Packard

Packard was a United States based brand of automobile. The brand went off the market in 1958 but its cars are still highly sought after by collectors today. Packards were advertised with the slogan "Ask the Man who Owns One". more...

History

James Ward Packard and William Dowd Packard were unhappy with the automobiles they had purchased from other makers, and James, a mechanical engineer, had some ideas how to improve on the designs. There are several versions of the story, but by 1899, the brothers were building automobiles in their native Warren, Ohio. The company, which they called the Ohio Automobile Company, quickly introduced a number of innovations in its designs, including the modern steering wheel and the first production 12-cylinder engine. While Henry Ford was producing cars that sold for $440, Packard concentrated on 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.

The brothers needed more capital and unexpectedly found 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, and was moved to Detroit. Joy became general manager and later chairman of the board.

The Packard factory, designed by Albert Kahn, included the first use of reinforced concrete for industrial construction in Detroit. At its opening, it was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world. Its skilled craftsmen practiced over eighty trades. The last Packards rolled off the assembly line on June 25, 1956. 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, which is being developed into a historical site.

By World War I, Packard was also producing engines for aircraft and boats.

In the 1930s, devastated by the Great Depression, Packard started mass-producing cars. In 1935, it introduced its first sub-$1,000 car. Car production tripled that year and doubled again in 1936. Packard produced its final hand-built car in 1939.

During World War II, Packard again built airplane engines, licensing the Merlin engine from Rolls-Royce and simplifying and improving it. The Packard engine powered the famous P-51 Mustang fighter, known as the "Cadillac of the Skies" by G.I.s in WWII. It was the fastest non-jet fighter plane ever built, and could fly higher than any of its contemporaries, allowing its pilots a greater degree of survivability in combat situations. They also built 1350, 1400, and 1500 horsepower V-12 marine engines that powered American PT boats (each boat had three) and some of Britain's patrol boats.

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