By Nadir Ali/3andathird Photo, courtesy of the Packard Motor Car Foundation.
Shelby Township, Mich. – In the automobile’s golden age, top marques hosted glamorous salon events, debuting their newest offerings before a hand-picked audience of their best clients. In 2024, the Packard Motor Car Foundation revived this Classic Era tradition with its first Salon Special Showing, held at the historic Packard Proving Grounds. Featuring the Custom-bodied Packards of 1931 and open to all Packards of that model year, the inaugural showing successfully re-created an actual display that had taken place at the Proving Grounds some nine decades earlier.
This year’s event maintains the same spirit but broadens its scope. Owners of all Packard Twin Six and Twelve models built from 1932 through 1939 are invited to gather, with their cars, for Calling All Twelves: A Salon Special Showing, to be held at the Packard Proving Grounds May 27–29, 2025.
With unique tours, presentations, and educational opportunities for owners, as well as a black-tie optional dinner and select public viewing hours, this will be a truly special experience for the caretakers and admirers of these distinguished cars—and it could only happen at the Packard Proving Grounds.
By Nadir Ali/3andathird Photo, courtesy of the Packard Motor Car Foundation.
PACKARD’S TWELVE: THE BEST OF THE BEST
Debuting in 1932, the Packard Twin Six—renamed the Twelve the following year and built through 1939—was not the company’s first attempt at a V-12-powered offering. Much of Packard’s early renown had been built on the first-generation Twin Six, produced from 1916–1923. It is this second series of V-12 motors, however, as well as the cars that they powered, that many today believe represent the Packard Motor Car Company’s pinnacle.
Robustly engineered and expertly assembled, Packard’s V-12s featured a relatively compact, 67-degree block and made use of hydraulic valve lifters. Displacement was initially 445.5 cubic inches, growing to 473.3 cubic inches by the end of production. Power, and especially torque, was always more than adequate, and unearthly silence and uncanny smoothness was guaranteed. For those that could afford them, this was a truly refined engine from an automaker at the height of its powers.
This magnificent V-12 powered some of the finest and most luxurious automobiles of the vaunted Classic Era. An astonishing range of bodies were available, from dignified town cars and limousines to elegant convertible victorias and sporty roadsters; coachbuilders were always ready to furnish clients with spectacular one-off creations. To showcase this breadth, 1932–1939 Twin Sixes and Twelves of all chassis types and body styles are welcome at this Salon Special Showing event.
For Packard’s twelve-cylinder cars and their owners, the Proving Grounds has special meaning. So dedicated was Packard to ensuring the quality of its flagship model that, for at least the first four years of Twin Six and Twelve production, the automaker is said to have run each car through a rigorous break-in and adjustment routine at the Proving Grounds prior to customer delivery. In rare cases, Packards have even been found with paper tags still intact on the outside of the right glove box, attesting to their tour of duty on the Proving Grounds’ track.
By Nadir Ali/3andathird Photo, courtesy of the Packard Motor Car Foundation.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR A REMARKABLE GATHERING
Much like the vintage events from which it draws inspiration Calling All Twelves: A Salon Special Showing is not a typical car show. Placing its focus squarely on the cars and their caretakers, this event will give owners unparalleled access to the Packard Proving Grounds facility, including behind-the scenes tours of Albert Kahn-designed buildings, briefings on the major restoration work underway on the property, and a sneak peek at future plans.
Mark Smucker, President of the Packard Motor Car Foundation, knows firsthand just how special the Proving Grounds is—and how the Salon format affords Packard owners and their guests the perfect opportunity to explore the site.
“Car shows and tours are important events, but there is nothing like the feeling I got when driving my Packard through the arches and tree-lined driveways on the grounds where Packard developed it,” Smucker says.
Further, this salon is expected to represent the largest gathering of exclusively twelve-cylinder Packards to be held at the Proving Grounds since these cars were manufactured. In a very real sense, it will be a homecoming for those cars that were tested by Packard technicians prior to delivery to their fortunate first owners. For the proud modern-day caretakers of these special Packards, Calling All Twelves: A Salon Special Showing is an event that is not to be missed.
By Ethan Jackson, courtesy of the Packard Motor Car Foundation.
Public viewing hours are scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, May 28, 2025. A ticketed cocktail hour and black-tie optional dinner will follow that evening, allowing attendees to socialize and experience the Proving Grounds as a premiere event space. For Packard owners looking to extend their exploration of Southeast Michigan’s automotive heritage, a tour of sites of automotive interest will be offered on Thursday.
Following the conclusion of Salon activities, participants are encouraged to consider attending the 2025 Classic Car Club of America Museum Experience, to be held May 30–June 1 in Hickory Corners, Michigan and/or the 2025 Packard Club National Meet, to be held May 31–June 6 in Kansas City, Kansas—making for a great Packarding vacation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For up-to-date event information and details, and to learn more about the Packard Proving Grounds historic site and the Packard Motor Car Foundation, please visit: PackardProvingGrounds.org/2025Salon.
THE HISTORIC PACKARD PROVING GROUNDS – Located approximately 30 miles north of Packard’s former Detroit factory, the Packard Proving Grounds (PPG) officially opened in 1928. Occupying over 500 acres of countryside in what was then Utica, Michigan, and constructed at a cost of over $ 1,000,000, many of the Proving Grounds’ buildings were designed by famed industrial architect Albert Kahn. The facility included a 2.5-mile high-speed paved track, off-road and hillclimb courses for vehicle “torture-testing,” garages, and housing for staff. The cutting-edge Proving Grounds were a tremendous point of pride for Packard—a tangible representation of the engineering and manufacturing excellence for which it was known the world over.
Today owned and operated by the Packard Motor Car Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Packard Proving Grounds comprises approximately 17 acres and is the largest and most significant surviving Packard Motor Car Company property. Restoration efforts have transformed the once-neglected Proving Grounds into a gem of American automotive history, as well as a cherished community resource.
A National Register of Historic Places-listed landmark, the Packard Proving Grounds’ iconic Gate Lodge, Timing Stand, and Elevated Water Tank have been lovingly preserved, as have the aircraft hangar and a portion of its legendary test track. Representing the site’s contribution to the Arsenal of Democracy effort is the World War II-era Tank Test Center, which now houses the Proving Grounds’ car collection, archives, and a trove of important artifacts—including the massive stone archway that once served as the employee entrance to the automaker’s Detroit headquarters.
https://packardprovinggrounds.org/
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