These days, it’s common for automakers to build road-legal tributes to their race cars; whether these have any extra performance to go with the extra carbon-fiber and graphics packages or whether they’re largely cosmetic affairs, they’re another way for automakers to capitalize on their ongoing investment — or at least their heritage — in motorsports.
Depending on how you look at it, that’s what the 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Runabout would have been … if Packard actually had a factory race effort at the time. Despite taking great pride in the engineering and performance of its engines, and despite its marine motors being used to great effect by the likes of Gar Wood, Packard brass never saw much value in competition. Packard people did not have anything to prove, so why would they bother to race? Or so I imagine went the official line.
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