THE PACKARD Classic and classy

The first chapter tells about the company's start in Warren.
By THERESA M. HEGEL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
"Images of America: Packard Motor Car Company," by Evan P. Ide (Arcadia, $19.99)
If you're fascinated by classic cars, this new installment in Arcadia's "Images of America Series" just may spark your interest.
"Packard Motor Car Company" is a visual history of a long-defunct car brand, a brand that once set itself apart "with the highest quality of style and engineering." Author Evan P. Ide contends in his introduction that through careful study of the images in the book, "one can see how the automobile developed and how owners' relationships with their vehicles evolved."
Ide is the curator of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Mass., and his book is composed of never-before-published photographs from the museum's archives.
The collection of images was donated to the museum by Roderick Blood, a Packard enthusiast and collector, in 1966, but according to the museum's president, who provides a foreword to Ide's book, they were "relegated to backroom archives and often eclipsed by more popular or glamorous automotive artifacts over the years."
History
Of particular note to local readers is the first chapter, which illustrates Packard's beginnings in a small factory in Warren. The factory began as the New York and Ohio Company, and James Ward Packard and his brother produced electric bells, dynamos and lamps there starting in 1895.
According to Ide, Packard built the first Model A Packards in 1899. Stories say he was dissatisfied with a Winton motor carriage, and when he returned it "to the factory due to constant mechanical problems, he was told to build a better car himself." So he did.
Packard moved operations from Warren to Detroit in 1903, where the company would remain until it closed in 1957.
The longest chapter in the book shows photos of Packards in their heyday. Ide calls the late '20s and early '30s the classic era of Packard production. The models from these years -- and, indeed, from the years preceding them -- are very distinctive, strikingly different from modern cars.
"Packard Motor Car Company," despite its rather dry title, is an interesting look at the evolution of American cars and how their role in society shifted through the years.
hegel@vindy.com