1947 Packard Custom Super Clipper Limousine - SCV 23 🇮🇹

The cars of the Packard Motor Company were held in high esteem on the European continent. Royal houses and governments around the world favored Packard products for protocol and parade duties. It is no surprise that the Vatican acquired this Packard when they sought to modernize their official fleet after the war. Issued with City of the Vatican plate SCV 23, this car served to transport high-ranking guests, government officials and heads of state to and from the Vatican. The car was often seen in motorcades escorting the pope, who rode in his custom Cadillac.

The car was retired from duties some time in the late 1960s  and subsequently sold to a company that specialized in renting vehicles to movie productions. It eventually appeared in many Italian films. The whereabouts of the car and its history eventually came to the attention of The NB Center and after years of negotiations it was acquired in 2014. The NB Center staff returned the car to its former glory as it looked when it first arrived at the Vatican. 

Company
Packard Motor Company

Make
Packard

Model
Custom Super Clipper, model 2150, series 2126

Body Style
Limousine, 4-door, 7-pass.

Body Manufacture
Briggs Body Company / Henney Body Company

Model year
1947

Wheelbase
148 inches

Length
235 inches

Engine
Inline-8, L-head, 365 cid

Horsepower
165 @ 3600 rpm

Transmission
3-speed manual

Original Base Price
$4,668

Brand Production
51,086

This Car Production
1,790 (both sedan & limo)

On a chilly grey day in October 1945, Packard introduced their 1946 cars. In keeping with the Packard series numbering system, this would be the 21st Series. These “new” cars, unsurprisingly,  looked very much like the 1942 Clipper series offerings. The bodies were essentially unchanged from 1942 now fitted with revised front sheetmetal, grilles, trim and instrument clusters. The likeness to 1942 models did not hurt. All manufacturers introduced cars for 1946 based heavily on 1942 offerings and the public wanted cars, no matter what they looked like.

New cars required 3 years minimum of design and testing before they came to market, so it is no surprise that the 1947 models were carryovers of the 1946 cars. Consequently, all 1946-47 Packards are 21st series cars.

Ever since the mid-1930s, Packard offered a complete line of cars from their lowest priced six-cylinder cars all the way to the top of the line big eight-cylinder luxury models. At the very top in 1947, the Custom Super Clipper series utilized an extended 148-inch wheelbase, a full 21 inches longer than the next series, Super Clipper.  The only body styles for Customs were a 7-passenger sedan or limousine. Both of the bodies were partially built by the Briggs Body company then shipped to the Henney Body company in Freeport, Ill for completion and trimming. The limousine was the most expensive offering from Packard in the 1947 model year with a price of $4,668, nearly $72,000 in 2025. 

To understand the Vatican Limousine Collection of the NB Center you need to understand why the Vatican had American cars in the first place. In 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was created by the unification, both voluntary and forced, of the small countries and city-states that made-up the Italian peninsula. Many of the areas taken by the unification were Papal States, under the direct rule of the pope. The pope and the ruling body of the papacy, called the Holy See, retreated from these seized lands to the Leonine City on the shore of the Tiber river across from central Rome. This became the de facto headquarters of the Papacy and by extension the seat of the Catholic Church.

The new King and parliament of the Kingdom of Italy had no wish to be seen suppressing the Church or the pope, after all, the vast majority of Italians were Catholic.  Through an act of the Parliament, called the “Law of Papal Guarantees”, the Kingdom of Italy granted certain powers and sovereign prerogatives to the pope. But, because this law was created by the government of the Kingdom and the pope did not recognize the rights or powers of the Kingdom, the pope did not accept this law. He declared himself a prisoner of the Leonine City, aka the Vatican, unable to leave the grounds for fear the Kingdom of Italy may seize the Vatican as their own. This stalemate,  called the “Roman Question”, remained the status quo from 1861 through 1929.

The government of dictator Benito Mussolini finally negotiated an end to the Roman Question through the Lateran Pacts. This agreement, made February 1929, created the independent sovereign State of Vatican City and granted the full legal and political independence of the pope from the nation of Italy.

For the first time since 1861, the pope was free to move about outside the Vatican. Since no pope had left the Vatican since 1861, they never needed a car. While cars did exist inside the Vatican and the pope had even been given cars prior to this time, they never really had any place to go. To mark the occasion of the signing of the pact, the American Graham brothers, owners of the Graham-Paige Motor Company, donated a car to the Vatican for the use of Pope Pius XI. This 1929 Graham Paige 837 Landaulet by LeBaron became the first car for the exclusive use of a pope outside of the Vatican walls.

The car proved very reliable and comfortable. While the pope had other cars at his disposal, the Graham became the chosen vehicle. The car served both Pius XI and Pius XII  before it was retired from regular use in 1947. The car can still be seen today in the Vatican museum.

In the years since the Graham entered the papal fleet, the Vatican came to appreciate that American cars were less expensive, easier to maintain and less gaudy than the offerings of most European manufacturers. In 1932, the Vatican began to purchase cars from General Motors. In that year they purchased several Buicks and a couple Cadillacs. This was followed in 1938 with the purchase of two Buicks and two Cadillacs. While other brands were purchased for various duties, all the cars dedicated to transporting dignitaries of all types, except the pope, through the end of World War II, were Buicks or Cadillacs

Immediately after the war, the Vatican placed an order for a custom Cadillac for the exclusive use of Pope Pius XII. This car was delivered in 1947 and soon followed by orders for another Cadillac, Packards and eventually Chryslers. American cars dominated the transport of dignitaries and the pope, at the Vatican until the mid-1960s.

Today, the largest collection of Vatican cars outside of the Vatican are in the NB Center collection. From a 1932 Cadillac to a 1965 Checker Marathon, including the Cadillac  customized by Derham Body Company for the use of the pope starting in 1947, these cars survive because Nicola Bulgari and the staff of the NB Center set about to locate, save and preserve these artifacts while documenting their history.