Article content A nautical-themed classic Packard commissioned by the inventor of the bikini is coming up for auction early February, and is estimated to sell for €250,000 to €350,000 (about CDN$375,000 to CDN$525,000). As if the “land-yacht” straight-eight-powered luxury cars of the ’30s didn’t already command enough presence, Louis Réard, the man behind the skimpy two-piece swimsuit, apparently had this example dressed up as a road-going boat for use as a promotional vehicle. The Packard is a 1937 Super Eight, but the seafarin’-style coachwork you see it on here was done up by the renowned Henri Chapron in 1948.
That was just two years after Réard had come up with the modern bikini, and the idea he had for the Packard was to drive it around Europe with a swimsuit model or two spilling out of the back of it, wearing the new, controversial beach attire. Réard (who worked in automotive engineering until 1940, before he’d got into fashion) apparently dictated many of the styling cues himself, from the bow-shaped nose to the porthole windows to the luxurious rear deck. The draw of the bizarrely designed Packard – combined with the scandalously clad women riding on said rear deck – was a fantastic success for his bikinis, as it toured first France, along the same route taken by the Tour de France, and then the rest of Europe.
With photos of the “land yacht” splashed across newspapers and magazines all over the country, and shortly after commemorative.
