1935 Packard Super 8 Coupe

Ross Marshall’s gorgeous Packard Super 8 coupe famously boasts ‘one lady owner’. That lady just happens to be legendary American aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

Feb 1, 2018

Ross Marshall says he first heard about the existence of the car – a custom-modified 1935 Packard Super 8 coupe...

During general conversation over the bonnet of an old car at a Tennessee car show back in 2007. 

He was told about a retired judge in Dallas, Texas who had a number of vintage Buicks, plus an old Packard. 

“When I got hold of the retired judge he confirmed that the car did exist but that it was totally dismantled and in a million pieces. It had been under restoration for the past 50 years or more and was far from completion,” says Ross. 

“The judge had acquired the Packard from the rear of a storage garage adjacent to Love Airfield in Dallas. It was later that documents and pictures provided by the judge confirmed this car had been built especially for its first owner, Amelia Earhart, the pioneer aviatrix who was the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic. 

 

“It was possibly a gift from the Packard Motor Corporation, as Amelia was a spokeswoman for the company at the time. The car still bears her initials.” 

In 1937 Earhart attempted a monumental round-the-world flight in her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra. She and her plane disappeared after a scheduled stop in Papua New Guinea, sparking a widespread search and a mystery which continues to fascinate to this day. 

The Packard’s lively history didn’t stop with Earhart’s tragic disappearance however. The car was then kept by Amelia’s husband George P. Putnam before eventually being sold to a Dallas used car dealer, who in turn on-sold it to a notorious Dallas gangster. 

“It stopped running around 1948 and the judge came into possession of the car in 1950,” says Ross. 

Ross started work on restoring the Packard in the United States before a move back to his native Australia saw the project finally completed. He hopes that one day the Packard will end up in the Smithsonian in Washington DC, along with other Amelia Earhart memorabilia.