The 1934-1937 Packard Twelve continued its successful run. The Eleventh Series enjoyed record sales in 1934, adding a shorter 135-inch wheelbase for a magnificent Speedster Runabout by LeBaron, which listed at a towering $7,746.
Then for 1937 came the most radical redesign in the Twelve’s history, led by an independent front suspension called Safe-T-Flex, based on the layout designed for the Packard One Twenty in 1935. Hydraulic brakes and steel disk wheels were also adopted; wire wheels and the Bijur lube system were dropped.
The new independent front suspension and resultant smoother ride combined with a reinstated three-model line (plus an improving economy) to make 1937 the best sales year in the Twelve’s history.
The new model was the 1506, a sedan on a 132-inch wheelbase introduced at $3,490, less than any Cadillac Twelve. Public response was immediate, and Packard sold 1,300 Twelves, nearly triple the count for Cadillac’s Sixteen and Twelve combined.
One would think that this would have impressed the mass-production types who wanted to permanently eliminate Packard’s “goddamn senior stuff,” but 1,300 cars was a drop in the bucket compared to the models they really cared about — that same year saw Packard flog 68,000 Sixes and more than 50,000 One Twentys.
Amazingly, the workforce was almost evenly divided, half of them producing 118,000 junior models, the other half about 7,000 senior-model Twelves and Super Eights. Think about it.