An interesting footnote sent to me by Robert Dowling, one of my visitors.

Packard bought the ailing Studebaker Corp.
The Packard stock holders got the short end of the deal. Upper management thought they could ride on the (former) prestige of Packard and have Stude. compete with Chevrolet. It didn't work and in two years the
Studebaker-Packard Corp. was facing insolvency. Creditors demanded they get rid of one of the two manufacturing plants. Unfortunately they chose to keep the Studebaker plant in South Bend Ind. and dump the Packard plant in Detroit. Management soon realised their plan was failing, but it was to late. The South Bend plant was not designed to handle cars as wide as the old Packards as was the old Detroit plant, so they couldn't go back and start production of big wide cars again. I've seen design plans for the "new Packards". If you've seen a late 50's early 60's Lincoln Continental (the one with the slanted head lights) or the infamous Edsel thats what they
looked like. When I first saw them I thought it they were for Ford products.
Think about it! If you take the front of an Edsel an replace the "Horse collar" with a little grill shaped like a Clipper grill, you've got the Idea! I can't remember if Ford bought the plans or the design team went over to Ford after Packard folded. After the dismal sales of "Packardbakers"
(Those Studebakers with the funny looking add-ons) they dropped the Packard
name. In 64 they dropped the name completely and moved production to Canada.
They still make trucks for the Canadian military.

To read the complete Packard Story click here and go to the Packard Club's Web Page

Back in 1899 when the first motorized vehicles were starting to appear, a young engineer that had recently graduated from college was fascinated with the new motor cars and wanted desperately to be a part of that industry.  He was especially impressed with a car that was winning many of the races conducted to advertise the car's power and technology. Many times the cars would race against a horse to prove their endurance. 
The car this young engineer favored was the Winton automobile.
(Winton made automobiles from 1898 until going out of business in the 1930's) 
The young engineer decided to purchase a Winton automobile and it was 
delivered to Detroit in the year 1900 on a flat bed train car. 
After cleaning up the dust and protective grease he took it for a test drive. 
He was pleased with the performance but felt there were a few things that could be improved. 
As a good engineer, he dismantled the car and made note of areas that could stand improvement.
He felt that if he could inform Mr. Winton about these items that he would be 
offered a position in the Winton factory. Upon reading the letter,
Mr. Winton did not care for the impudence of the young ‘upstart’ 
engineer and immediately replied to him.
The letter that Mr. Winton sent to the young engineer is currently on file in the Smithsonian Institute.
 It read: “Dear Mr. Packard, if you feel you can build a better car, I suggest you try.” 
And the rest is history…

The photo is taken at a show in 2001 at the Euro ciruit in Valkenswaard  .