PACKARD

00009 – PACKARD began when James and William Packard, dissatisfied with their 1898 Winton, suggested improvements. Feisty Scotsman Alexander Winton replied that his car was fine as it was, and if the Packards wanted something different, they should build it themselves. So they did. Beginning in 1899, the Packard Motor Car Company built some of the finest cars ever produced in the United States. Among Packard innovations were the H pattern transmission and the steering wheel. Packard survived the Depression and the war, but in the postwar world sales declined. In a desperate attempt to survive, the company merged with Studebaker, but to no avail. The 1956 models were the last true Packard’s, with the 1957 and 1958 “Packabakers” being dressed-up Studebakers with the Packard name on them.