Friday, Aug. 16, 4:30PM

Moderated by Ron Verschoor With Bob Joynt, Travis LaVine, & Matt Kilkenny

Join this panel of esteemed Packard historians, writers, restorers, and enthusiasts as they lead us through a brief history of this iconic featured marque, its enduring appeal, and its future as the preeminent American collector car brand. Packard is the most-shown American marque at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and has been named Best of Show on four occasions.

Ron Verschoor - Moderator

Ron Verschoor’s obsession with automobiles began during his childhood, borne out of the annual fall visits to dealerships for new car introductions. His automotive interests today span all years and he is a member of more than a dozen car clubs and several automotive museums. Ron has a fondness for American Classics built during the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s and is a life member of the Classic Car Club of America. He served as the CCCA’s editor for 12 years and his contributions were recognized with the Beverly Rae Kimes and Fahnestock awards (for publications), the Cantore Family award (for regional leadership), and the Citation for Distinguished Service, the club’s highest honor. In 2002, he was recognized by the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club with its “Duesie of a Fellow” award. Ron first attended the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1989, participated in the inaugural Pebble Beach Motoring Classic in 2005, and showed his 1935 Packard Twelve Brewster Limousine at the Concours in 2017. This year’s article covering the Packard 734 Speedster is the seventh piece Ron has written for the Concours. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ron earned a degree in marketing and a Master of Business Administration from the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. He lives in Beverly Hills and works in philanthropy.

Bob Joynt – Panelist

Bob Joynt’s deep interest and involvement with automobiles and the study of their history has been a lifelong interest. He bought his first car, a 1932 Packard Phaeton, at the age of 14, and continues to drive and enjoy this car today. His passion for all things automotive has earned him national recognition as an automotive historian and collector. Now a retired banker and attorney, he is currently a Judge at the Amelia Island Concours and the Pebble Beach Concours (26 years) and a Trustee of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. He is also a Past President and Chief Judge of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club and a Past National Director of the Classic Car Club of America and has served as the Master of Ceremonies for several Concours events, including the Concours d'Elegance of America in Michigan. In his spare time, you will find Bob sharing his love of Chicago’s architecture and history as a volunteer Docent with the Chicago Architecture Center, where he enjoys conducting tours of Historic Skyscrapers and the Chicago River. History has been and continues to be a driving passion in Bob's life.

Travis LaVine - Panelist

Travis LaVine grew up in a restoration family, starting young as a classic car enthusiast. Always the academic, he enjoys learning about the history of cars, their designers, their specifications, and what the world was like around them. This academic interest took him on a unique path: he attended law school at Michigan State University and worked in tax law at Ernst & Young in Chicago, and then the opportunity arose to join his family’s business at LaVine Restorations, then in its 40th year—and he could not pass on the chance to continue his parent’s legacy. Now in its 50th year, Travis has helmed the past decade of growth at LaVine Restorations, branching into new areas in the industry and expanding further into the global collector car community. With a passion for history, education, and preservation of the automobile, Travis has delved deep into the technical research of Packard, always seeking the greatest technical and historical restorations of this storied marque.

Matthew Kilkenny- Panelist

Matthew Kilkenny is the author of the book, Detroit Steel Artists, winner of the 2023 Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award from the Society of Automotive Historians. He has been a Pebble Beach Concours judge of the Packard class for ten years. He currently owns a 1934 Packard 1108 7-Passenger Sedan, which he and his dad restored together, and he also has had the pleasure of helping in the partial restoration of his father's 1934 Packard 1108 Convertible Sedan by Dietrich. A San Francisco Bay Area native, he has spent his career in engineering and management roles but grew up playing cops and robbers on his dad's Packard parts cars. He holds degrees from San Jose State University and has a Deming Scholars MBA from Fordham University in New York. Kilkenny enjoys researching automotive history of the Classic Car Era and is the coauthor of American Elegance. 

Forum panelists subject to change.

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