Packard Custom Super Eight

The Packard Custom Super Eight, sold as the One-Eighty in its first years, was introduced for the 1940 model year as Packard's top-of-the-line luxury car, taking the place of the discontinued Packard Twelve. It shared its running gear with the Super Eight One-Sixty, including a 356 cubic inch in-line eight-cylinder engine rated at 180 horsepower, which Packard advertised as the most powerful eight offered by any American maker in 1940. The 180 stood apart from the cheaper Packards of its day mainly through finer interior fabrics, leather and carpeting. Air conditioning, developed with Henney, was first offered on a Packard in 1940, and the One-Eighty is described as the first car with power windows. Darrin-bodied versions were built in small numbers. After the war the Custom Super Clipper and then the 1948 to 1950 Series 22 Custom Super Eight carried the top-level role.