One of Only Eight: Concours-Fresh 1932 Packard Twin Six Dual Cowl Phaeton Heads to Auburn

A dual-cowl Packard built for open-air grand touring is about to cross the auction block, and it happens to be one of only eight examples the factory ever built. This 1932 Packard Twin Six Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton is heading to Kruse Auctions' Auburn Fall sale this September, arriving with its numbers-matching engine, body, and chassis, plus a recent concours-caliber restoration that has never once been judged.

Packard entered the 1930s determined to prove that American luxury could rival anything coming out of Europe, and the reintroduction of the Twin Six nameplate in 1932 did exactly that. The smooth, torque-rich V-12 gave Packard's flagship models an effortless kind of power that matched their imposing presence, and a sporting dual-cowl phaeton body on that chassis represented about as glamorous a combination as the marque ever offered.

This particular car's paper trail is unusually deep for a 90-plus-year-old automobile. Delivered new through Packard's Detroit branch in the fall of 1932, it passed through the hands of a Wisconsin owner before landing in Texas, where it was repainted and mechanically rebuilt in the late 1950s. From there it entered the stable of Bill Jones, an early collector connected to oil magnate Charles Urschel, a name that carries its own strange footnote in American history thanks to a highly publicized 1933 kidnapping. Urschel himself would later own the Packard for over two decades, and the car became known in collecting circles by his name. Later custodians read like a who's who of prewar car collecting, including Don Williams of the Blackhawk Collection, Duesenberg specialist Leo Gephart, and eventually Denmark's Frederiksen Collection, a group widely regarded as one of the finest assemblies of prewar automobiles ever curated.

Its most recent chapter is arguably its finest. The current owner commissioned Straight Eight LLC of Troy, Michigan to carry out a no-expense-spared restoration, with bodywork and paint handled by Paddock's Paint Works and the interior entrusted to Nostalgic Motoring Ltd. The result is a deep green livery set off by color-matched wheels, dual fender-mounted spare tires, and twin folding windscreens that give the car its distinctive sporting profile. Straight Eight also rebuilt the original Twin Six engine and gearbox, so the car is as ready for a long tour as it is for a show field.

Remarkably, this Packard has not been presented at a single concours since the restoration wrapped up, which means whoever buys it at Auburn will get the rare privilege of debuting a fully sorted, historically significant Classic Era automobile on the show circuit. Kruse Auctions has the car listed as Lot #640 for its Auburn Fall auction, set for Saturday, September 5, 2026, in Auburn, Indiana.