Packard History: The Packard brothers, James and William,
started to build cars in 1899 under the Ohio Automobile Company
name. They built quality cars that cost much more than a Ford
and they sold well. They were known as one of the "Three P's"
that included the Peerless and Pierce-Arrow. When the Packards
needed money to expand investors jumped at the chance and the
Ohio Automobile Company became the Packard Motor Car Company in
1902. The new Packard factory was the most modern in its time
and each car was hand built with the skills of over 80 different
craftsmen. The Packards decided to lower their standards and
mass-produced cars during the Great Depression which resulted in
more sales. Packard built airplane engines during World War II
for P-51 Mustang fighters and V-12 marine engines for PT boats.
The first post-war Packard came out in 1948. The Packards turned
down an offer to merge with Nash Motors in the early 1950s but
accepted a similar offer from Studebaker in 1954, resulting in
the Studebaker-Pac