Packard was a United States based brand of luxury automobile built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899 and the brand went off the market in 1958. Packard automobiles are highly sought after by collectors today, and the marque enjoys an active collectors club system.
Packards were advertised with the slogan “Ask the Man Who Owns One”.
Packard was founded by brothers James Ward Packard (Lehigh University Class of 1884), William Doud Packard and his partner George Lewis Weiss in the city of Warren, Ohio. James Ward believed that they could build a better horseless carriage that the Winton cars owned by Weiss (An important Winton stockholder) and James Ward, himself a mechanical engineer, had some ideas how to improve on the designs of current automobiles. By 1899, they were building vehicles. The company, which they called the Ohio Automobile Company, quickly introduced a number of innovations in its designs, including the modern steering wheel and years later the first production 12-cylinder engine.
While Henry Ford was producing cars that sold for $440, the Packards concentrated on more upscale cars that started at $2,600. Packard automobiles developed a following not only in the United States, but also abroad, with many heads of state owning them.
In need of more capital, the Packard brothers would find it when Henry Bourne Joy, a member of one of Detroit’s oldest and wealthiest families, bought a Packard. Impressed by its reliability, he visited the Packards and soon enlisted a group of investors that included his brother-in-law, Truman Handy Newberry. On October 2, 1902, Ohio Automobile Company became Packard Motor Car Company, with James as president. Packard moved its automobile operation to Detroit soon after and Joy became general manager and later chairman of the board. One of the original Packards is still located at the Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio on Mahoning Avenue. The original is located at Lehigh University in Packard Lab.
The Packard’s factory on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit was designed by Albert Kahn, and included the first use of reinforced concrete for industrial construction in Detroit. When opened in 1903, it was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world and its skilled craftsmen practiced over eighty trades.
The 3.5 million ft2 (325,000 m²) plant covered over 35 acres (142,000 m²) and straddled East Grand Boulevard. It was later subdivided by eighty-seven different companies. Kahn also designed The Packard Proving Grounds at Utica, Michigan.
Source: Wikipedia
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Tags: Packard, luxury, automobile, Packard Motor Car Company, Cars
Categories: Auto Makers
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July 17th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
It was wonderful to read about the great Packard Motor Car Company on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit. I worked as secretary in the Advertising Department under Hugh Hitchcock. Jack Creveling was my boss. This was after a few years in the Stenographic Department which was under the supervision of Sara Jane Jenkins.
I have a small pin that says, “Skipper the Clipper” that I’ve kept all these years. I’m now 89 years old and hate to see this pin discarded, if it would mean anything to anyone. Any suggestions? I expect soon to be moving on to my Home in Heaven and am trying to get things here in order.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Hi Ruth, you could go to this web address
http://www.allworldautomotive.com/links/automobile_makes_and_models_packard_1052.html
Just copy and paste the link into your address bar. It brings you to the All World Automotive Links Directory page for Packards. On there you will find links for Museums, car clubs and fans of the make overall. There you would find someone who would appreciate your pin the most. Good luck
Jason
July 18th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Thanks for your quick response. That was a good link you referred me to. I emailed the Museum and asked if I should just throw it away. That may be my answer. It’s not much of a pin, really.
But your site stired up a lot of memories. I did a Google search for Jack Creveling in Texas, and actually found a large picture of him in his older years. He was a good boss and I felt badly when he left the Advertising Department many years ago to open a Packard Dealership in Corpus Christi.
Thanks again, Ruth
Ruth
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