Actually, neither of the cars that figured prominently in Road To Perdition (the movie, not the graphic novel) were Packards.
Tom Hanks’ character and his son rode around in an early '30s Buick (a '31 or '32 if I remember my Encyclopedia of American Cars correctly). The car in which Paul Newman’s character was driven around town was a Pierce-Arrow, recognizable by the headlights faired into the fenders. The “frog-eye” headlamps were a Pierce trademark from the WWI era right up to the marque’s demise in 1938.
</nitpicky car guy>
Notwithstanding my nitpicky fussiness, Tranqilis is right. A Packard would be an excellent choice for your character. They’re roomy, powerful, and luxurious while quiet and unassuming enough to be less noticeable than, say, a contemporary Lincoln, Stutz, Peerless or Pierce-Arrow.
Zap!
Who knows too much about cars for his own damn good.
Hmm…Capone’s Packard, linked to above, does look nice. However, the Hupmobile is still pretty great. And as for being too visible, I plan on dealing with that at least partly through the character’s magic. The character isn’t going to be getting into gunfights if she can help it – she’s not much of a fighter.
Did they have Franklins in '25? I hear they were pretty popular with those who foresaw running gun battles, as the cars were air cooled —no radiator to get shot through.
Yes, they had Franklins long before then but they too were luxury cars. They were built in upstate NY, Syracuse, and the largest collection is now housed just 15 minutes from me in Norwcih NY at the Northeast Classic Car Museum (shameless local plug). That being said a used one wouldn’t be considerd unusual on upstate NY roads. In fact one of the museums cars was once a Fire Chiefs car complete with bright red paint job so it was unknown for it to be used as an everyday work vehicle.
Another suggestion if you’re really getting into it, the book “Rum Across the Border” is a local history book that covers storys about prohibition in the North country. It has an amazing amount of detail about the characters on both sides of the law and their secrets to outwit the other. The law officers were severely understaffed for the area they had to cover. Some local garages actually catered to the needs (and occasionally owned by) the bootleggers. The routes they used are also discussed along with the towns they stayed over in on the runs up and back. A well researched though IIRC not exceptionally well written (the author could use some polish) book if you can find a copy.
If the OP’s still looking for a bootlegger car, they used to call these Studebakers whiskey sixes because of the horse power but I think more importantly because of the cargo capacity if you removed the back seat.
Model T as a pick up with a false bottom and extra sturdy springs to hide the weight. You may not outrun anything, but the idea is to not be noticed in the first place.
