1942 Packard
Super-Eight 160 Convertible.
Illustration: BOLDRIDE
Packard was an American luxury automobile marque, built by The Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, United States, and, later, by The Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana.
The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last in 1958, with one of the last concept cars built in 1956, the Packard Predictor.
For most of its history, Packard was guided by its President and General Manager, James Alvan Macauley, who also served as President of The National Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Inducted into The Automobile Hall of Fame, Macauley made Packard the number one designer and producer of luxury automobiles in The United States. The marque was also highly competitive abroad, with markets in sixty-one Countries. Gross income for the Company was $21,889,000 in 1928. Macauley was also responsible for the iconic Packard slogan, "Ask the Man Who Owns One".
Along with art galleries, a nightclub, apartments, and a spa, the group behind the redevelopment of the former Packard plant in Detroit may also include a museum dedicated to Packard automobiles in their plans, though such a museum would likely not appear for many years.
As the Detroit Free Press noted in a recent article on the redevelopment project, Fernando Palazuelo, who bought the sprawling 40-acre complex at a foreclosure auction in December 2013 for $405,000, has outlined four phases to begin the project over the next several years. An Albert Kahn Associates-led $12 million restoration of the four-story administration building will constitute the first phase, while a recreational complex, art galleries and studio spaces, and a seven-story techno dance club will comprise phases two through four. A potential Packard auto museum could come about sometime after the fourth phase, itself tentatively scheduled for sometime after 2018.
1950 Packard Eight
Touring (Four-Door) Sedan Model 2301.
Photo: 30 September 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Cortcomp.
(Wikimedia Commons)
1931 Packard 833.
Photo: 24 November 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Bull-Doser.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Men Bet Their Lives on It.
Packard Merlin Engines.
Available on YouTube at
Portrait of a City.
Detroit.
1961.
Available on YouTube at
Detroit’s former Packard plant.
Photo: Mike Boening, taken on 9 December 2012.
Illustration: HEMMINGS DAILY
Text, by Daniel Strohl, from HEMMINGS DAILY
Along with art galleries, a nightclub, apartments, and a spa, the group behind the redevelopment of the former Packard plant in Detroit may also include a museum dedicated to Packard automobiles in their plans, though such a museum would likely not appear for many years.
As the Detroit Free Press noted in a recent article on the redevelopment project, Fernando Palazuelo, who bought the sprawling 40-acre complex at a foreclosure auction in December 2013 for $405,000, has outlined four phases to begin the project over the next several years. An Albert Kahn Associates-led $12 million restoration of the four-story administration building will constitute the first phase, while a recreational complex, art galleries and studio spaces, and a seven-story techno dance club will comprise phases two through four. A potential Packard auto museum could come about sometime after the fourth phase, itself tentatively scheduled for sometime after 2018.
Detroit's Packard Plant.
Available on YouTube at
I always thought Packard had the most confident slogan in advertising. I loved their cars growing up. My father owned a 1933 Packard Eight limousine, which his mother unceremoniously scrapped (!) while my father was trying to restore it. Back then he was using his 1935 Rolls Phantom II as a daily driver, back when Rolls Royce really did make the "best car in the world".
ReplyDeleteThank you, The Rad Trad, for your, as always, riveting and most welcome Comment.
ReplyDeleteDelighted your Dad is a Packard lover. AND a ROLLS !!!
Respect !!!