Packard ‘Light’
Due to the ongoing Great Depression, 1932 was tough for luxury-car makers, including well-established Packard. For 1929, Packard sold approximately 46,000 cars, and then the economic calamity struck, resulting in a steep slide in sales for 1930 and 1931; the latter model year generated only 15,450 sales.
Packard’s management tried to remedy its misfortune by offering a lower-priced model to its Ninth Series lineup, the Series 900 Light Eight, composed of four body styles: four-door sedan, two-door sedan, two-door coupe and a roadster.
Through 1950, Packard had an internal practice of designating its cars by its series number rather than by the model year, since running changes did not necessarily coincide with model-year changeover. The “9” in 900 represented the Ninth Series while the “00” was the sub-series. For 1932, the Ninth Series went through 906.
The mid-priced Series 900 Light Eight was built to compete with the LaSalle (Cadillac’s companion model), some Buicks, Chryslers and top-of-the-line cars from the independents,
