SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2018 • DAILY COURIER, Grants Pass, Oregon — 3 C History of Packard production The 1899 Packard Buggy (right) stands next to the 1946 Super Clipper, showing the first and newest Packard automobiles at a 1946 exhibit.
Associated Press, 1946
Serving Josephine County “Since 1961” Restaurant & Lounge Lunch • Dinner CHINESE AMERICAN For reservations or orders to go: 1899 — In Warren, Ohio, Associated Press Steak • Seafood 541-476-4244 brothers James and William An interior view of the Packard Motor Car Co. in Packard and George Lewis Cantonese & Mandarin Cuisine 820 NW 6th Street Weiss offered suggestions for Detroit is shown during the 1920s. The massive facto- improvement to the horseless ry, where members of over 80 crafts worked to hand- Sunday - Thursday 11am - 10pm • Friday & Saturday 11am - 11pm carriage Alexander Winton was craft the luxury cars beginning in 1903, was aban- building. Weiss was invested in doned in 1956 and remained an eyesore for decades. Winton. When they were ignored, they built their own. Work finally began in 2017 to refurbish some buildings And then about 400 more at and destroy others to make way for a new building. their factory in Warren until Sampan Sampan RoomRoom LoungeLounge • • 541-479-9855 541-479-9855 • • PoolPool TableTable 1903. OCT. 2, 1902 — Several wealthy investors, including Detroit’s Henry Joy, who was impressed by the car, pur- chased, refinanced and renamed the Packard brothers’ New York and Ohio Automobile Company as the Packard Motor Car Company with James Packard as president. 1903 — The company moved to Detroit to begin manufacture in a plant that eventually cov- ered 40 acres. Among their early innovations was the mod- ern steering wheel. From the beginning, it was considered a luxury automobile. 1911 — The Packard Build- ing in Philadelphia was com- pleted by Albert Kahn, who also designed the Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, Michigan and the Detroit plant. 1912 — A truck built by Packard, carrying a three-ton load, drove from New York City to San francisco between July 8 and Aug. 24 to advertise the company’s other growing part of the business and the reliabili- ty of their engines. 1924-1930 — Packard was the top-selling luxury car in the world. 1931-1939 — The company opened a factory in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. 1932 — The popular Twin Six was introduced with prices starting at $3,650. That would be about $62,265 today, adjusting for inflation. 1935 — While producing more opulent cars than ever during the Great Depression, the company also started a more affordable line using the new factory. The result was its first cars costing under $1,000 with resulting booming sales. These were known as the “juniors,” made more efficient- ly than the all hand-crafted “seniors.” 1942 — The company con- verts to 100 percent war produc- tion, including building airplane engines for the P-51 Mustang and other planes and marine engines for American PT boats and British patrol boats. 1945 — Packard resumes civilian automobile production with modest updates from the pre-war models, however only the junior cars. The dies and tooling for the old senior cars were apparently lost, except for the popular Clipper. 1951 — The first newly designed, post-war vehicles from Packard are available, but not until several years after larger companies had produced theirs. 1953-1954 — In an era of small auto company mergers, Packard began selling its Ultra- matic transmissions and V8 engines to Hudson and Nash. In 1954, Packard purchased the failing Studebaker Corporation. 1955-1956 — Manufacturing difficulties plagued the compa- ny as money ran low due to Studebaker’s financial issues. Packard began to lose ground to Cadillac and Lincoln and problems with quality control on the 1955 models led to lower sales in 1956, what turned out to be the final year of classic Packard production. JUNE 25, 1956 — A four- door Patrician rolled off the Detroit assembly line, the final Packard designed car to be manufactured. 1957 — The Packard Clipper nameplate appeared on a Stude- baker chassis from the plant in South Bend, Indiana. Few sold and many Packard dealers dropped their franchises, lead- ing to even more potential buy- ers avoiding the cars. 1958 — Along with many other small auto manufacturers that year, Packard’s fate was sealed. Though the company continued to make engines, their automobile manufacturing ceased. Studebakers were made until March 1966.