1941 Packard LeBaron Sport Brougham

Although Packard entered the mid-price market in 1935 in order to survive the Great Depression, it kept trying to maintain its reputation as a builder of luxury automobiles.  One luxury-class example for the1941 model year was the Custom Super Eight One-Eighty Sport Brougham.  It was built by coachbuilder LeBaron, then a subsidiary of Briggs, supplier of bodies to several auto makers.

List price was $3,545 -- a Packard One-Sixty four-door sedan with the same 138-inch (3505 mm) wheelbase was listed for $2,054, and Cadillac's sporty Sixty Special was $2,195.  So the Sport Broughams were seriously expensive.

I've read that 99 were built, with perhaps 20 percent of them surviving.

Below are two well-restored examples along with a view of one with fender-mounted spare tires.  Images below are probably via RM Sotheby's, unless noted.

Gallery

This Brougham was formerly owned by the late, greatly lamented Harrah’s Automobile Collection, as RM Sotheby's mentions here.

Packard One-Sixty four-door sedan, 138-inch wheelbase - car listed for sale.  Compare to the Sport Brougham below.

The front end is basically stock.  The rear fender seems a little longer than stock.  Rear door hinges are not visible, so side sheet metal is not the same as the car above.  The passenger compartment greenhouse is different.

At least one source I read stated that the trunk was that of Packard coupes.  They are similar, but not quite the same.

Another Sport Brougham, this with a two-tone paint scheme.  Even though the front end is old-fashioned by '41 standards, the rest of the car is essentially current with the styling fashions of the time.

Rear quarter view.

Left side view.  Compare to the car below.

Based on Web-surfing of Sport Brougham images, it seems that not many were fitted with fender-mounted spare tires such as seen here.  An impressive combination of the old and (for 1941) new.