Dayton, Ohio, 2022
Packard series
Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company. It was founded in Warren Ohio as the Ohio Automobile Company by James Ward Packard, his brother William, and their partner, George Lewis Weiss. The first car rolled out of the factory on November 6, 1899.
Packard’s cars were considered the preeminent luxury car before World War II, and owning a Packard was prestigious. Henry Bourne Joy, a member of one of Detroit's oldest and wealthiest families, bought a Packard. Impressed by its reliability, he brought together a group of investors to refinance the company, soon after which Packard moved its operations to Detroit.
In 1953 (or 1954, depending on your source), Packard bought rival Studebaker and formed the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. Some historians believe that this was the beginning of the end of the company. It was certainly followed by a series of circumstances and events that ultimately led to the end of the company in 1962.
This series of photographs was taken at America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The Museum is a restored Packard dealership transformed into a museum that displays twentieth-century classic Packards and historic Packard artifacts and memorabilia.
The dealership originally sold Packards in Dayton, Ohio beginning in 1908. It moved into the building that is now home to the museum in 1917. Robert Signom II, the museum's Founder and Curator for 27 years, acquired the building in 1991 and painstakingly rehabilitated it to its original Art Deco grandeur, opening the museum in 1992.
Car Collector magazine named the museum one of the top ten automotive museums in the United States. The cars on display range from 1900s Brass Era cars, the streamlined Classic cars of the 1930s and 1940s, to the modern Packards of the 1950s. The museum also has a collection of war machines, parts, accessories, and original sales and service literature.
Dayton, Ohio, 2022
Packard series
Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company. It was founded in Warren Ohio as the Ohio Automobile Company by James Ward Packard, his brother William, and their partner, George Lewis Weiss. The first car rolled out of the factory on November 6, 1899.
Packard’s cars were considered the preeminent luxury car before World War II, and owning a Packard was prestigious. Henry Bourne Joy, a member of one of Detroit's oldest and wealthiest families, bought a Packard. Impressed by its reliability, he brought together a group of investors to refinance the company, soon after which Packard moved its operations to Detroit.
In 1953 (or 1954, depending on your source), Packard bought rival Studebaker and formed the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. Some historians believe that this was the beginning of the end of the company. It was certainly followed by a series of circumstances and events that ultimately led to the end of the company in 1962.
This series of photographs was taken at America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The Museum is a restored Packard dealership transformed into a museum that displays twentieth-century classic Packards and historic Packard artifacts and memorabilia.
The dealership originally sold Packards in Dayton, Ohio beginning in 1908. It moved into the building that is now home to the museum in 1917. Robert Signom II, the museum's Founder and Curator for 27 years, acquired the building in 1991 and painstakingly rehabilitated it to its original Art Deco grandeur, opening the museum in 1992.
Car Collector magazine named the museum one of the top ten automotive museums in the United States. The cars on display range from 1900s Brass Era cars, the streamlined Classic cars of the 1930s and 1940s, to the modern Packards of the 1950s. The museum also has a collection of war machines, parts, accessories, and original sales and service literature.