"Feature Car" Bob Newlands & Jan Taylor 1927 Model 343-7P Touring          Events!    We have a full Calendar, for 2025.         Club Meetings     Meetings are held with CCCA at Ernestos Italian Restaurant, 8544 SW Apple Way, Portland, OR. Next meeting will be May 1.  See the Calendar. 2025 Western Regions Tour May 15 - 18 2025 is Packards of Oregon's turn to present the Western Regions Tour. This event is an annual opportunity to gather with Packard enthusiasts from the west coast, and enjoy touring the area in some great old cars. The host hotel is the Running Y Resort in Klamath Falls. The Registration form can be found at THIS LINK Joe Munsch coordinating. Email joe.munsch.327@gmail.com with questions. Strawberry Social June 14  Strawberry Social: Our annual Strawberry Social gathering will be held at Bill Jabs Lavender Farm this year. It's a beautiful place to gather, enjoy some ice cream and check out Bill's cool shop & collection. Details to follow.       2018 Packard Holiday Dinner     2018 Forest Grove Concours

WHO MADE PACKARD?

Well, Packard made Packard of course!

Packard was one of the greatest marques in the history the automobile, projecting the aura, prestige and excellence unmatched by any other manufacturer in North America during the years between the two world wars.  Packard has been described as being the automobile that, “expressed a young America’s striving for elegance, a tradition, a heritage to match the centuries-old culture of Europe.”  Many consider Packard the only real competition that Rolls-Royce ever faced.

The Packard Motor Car Company produced 1,610,890 automobiles between 1899 and 1958.

Packard produced a famous advertising slogan that is still being used for other products and services today.  It was originated in 1901 by James Packard, who believed that talking about Packards was a waste of time, best left to the owners.  When his secretary asked him for a sales brochure to send to a prospective customer, Packard replied that they had no literature and to tell the customer to, “Ask the Man Who Owns One.”

In 1921 Warren G. Harding was the first American president to be driven in an automobile to his inauguration.  The automobile was a big, beautiful, Twelve-cylinder “Twin-Six” Packard.  In 1937 the first car to cross the brand new Golden Gate Bridge was a Packard.

Packard was also responsible for many automotive “firsts” such as:

-          First to use a steering wheel instead of a tiller

-          First to equip cars with balloon (pneumatic) tires as standard equipment

-          First to include front and rear bumpers as standard equipment

-          First to use the selective gear shift with the “H” pattern movement

-          First to introduce complete weather-conditioning in production cars

-          First to provide sun visors

-          First to provide a package (glove) compartment in the instrument panel

-          First American production car to provide four-wheel brakes as standard equipment

-          First company to build a 1,000 hp aircraft engine

-          First to develop and fly a diesel aircraft engine

-          First American company to offer an L-head, straight-eight engine

-          First American company to offer a V-type, twelve-cylinder engine

-          First automobile company to build a 24-cylinder engine

To find out more about Packards, go to www.packardsoforegon.net which provides easy access to the Packards or Oregon Club and other resources on the Packard Motor Car Company.  An excellent reference is “Packard, A History of the Motor Car and Company,” by Beverly Rae Kimes.

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Joe Munsch