Brief History of Packard

Packard was founded by the Packard brothers William and James (right), and their partner, George Weiss, in Warren, Ohio in 1899.

James, a mechanical engineer, believed he could build a better car than the “Winton” car he had purchased – of which Weiss was a part-owner. Within a few years they built 400 cars known as Model A and Model B (right).

Henry Joy, a member of one of Detroit’s oldest and wealthiest families, bought one. Impressed by its reliability, he enlisted a group of investors and the Packard Motor Car Company was born, with James Packard as president.

Packard concentrated on luxury cars. The marque developed a following among wealthy buyers in the United States and abroad, competing with European marques like Rolls-Royce.

For most of its history, Packard was guided by its president and General Manager James Macauley, who was also responsible for the iconic Packard slogan, “Ask the Man Who Owns One”.

Entering the 1930s, Packard attempted to beat the stock-market crash and subsequent Great Depression by manufacturing ever more opulent cars and introducing more affordable cars in the medium-price range. This was necessary as demand for hand-built luxury cars had diminished sharply. In 1935 the company introduced its first car under $1000, the 120. Sales more than tripled that year but progressively hurt Packard’s “luxury” reputation.

During WWII the company converted to 100% war production and by 1945 Packard was in excellent financial shape but several management mistakes became apparent with time. Compounding this problem was the company’s old leadership. In 1948, Alvin Macauley stepped down as chairman, and a 52-year-old appliance manufacturer (James Nance) was recruited.

Packard resumed civilian-car production in late 1945 but dropped its luxury vehicles. Its small line-up was progressively seen as unappealing to younger customers and, despite a couple of highpoints, the company never recovered.

In 1954, Packard bought the failing Studebaker Corporation to form America’s fourth-largest automobile company. Studebaker-Packard retired the Packard marque in 1959. In 1962, “Packard” was dropped off the corporation’s name, and Packard ceased to exist in the American auto industry.

Three years later, in 1965, the Packard Automobile Club of Australia was started to make sure the brand and cars never disappear into history!