custom V-windshield sport sedan! The Dietrich sport sedan, one of three patterned after the Car of the Dome featured at the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago, was then traded in on the 1940 Packard Bohman & Schwartz convertible victoria! (Three of the four sport sedans are known to exist, the Williams car is still missing.) The Bohman & Schwartz Packard was delivered very late in the model year, September 6, 1940, at W.H. Collins, Inc. Packard in Hollywood, which is engraved on the original factory data plate that has survived with the car. As with his other special cars, several photos were taken with him casually leaning on it, or sitting in it. When he no longer wanted it, he gave it to his friend and secretary, Arnold Anderson. A spectacular one-of-a-kind car like this doesnt stay undercover, and it has left its mark in print through the years. Anderson advertised the Packard in a big photo ad in the October 1952 issue of Motor Trend for $2,900. That sum would have purchased a brandnew 52 Buick Super convertible, so the 12-year-old Packard was still thought to be mighty desirable at the time (at least to Anderson). A color photo of the car in its original cream paint helped illustrate a chapter in Borgeson & Jaderquists 1955 book, Sports and Classic Cars. It was advertised in the January 1955 issue of Motor Trend with a more realistic asking price of $1,250. Paul Grahling of Illinois bought it in 1958, had it serviced at United Automotive in Santa Ana (the receipt was still in the glove box) and then drove it to Illinois. John Poole bought the Packard in 1959, and kept it for seven years. Apparently, his wife didnt approve of the $1,500 he had invested in the car, so Paul Gutting of Kahoka, Missouri purchased it after seeing it advertised in the February 1966 issue of Hemmings, which was then quaintly organized into Ford and Non-Ford sections! In 1971, the car surfaced in an Old Cars Weekly advertisement placed by Gutting. Thats when my father, Bill Snyder, decided he

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needed the custom-bodied Packard, paying about the same as what a brand-new Cadillac Coupe deVille would have cost! On September 23, 1971, he flew to Chicago, made his way to Kahoka to conclude the deal, filled the tank with gas and checked the tire pressure, and drove home to Orange County, California. On the way, he recalls stopping on Las Vegas Boulevard and seeing the casino patrons empty out onto the streets for a better look at the impressive car. My father had a conversation with Chris Bohman, who told him that as far as he was aware, it was the only Packard convertible built on the 148-inch wheelbase (normally reserved for limousines and sevenpassenger touring sedans), and the only Packard convertible victoria done by Bohman & Schwartz in 1940. There were three Bohman & Schwartz-bodied Packard convertible victorias built in 1941 on the 138-inch wheelbase, of which two are known to exist. Unlike the complete custom nose treatment of this car, the cars from 1941 retain stock Packard front-end treatment, but with swept-back fenders extending into the doors, similar to GM designs of 1942 and postwar. The custom bodywork is very interesting, especially through the treatment of proportion and length and with the beautiful chrome trim that curves down into the quarter panels ever so elegantly. While the 148-inch wheelbase resulted in an overall length of more than 19 feet, Bohman & Schwartz designed the extra length in front of the windshield, adding about seven inches to the hood, which overlapped the extended cowl. Tom Lyle Williams was a tall man (for the time), about 6 feet 2 inches, and the bucket seats with fold-down arm rests were made to fit his stature. Bohman & Schwartz utilized the standard Packard grille (shortened four inches), bumpers, tail lights, and the hood (although lengthened), along with some interior appointments, but everything else was completely custom built. The doors are extra wide, with leather trim wrapped around the top. The car was solid and complete, and obviously ran well, but it still needed to be

restored. Bud Hicks of Michigan was entrusted with that job 21 years later in 1992. It was finished in time for the Gilmore/Classic Car Club Museum Packard Experience in 1994, where it won the Packard Award of Excellence. It won its class at Meadow Brook in 1994, and then was shown at Pebble Beach a couple of weeks later. It was featured on the cover of Cars & Parts magazine in the 1998, and then won a CCCA Senior badge at the 2000 Spring Grand Classic before going on display at The Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles in April 2000. The car was an eye-popping statement of beauty and luxury when it was new. Judge for yourself, but we feel it remains so today!

At right is the photo taken of the car when it was newly finished. Bohman & Schwartz, Pasadena, California (1932-1947), is known for creating some of the most striking nonconforming coachwork of the Classic Era.

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