Season 1
The Journey
The Journey is a video series in which Jack Boyd Smith Jr., owner of The JBS Collection, and restoration partner Travis LaVine, of LaVine Restorations, Inc., sit down to discuss their shared passion for restoring and preserving classic, rare, and antique automobiles.
The series offers unique insight into the relationship between a classic car owner and the team tasked with restoring the vehicle, and highlights the importance of preserving automotive works of art for future generations to appreciate.
Season 1, Episode 6: 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton Convertible
In our Season One finale of The Journey, Jack Boyd Smith Jr.—owner of The JBS Collection—and restoration partner Travis LaVine, of LaVine Restorations, Inc., recount the challenging and unlikely restoration of the iconic 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton Convertible originally owned by famed American aviator Amelia Earhart.
Designed by legendary American automotive designer Gordon M. Buehrig and famously pictured in 1936 with Earhart and her beloved Lockheed 10E Electra airplane, this Cord was ultimately sold by Earhart’s husband, George Putnam, after the aviator’s mysterious and shocking 1937 disappearance. The vehicle would then go through several owners and was ultimately disassembled and parted throughout the country.
A persistent Texas collector named Ray Foster—after decades of research—was eventually, and incredibly, able to find the Cord’s original components and unite the car’s original frame with its original engine.
Jack, who’d become close friends with Ray Foster over the years, purchased the vehicle from him in 2018. Jack then commissioned LaVine Restorations to apply its 50 years of expertise toward restoring the historic automobile all the way back to the exact condition it was in, including original specs, when purchased and owned by Earhart.
Since its detailed restoration, the Cord has won multiple Concours awards and honors, including—most recently—Best in Class (CCCA Full Classics category) at the 2024 Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance and Motoring Festival, and First Place (Best Pre-1940 American Coachbuilt Car category) at the 2024 Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace. In March of 2023, the Cord was added to the National Historic Vehicle Register; in 2024 the Cord was honored with an extended display on the legendary rotunda of the Royal Automobile Club in London; and, most recently, the Cord was on display through May 2025 for a six-month installation at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, in Dearborn, Michigan.
Season 1, Episode 5: 1933 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton
In Episode Five of The Journey, Jack Boyd Smith Jr. and Travis LaVine discuss their challenging, memorable, and—ultimately—highly-rewarding restoration of The JBS Collection’s remarkable 1933 Chrysler Imperial 8 LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton.
The “Imperial 8” had many previous owners before joining The JBS Collection. Although its ownership history is thoroughly documented, its array of uses over the years—including time spent as a pace car for the Indy 500—made for a challenging restoration requiring extreme amounts of technical research and the creation of custom original components.
The fully restored LeBaron—updated back to its original condition and original black color scheme—made waves upon once again gracing the concours circuit. One of less than 20 of its kind in existence, the restored Imperial 8 received a Second in Class Award at the 2022 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and picked up Best in Class honors (American Classics 1931-1932) at the 2023 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
Later in 2023, at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Lake Como, Italy, the American-made luxury automobile surprised its owner—and beat the odds—when it was named Class Winner of the event’s Class A category (The Fast and The Formal: Pre-War High Speed Luxury).
Season 1, Episode 4: 1934 Packard Twelve Convertible Victoria Dietrich Interior
In Episode Four of The Journey, Jack Boyd Smith Jr. and Travis LaVine discuss their remarkable, and surprising, restoration of The JBS Collection’s award-winning 1934 Packard Twelve 1107 Convertible Victoria Dietrich Interior.
After purchasing this Packard, Jack sent it to Travis’s father, Eric LaVine—who founded LaVine Restorations in Nappanee, Indiana more than 50 years ago with his wife Vivian. During initial disassembly, Eric called Jack to let him know that he’d discovered an internal plate indicating that the Packard Twelve had been originally outfitted with Dietrich custom coachwork.
That discovery made this vehicle the only 1934 Packard Twelve 1107 Convertible Victoria with a LeBaron body and a Dietrich custom interior ever seen by the experts at LaVine Restorations. In that revelatory moment, Smith Jr.’s Packard Twelve gained instant status as one of the most unique rarities within The JBS Collection.
True to form, this magnificent Packard Twelve—since its completed restoration at LaVine Restorations—has become the ultimate concours show-stopper. The Packard has won first place concours awards at Pebble Beach (2015), Amelia Island (2016), and St. John’s (2016), and received the Most Elegant American Automobile special award at the 2019 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.
Season 1, Episode 3: 1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Pall Mall
The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was originally manufactured in Manchester, England, with production moving to Derby in 1908. In 1921, the first American-made Silver Ghost rolled off the line at the company’s expansion plant in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Springfield plant, the only place outside of England where Rolls-Royce vehicles have ever been built, manufactured nearly 3,000 vehicles before ceasing production in 1931.
This 1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Pall Mall is one of only two in the world with Pall Mall coachwork featuring both the dual-cowl and dual-windshield options. Chassis No. 77JH, this rare Silver Ghost, was restored to its precise, original condition in preparation for the 2023 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, California. At Pebble Beach, the Silver Ghost was presented with the Ansel Adams Award for the Most Desirable Touring Car in its Era, and also earned a Second in Class Award in the Class H: Rolls-Royce Prewar category.
Season 1, Episode 2: 1928 Minerva AF Transformable Town Car
Produced from 1902 until 1938, the Minerva, often referred to in its day as the “Belgian Rolls-Royce,” was a favorite of many European royal families. The JBS Collection’s award-winning 1928 Minerva AF Transformable Town Car, featuring Hibbard and Darrin coachwork, was engineered and designed with beauty and luxury in mind.
The restoration and preservation of this historic automobile back to its original glory, a painstaking achievement worthy of distinction, required attention to each and every last detail…
Jack Boyd Smith Jr., founder of The JBS Collection, in collaboration with Travis LaVine of renowned restorer LaVine Restorations, Inc., present Episode Two of The Journey.
Season 1, Episode 1: 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich
The JBS Collection’s magnificent 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Custom Convertible Sedan by Dietrich—restored by LaVine Restorations, Inc., of Nappanee, Indiana—is the first automobile to be featured on The Journey.
In this inaugural episode of The Journey, Jack and Travis discuss the remarkable history and transformation of The JBS Collection’s 12-cylinder 1934 Packard 1108 Custom Convertible Dietrich Sedan. The vehicle was originally owned by the infamous California heiress-turned-explorer, Louise Arner Boyd.
Boyd, referred to in the 1920s by newspapers around the world as “The Girl Who Tamed the Arctic,” first gained international renown for her early arctic exploits—including her hunting of polar bears—and gained further notoriety in the 1930s for leading a series of scientific expeditions to the east and north coast of Greenland.
In recognition of her work in Greenland, Boyd was ultimately awarded the prestigious Cullum Medal by the American Geographical Society.
In 1934 Boyd was elected as a delegate to the International Geographical Congress in Warsaw, Poland, and set out for a 3-month journey across the Polish countryside to photograph and record the customs and cultures of the many ethnic groups in the area.
This Packard was custom-built to Boyd’s specifications for the trip to Poland, even boasting a one-of-a-kind polar bear hood ornament. Boyd’s journal from the trip, supplemented with over 500 of her photographs, was published by the American Geographical Society in 1937 as Polish Countrysides, and includes myriad photographs of this very Packard—now freshly-restored and lovingly cared for by The JBS Collection.