Art of the Classic Car

designers. The hood and cowl incorporated several visual tricks,
which one of the car’s designers, Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, described
as a “false hood,” to extend the length of the car’s front, leading back
to a split windshield that echoed an earlier Packard show car. The
rear quarter windows taper to a point as the body wraps around to
the rear, where a split rear window repeats the triangular taper.
Peaked, torpedo-shaped fenders were another hallmark of the
car that helps give a long and elegant appearance despite its rel-
atively short, sport-minded wheelbase of 134^7 ⁄ 8 inches. With its
gently sloping roofline and sleek fully skirted rear fenders, the Sport
Coupe successfully incorporated elements of streamlining that had
become popular during the 1930s. With a powerful V-12 under the
hood, the Packard Sport coupe pulled like a train as well. The V-12
offered a shorter overall length than the popular straight-eight
designs of the period, yet could make more power. At more than 7
liters of displacement, it ensured that the driver of the Sport Coupe
would travel not only with style, but with speed.