A New Old Packard?
Tell me the truth, did the title and the picture stir you just a bit? It did me!
The original Packard Motor Car Company started in 1893 as Packard & Weiss with its first Packard car produced in 1899 in Warren, Ohio. Today, Warren is the home of the National Packard Museum.
The Packard company was known for building high-quality, luxury automobiles before World War II. The vehicle price was five or six times that of its American contemporaries. In fact, the handmade vehicles were exported in record numbers to Europe and competed successfully with Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz.
Packard was an innovator with features including the V12 engine, the steering wheel, 4-wheel brakes, tail lights, the glove box and air conditioning in production automobiles, pleated upholstery, 4-H stick shift, sun visors, hydraulic shocks, automatic spark advance, the wiring harness, limited slip differential, and more.
In 1958 production problems, a perceived reduction of quality and some unpopular design choices depressed sales and Packard only sold 2,622 cars. The last Packard cars were produced in July 1958.
But that’s not the end of the story.
Fast forward to the late 2010s. In 2019 Scott Andrews was driving to work and saw a car for sale. He was unfamiliar with the brand. He asked his father, a lifelong mechanic, “have you ever heard of Packard?”
Their subsequent discussion triggered a desire to learn more about Packard.
Andrews learned that James Ward Packard, who founded the Packard Motor Company with his brother William Doud Packard, designed watches and often commissioned Swiss watchmakers to build them. The fact that Andrews also was a watchmaker cemented his fondness for the cars and their design, which Andrews felt had craftmanship and an attention to detail that only could come from a watchmaker.
Andrews enlisted help from his friend Steve Constantino, a chemist who had several patents and had started his own brand of cosmetics.
As they commiserated on Packard cars, they realized that they had the knowledge and background to actually build a Packard. And that’s just what they did. They found the perfect space in Medina, Ohio for their new company Packard Motors, and set off to hand build a 1934 Packard roadster.
Andrews purchased the legal rights to the Packard brands, patents and trademarks, which was a major step in moving forward. Plus, they found a company in Nebraska that makes all the parts for the Packard they wanted to build.
The car is completed and is sitting in the company’s showroom, where it’s attracting a lot of attention.
Now that they’ve actually built a Packard, Andrews is now negotiating with town officials to open a manufacturing facility in Medina.
The modern day Packards they plan to build will, of course, meet all modern safety and emissions standards, but still feature the classic designs of the original Packard cars.
Their plan is to custom build each car to the requirements of the buyer. As of now, no pricing decisions or production schedules have been made.
But just like the original Packards, the cars Andrews plans to build will be eye-turning works of automotive art.
Smooth Ride!
Nice car