The most prestigious Packards of the Classic Era were the so-called Dietrich Individual Customs, factory-catalogued bodies produced by the factory’s own custom shop on “Senior” chassis from 1932 through 1934.

Each car was built and finished largely to the customer’s individual taste, but each was distinguished by lithe and sporty lines created by a vee’d windshield, a beltline that curved down and away from that windshield, and an extraordinary long beltline, all of which emphasized both the power of the car’s engine and the length of the chassis.

It was an automobile with smooth power that matched its peerless style, and as in all of Raymond Dietrich’s designs, a beautiful machine the equal of anything else on the American road.

The example offered here is one of four surviving Dietrich Individual Custom Convertible Victorias on the Ninth Series Deluxe Eight chassis of 1932.

Originally delivered by the Packard dealership on Park Avenue in New York City on 13 April 1932, it evident...