Driven to Discover
Heiress-turned-explorer Louise Arner Boyd had several Arctic expeditions to her credit before taking Poland by storm from the backseat of this 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich.
Upon her father’s death, Boyd was left with $3 million and the family estate. She subsequently devoted her energies – and fortune – to funding scientific research carried out in remarkable style. This convertible with custom coachwork by Dietrich was specially purchased by Boyd for a later, warmer research mission.
Boyd requested additional modifications – a roll-down window between the driver and passenger compartments and a reading light for the back seat – to ensure both her ability to work on the road and her comfort while doing so. Selected as the United States delegate to the 1934 International Geographical Congress in Warsaw, Boyd spent three months documenting the Polish people and countryside in photographs, shuttling between destinations in this car.
Family chauffeur Percy R. Cameron joined Boyd in Poland, at the helm for the car’s inaugural, 6,300-mile tour. And while garage space could be found for the convertible during brief city stays, the extended lines of designer Alexis de Sakhnoffsky’s false hood wouldn’t always allow for a door to be closed on it.
A lifelong Packard devotee, Boyd’s last car would be one, too: a 1951 formal sedan, another custom by Dietrich.
Later years saw a downturn in the accomplished adventurer’s fortunes. Friends paid for Boyd’s care until her death in 1972, but ‘Miss Louise A. Boyd Land’ in always-wintry Greenland serves as a lasting memorial to her life’s work.
The 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich is featured in the first episode of the new YouTube series The Journey.
A Collector’s Prize
Purchased new by Boyd for the then-considerable sum of $6,555, this vehicle has resided in the care of only a handful of collectors. Nearly a century’s careful stewardship of this singular Packard has resulted in the vehicle more than holding its value.
Super Model
Even among the dozen or so of its class believed to remain, the Packard convertible sedan now a part of The JBS Collection has a reputation for its good looks. The Franklin Mint, creator of collectibles, gifts, and reproductions, used this exemplary model as the basis for the creation of its widely-recognized Packard reproduction.
Photos of the car were also included in the book, Packard: The Pride by J.M. Fenster, a retrospective of the company history and its legendary automotive design.
Exterior Details
1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Sedan Specs:
- Modified L-head, V12 engine
- 160 hp
- 142.5 inch-wheelbase
- Originally priced at $6,555
- Acquired by The JBS Collection for $1.435 million
- Award winner at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Concours d’Elegance of America
- Featured in book Packard: The Pride by J.M. Fenster
Interior Details
A Recent Restoration
In 2024 our 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich was given a concours level restoration by our friends at LaVine Restorations. Browse pictures of the car before its restoration below
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, 2024
At the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the collection’s freshly-restored 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich was awarded both the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible Award Sponsored by Lalique North America, and the Briggs Cunningham Trophy Sponsored by Ford Motor Company.
Its restoration recently completed to original specifications by LaVine Restorations, Inc., of Nappanee, Indiana—was originally owned by infamous California heiress-turned-explorer, Louise Arner Boyd. Boyd was a U.S. delegate to the 1934 International Geographical Congress in Warsaw, Poland, and had this very Packard custom built for her three-month journey across Poland.
The 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich is featured in the first episode of the new YouTube series The Journey.
Read more about this Packard on our News page.
Keys to Freedom: “Five Driven Women” Exhibits Vehicles that Gave Women the Open Road
The Studebaker National Museum’s landmark exhibition, Five Driven Women, features three historic vehicles from The JBS Collection and explores how automobiles expanded freedom, opportunity, and independence for women during the early twentieth century.
Historic Packard Impresses at Hampton Court Palace
Jack Boyd Smith Jr.’s 12-cylinder 1934 Packard 1108 Custom Convertible Dietrich Sedan, originally owned by Louise Arner Boyd—the world’s first female Arctic explorer—was honored with The Chairman’s Award at the 14th edition of the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace, Sept. 5-7, in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames.
Resurgent, Restored Packard Back on its Historic Journey
The JBS Collection and owner Jack Boyd Smith Jr. had a day to remember on Sunday, Aug. 18, in Monterey, California. At the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the collection’s freshly-restored 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich was awarded both the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible Award Sponsored by Lalique North America, and the Briggs Cunningham Trophy Sponsored by Ford Motor Company.
