In 1937, knowing there was no money for Capital ships, General MacArthur asked the U.S. Navy if they could develop an attack boat to help defend the Philippines. Because of that request, the small but mighty PT Boat, powered by three Packard Marine engines, sporting 4050 HP, was born. Little did the General know his request would save his and the lives of so many others.

" "THEY WERE EXPENDABLE!" “A rare prewar photograph, showing the loading of a squadron of motor torpedo boats aboard a special auxiliary deck, built over the main deck, of a Navy oiler which carried them to the Philippines. Some of these boats, here ready to leave New York, became part of the famous Squadron Three, commanded by Lieutenant John D. Buckeley, USN.

At the outset of the war there were only three PT squadrons. One was stationed at Pearl Harbor and helped to fight off the Jap sneak attack. Another was in training, and the third, under Buckeley, was in the Philippines. Squadron Three had six boats. In his report of the Jap strike at the Philippines Admiral E. J. King, Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Fleet, wrote: "On the evening of December 8, therefor, after the Japanese had bombed our airfields and destroyed many of General MacArthur's planes, our submarines, and motor torpedo boats, which were still in Philippine waters, were left with the task of impeding the enemy's advance.

The PT's did their bit, and by sudden forays and surprise night attacks sent thousands of tons of Japanese shipping to the bottom. Two of the six boats struck coral reefs, an were too badly damaged for repair. But the other four carried on, and, finally, on March 11, 1942, they stole silently away from Corregidor with some twenty passengers. Enemy ships were lurking on every hand, and the gasoline supply was low. Alter several narrow escapes, however, the four PT's brought General MacArthur and his staff safely to an island to the south, where Army planes awaited to fly them to Australia." Quotes From: PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR & BATTLE STATIONS-YOUR NAVY IN ACTION- Published 1946

On D Day in 1944, the invasion of “Fortress Europe”, more that 25,000 engines built by Packard fired up and powered P4OF Warhawks, Lancaster Bombers, Mosquito Bombers, Hawker Hurricanes, Spitfires, the B, C, and D model Mustangs, Patrol Torpedo Boats, Rescue boats, Mine sweepers, and Corvettes. The Packard employees did not build the planes, nor the ships, nor the PT Boats, nor the rescue boats. No the employees of Packard had but one contribution to the World War II effort. They built the engines for the war machines that would rescue the seaman from sinking Capital ships in Pearl Harbor, conduct the fist naval action against the Japanese in Subic bay, carried out the President’s order to remove General MacArthur from Corregidor, in the Philippines, with some twenty passengers, to organize the fight in the Pacific. All the low profile, powerful, stealth if you will, PT boats that roamed the 7 seas became legends in their time. The employees of Packard would build the engines that tipped the scale and would bring the Luftwaffe down. Over 15,000 German Aircraft fell to the guns of the Mighty Mustangs. Herman Gorening said the day he saw American fighters over Berlin was the day he knew Germany was to lose the War. Those aircraft belonged to the US 4th fighter group flying the Mustangs powered by the Packard built Merlins. “Auchtung Mustang” was a radio transmission Luftwaffe pilots hated to sent and hated even more to hear. Yes, the song of the Packard/Merlins and Packard’s marine engines was the song of victory for us and the song of death for the Axis powers.

How did this responsibility, no honor, of building the most powerful engines in the world come to Packard? They earned it. Packard, Joy, Macaully, Vincent, Woolson were but a few of the names that put Packard in the position to aid our country in time of war. Packard’s history as Master Motor builders earned the employees and the Packard Motor Car company the right to arm our young warriors with the best, most powerful engines, Indeed the employees of Packard and the warriors could say: “MEN BET THEIR LIVES ON IT”

Powered by a Packard built Merlin, the North American built Mustang “VAL GAL II ” would be the first allied aircraft to land on Nazi free soil in France. However, landing was because of a loose canopy-not to be first.

Herman Gorening said the day he saw American fighters over Berlin was the day he knew Germany was to lose the War. Those aircraft belonged to the US 4th Fighter Group, led by Col. Don Blakeslee, flying the Mustangs powered by the Packard built Merlins. On D-Day, the Forth, with other Eighth Air Force groups, helped set up a “no one gets to the beach but us”, defense against the expected Luftwaffe counted attack. By the end of the war in Europe the 4th had destroyed 1,016 German aircraft.

Over 15,000 Axis Aircraft fell to the guns of the Mighty Mustangs.
Over 2,000 more would be destroyed on the ground.

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the PT was truly the biblical David of the Second World War; more than a match for enemy Goliaths. One PT operating in the South Pacific, for instance, sank 920 times herweight of Japanese shipping in six months.” BATTLE STATIONS 1946

To the right-”The Merlin Line”

The English are usually great when coming up with names. The Hurricane, and of course, the Spitfire are two great examples. Although Buffalo and Camel don’t conjure up visions of speed, the aircraft were durable. The R R Merlin, was named after a European falcon, not the guy with the wand.

Don’t forget, in 1926, the Packard X was the most powerful aircraft engine any where in the world. Its 24 cylinders developed 1250 horsepower, and a super charger, designed and built by Packard, gave it 1500 horsepower. The Packard X racing plane zipped around at 322 MPH. However, the U.S. military decided to concentrate on air cooled aircraft engines.

Development of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine began in 1925. Initially the Kestral then the Buzzard, I guess they liked birds, then known as the A engine, the R.R. engine would power the Supermarine S-6 racing seaplane to a top speed of 357 mph in the 1929 Schneider Cup Race - a new World’s Speed Record. The Rolls Royce Merlin was more than 10 years in development.

With the Nazi Blitzkrieg rolling over most of Europe, the English needed weapons to fight and they needed them now!

In September of 1940, the Packard Motor Car Company began licensed production of the Merlin engine at it’s Detroit facility. Initially the Mark X, after conversion of more than 2,000 left hand drawings, and making their own special tooling, an exact copy of the Merlin 28, it became the V-1650-1 in US Army terminology. The V-1650-1 represented 1649 cubic inches, rounded up so to speak, the -1 included U.S. modifications.

Packard would preform more than 70,000 checks on the 14,000 parts in a Merlin, burn 80,000 gallons of hi-test fuel a day in running tests, disassemble the engines, checks again, then reassemble the engines an prepare them for shipping.

The English version of the Merlin’s main bearings were of a silver alloy. To increase engine life, Packard would adopt the black matte process of a silver and lead alloy. Packard also produced in-take and exhaust valves that were made with a coating of a nickel chromium alloy to increase heat resistance. This would allow the use of the highest octane fuels. Some history reports that a new Wright-designed supercharger drive put the finishing touches on the Packard built Merlin V-1650-3, the power plant destined for the P-51. Other information says the supercharger was an English design. We will let aviation experts sort that out.

However, it was Packard’s light measuring device, to check tooling to with-in 1,000,000 of an inch, and Packard’s procedure of freezing parts for an exact fit, that allowed the new supercharger to rase the Merlin’s operational ceiling more that 10,000 feet.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Great Britain, Australia, India, and China were no longer alone. Now we all needed weapons of war and fast! Packard’s 1650-3 Merlins would be placed in the P-40 and that aircraft would become the Warhawk. Another of the new weapons would be the North American Mustang powered with the Packard built, Merlin.

Contrary to folk lore, the installation of a Merlin in a P 51 was not exclusively an English idea. In the summer of 1942 North American placed a 1650-3 engine in one of two planes held back from the original contract. Independent work had been underway concerning a Merlin-Mustang merger. In Great Britain, and at Inglelwood California, a marriage was taking place. P-51, 41-37352, as with the British test, needed all new engine mounts and sheet metal had to be fabricated to fit the larger Merlin. North American added an 11’ 4” four-blade Hamilton Standard prop with cuffs. The carburetor air scoop on top of the nose was deleted and tests proved that the intercooler was not needed when a new Bendix pressure carburetor was used and the scoop could be cut down, making the nose more aerodynamic. The full story of Packard’s involvement will come later in this story of MEN BET THEIR LIVES ON IT.

Left-SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE-Sept. 11,
1941.
From the Packards Interna tional Archives.

NO PT BOAT BUILDER
EVER HAD TO WAIT FOR
ENGINE DELIVERY! About 775 PT boats were delivered by the end of WWII.

By 1944 Packard had 33,085 employees. In 1940 Packard’s warwork was 5% of of Total Business. In 1944 that ratio was 99% warwork in Packard’s “Work to Win” effort. (l944 Annual Report)

Packard delivered more than 55,000 Merlin engines and more than 14,000 marine engines.

With the marine history of The Gold Cup races, Col. Vincent’s workwith Gar Wood’s Miss America, Packard was in a good position to start, in 1939, on what would become the Packard 4M 2500. The first engines would be delivered in March of 1940. This engine started with around 1200 horsepower. Developement, along with the addi tion of a supercharger, would by the last years of thewar, putthe 4M 2500 upto 1800 horsepower. ln the early days of WWII these engines would be subject to much abuse. With oil shortages, and not being able to get parts, some of these en gines would have more than 400 hours past their overhaul time. Some PT boats could not get much above 20 knots, however, they kept going because they had to.

How did Packard’s background, or history, place them in a position that they had the ability and experience to gear up so fast for the war effort? While Packard had the reputation as Master Motor Builders, how did they gain that reputation?

Let’s go back in the old time machine and see how Packard’s history brought them to such prominence.

Here is a bit of Packard history written for the sales organization of the B.F. GOODRICH CO. (Published in 1932)

The following feature article was prepared to acquaint our sales organization with the factors and circumstances which made the Packard Motor Car Company outstanding in American industry.
THE B.F. GOODRICH CO.

PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY

FLAT on his back in the deep dust of the old turnpike between Cleveland and Warren, Ohio, a young man, grimy with oil and dirt, toiled, tugged, and cussed. The young man was James Ward Packard, the Warren, Ohio, electric fixture manufacturer-the "horseless carriage" over which he fumed, a Winton.

He was trying mightily, but unsuccessfully, to make the machine run. He had purchased it early in the morning from its Cleveland manufacturer and he was endeavoring to drive the sixty miles to his home in Warren. He struggled all day and, late at night, arrived home in tow of a team of plow horses.

The young Warren manufacturer was a mechanic and a good one. He was determined that he would know the reason why his newly purchased carriage wouldn't run. Experimenting with things mechanical was his hobby.

His study of his new horseless carriage showed him, he believed, how improvements could be made. In his enthusiasm he hastened to Cleveland to offer his new found ideas to the factory which had made his machine.

The Cleveland manufacturer, Alexander Winton, a dynamic little man, faced young Packard belligerently across the desk and after listening to Packard's constructive criticism replied, “Well, if you're so darn smart maybe you can build a better machine yourself." Packard's soft spoken answer was, "Perhaps I could, at that"-and he did!

Working spare moments, in a shed of the electric fixture plant, Packard started the work of designing a "horseless carriage." On November 6th, 1899, it was completed. But that is not all, it was a finished and good looking job, and more important, it ran well and kept on running at the will of the operator. This machine was so successful that friends demanded that Packard build duplicates. Soon J. W. and his brother, Warren D. Packard, were in the business of building "horseless carriages," and thus was born-the Ohio Automobile Company.

This first machine of the Packard's had several things which were later used almost exclusively in automobiles. Important among those features was, three speeds forward and one reverse, through sliding the belt drive. The Packard's were aided in the building of their machines by George L. Weiss of Cleveland, who was one of the organizers of the Winton Company, and W. A. Hatcher, who had been the Winton Shop Superintendent. "J. W." and Hatcher took charge of the mechanical end while “W. D." and Weiss looked after the finances of the business.

Real attention began to center on the work of the new automobile firm in Warren, when J. W. Packard and Weiss on May 21, 1900, drove the second car they built from Warren to Cleveland by way of Ashtabula, a distance of over 100 miles, between 10:20 A. M. and 7:15 P. M. of the sameday. Five days later they drove from Warren to Buffalo in 13 1/2 hours, and would have made the trip in less time but for battery trouble.

Weiss, acting as salesman for the organization, sold a special machine to W. D. Sargent of Chicago. It was provided with a copper-jacket cylinder and had four speeds. Mr. Sargent received his carriage October 24th, 1900, and paid $1,750 for it. A few more of the standard machines were built and sold and it was then decided to display one of the standard machines at the Auto mobile Show being held in Madison Square Gardens.

This show was held between November 5th and 10th in the year 1900. This was the first year of Automobile Shows and only three cars, then exhibited, are still being manufactured-Packard, Oldsmobile and Peerless.

The exhibition consisted principally of the driving of carriages around a circular track in the Gardens. Obstacles were placed at various points on the track and the carriages were driven among them to demonstrate how easily they could be handled. The “Packard Carriage," as it was called, was declared to be the center of interest-fairly stole the show-and was operated so successfully that orders for a special machine and two standard vehicles were taken at the track.

About this time newspapers began giving much attention to the “horseless carriage," and early in 1901 the arrest of Alden S. McMurtry at Warren, on the charge of driving his Packard 40 miles an hour through the city streets was considered an international scoop. Enough of the cars of the new firm were in operation by this time that the “Service" problem was born. Besides manufacturing the machines, J. W. Packard took care of the service angle of the business and gave not only technical advice but also instructions in driving to new owners.

During 1900 and 1901 both J. W. and W. D. Packard made frequent trips in their machine and many improvements resulted from their personal experiences on the open road. The first car, and several of those which followed, were steered with a shovel-handle tiller. The old tiller soon gave way to the wheel, and Packard, it is claimed, was the first car in this country to be equipped with a steering wheel.

Their "long" trips over rough roads afforded the Packard Brothers a great amount of valuable data in their unending struggle to make their cars better. When it was decided to build the first Packard for sale, it was determined that it would have to be of the same high quality as their electrical products which were bringing them fame. They argued that the carriage they built would have to be so good that the man who owned one would, through his enthusiasm, recommend it to his friends. And now their good old slogan has become more than a suggestion, after more than thirty years in the building of fine motor cars. Today it is a challenge, a polite one, of course-"Ask the Man Who Owns One"!

These early struggles into which the Packard's poured a boundless enthusiasm, unlimited energy and the wizardry of J. W. Packard, a mechanical genius, gave much to the motor car of today. The automatic spark advance, now as much an accepted part of every automobile as its tires, was an original Packard patent, granted February 12th, 1901. The gear shift "H" slot so universally used on cars was another original Packard patent.

While these are the best known devices in modern general use, there were many others. Interconnected clutch and brake on one pedal; three-point suspension of motors; the toe rest at the side of the accelerator pedal; internal and external brakes on the rear wheels, and many, many more accomplishments by Packard could be added to the list. A patent granted in 1905 covered a device by which the hand control of the engine throttle could be set as desired. Another Packard contribution which dates back to the early Packard days is the spiral bevel gears in the rear axle.

The men who blazed such trails in building the first Packard cars were forerunners of a new art. There was no engineering and manufacturing data to aid them. They had to work things out for themselves. This is unquestionably one of the greatest heritages handed down to the Packard of today-a pioneering spirit which still persists in the Packard organization, and the entire automotive industry continues to receive many benefits of Packard inventive genius.

Nearly all of the early difficulties experienced by the Packard Brothers were due to materials used in their cars. The manufacturer who supplied wheels at one time refused to make any more because Packard rejected so many as not meeting with their strict standards. The only steel they could find which proved suitable for gears was that made for armor-piercing shells for the Navy. Gray-iron castings imported direct from France were used for the cylinders.

Armor-piercing steel proved to be so hard that it ruined tools and broke the gear cutters. The machine tool builders gave up in disgust. This forced Packard into the heat-treatment of steel, a science in which Packard was a pioneer and one which revolutionized steel manufacturing processes through out the world.

"Another trouble which involved both design and materials," said J. W. Packard in an interview about his experiences of the early days, “came when we put a governor on our spark. We were afraid to let the engine run too fast, so we had the spark stopped at what we thought a safe point. One of the owners of a Packard in Warren learned that he could move the governor and after he did so ran circles around every other car in town. Finally he speeded up the engine too fast, the fly-wheel blew up and with it went the whole car. Another of our early troubles in design had to do with the likelihood that the wheels would deflect whenever they hit a bump. The construction was such that if one wheel was elevated much beyond the other, the whole car would swing toward the lower side. There was a constant stream of cars running into ditches or trying to climb telegraph poles. We finally put in a special radius link which largely prevented this."

The first Packard catalogue which carried the famous slogan "Ask the Man Who Owns One" points with pride to the record of five Packard cars in an endurance trip, consisting of many makes of cars, over a course from New York to Buffalo. Eighty-nine machines started and only forty-four finished but among them all five Packards. Four of these Packards were given "First Class Certificates." The average speed of the winners in this endurance contest was from ten to fifteen miles an hour.

Tireless effort on the part of Packard Brothers to better materials going into their machines and to simplify the cars themselves made the first Packard's, "horseless carriages" outstanding. They gained a reputation for reliability, most important attribute in the days when “get out and get under" really meant something. Back in 1900 and 1901 the “horseless carriage" or “motor wagon" was thought by the greater part of the world to be only a passing fad.

Its quick death and the return of wealthy men, who were playing with the “fad," to fine horses was to be a matter of only a very short time. However, even with the limited market offered in 1901 for the automobile, the machines produced by Packard Brothers operated so well that purchasers paid a premium for them. It was about this time that a sales place was opened in New York City for Packard “carriages” by the firm of Adams and McMurtry. In fact New York was to a very considerable extent the market place for the new “horseless carriages." Because of this Henry B. Joy, of Detroit, went to New York to shop for one. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Truman H. Newberry, when he set out to look over the "carriages" offered.

Mr. Joy had always been attracted to things mechanical. Possessed of a fortune, he was enabled to gratify a desire to experiment with machinery. He had owned for some time a motor boat with a gasoline motor and in a small way had manufactured gasoline motors for boats. Hence he knew some of the ills to which the gasoline engine was then subject. Mr. Joy was looking for a machine which would start, but he had considerable doubt about his quest, for he knew the problems concerning carburetors, and what little progress had been made toward meeting these difficulties.

The Adams and McMurtry store was one of the places visited. In front of the store were two carriages made by Packard Brothers, about which Mr. Joy and Mr. Newberry had heard considerable. The two shoppers from Detroit looked them over carefully and were favorably impressed. However, the paramount question was-"would they start?" As they made up their minds to go into the store to consult with someone about this point, the question was answered emphatically in the affirmative, for many pieces of fire apparatus were dashing up the street. These were the days when everybody went to a fire.

The drivers of the waiting machines ran to their “carriages." threw on the ignition switches and gave quick spins to the starting cranks on the side. Both machines began their deep-throated coughing from their one cylinder engines and each sped away in pursuit of the fire engines. Mr. Joy was satisfied. The engines in these Packard carriages did start, and more important, they started when their owners wanted them to do so. He bought a Packard "carriage" immediately for $1,200. This incident had an important bearing on the future of the Ohio Automobile Company.

Mr. Joy tinkered with his car as he had with his motor boat. He made frequent trips to Warren because of his deep interest in the machine and consulted with J. W. Packard on ways the engine could be improved. During one of these trips he invested $25,000 in the Packard Brothers company, then known as the Ohio Automobile Company. Mr. Packard confided to Mr. Joy his belief that it would be possible to build and sell 200 carriages in a single year. It was agreed by both, however, that a new plant of greater capacity would be necessary, also additional financing would be needed.

Mr. Joy and Mr. Newberry consulted with a number of their friends who already knew much about the Packard carriage through having seen it operate under the able guidance of Mr. Joy. They readily agreed to become investors and were in accord with the suggested plan to build a Detroit plant. Like Mr. Joy and Mr. Newberry, they were all young men of wealth and sons of well-known Michigan pioneer families. This has had an effect of the utmost importance on the Packard Motor Car Company from its very inception. For Packard never has been forced to depart from accepted ideals-it always has had plenty of money and never has changed the first adopted plan of building only the best automobile possible. In all the years of its history Packard has never felt the "pinch" that has driven many a manufacturer to court ultimate disaster by sacrificing quality for quick profits.

It was on October 13th, 1902, that the directors of the old Ohio Automobile Company voted to increase the capital stock to $500,000 to provide for shares to be issued to the Detroit investors. The name of the company was changed to “Packard Motor Car Company." The year 1902 stands out conspicuously in the early history of Packard because of the far-reaching results of many important decisions made at this time. From the time the first American automobile made its appearance in 1895 up to the close of 1902 there had been 128 automobile companies organized, and a total of 25,629 cars had been built.

It was during this highly competitive period that the “trade-in" nuisance was born. Horses, buggies and carriages were taken as part payment on new automobiles at amazing values. Even saddles and harnesses were accepted. Cheap cars were priced high enough to permit of heavy trade-in allowances. A manufacturer once told Mr. Packard that he so established his prices that he "could allow a couple of thousand dollars on a second-hand wheelbarrow" and still make money. Competition was further heightened by the fact that the automobile market was limited. The "horseless carriage" was deemed only a plaything of the rich. It was struggling valiantly against every kind of adversity.

The town of Warren was unsympathetic toward automobiles. It was a quiet residential place and preferred to remain so. Mechanics imported from other places to work in the Ohio Automobile Company's plant had difficulty in finding homes in which to live. Roads were poor but the city was inclined to feel that because they served for wagons and carriages they were good enough for the “new-fangled" vehicles. When production was increased from twelve cars a year to twenty-four, Warren bankers began to wonder where there would be sale for such a quantity. This was the state of affairs when Henry B. Joy and Truman H. Newberry interested other Packard owners and personal friends in the possibilities of manufacturing a high-class type of car, with Detroit as the center of the new automotive project.

What this car should be was a point over which there was much discussion but it was agreed that the manufacturing ideals of J. W. and W. D. Packard established with the building of the first car should be continued. About this time, while driving in Bronx Park, New York, J. W. Packard and Mr. Joy met Charles Schmidt, former superintendent of The Mors automobile factory in France. Subsequently they found Schmidt in jail at Greenwich, Conn., where he had been incarcerated for running over a dog with his car. They rescued Schmidt and took him to Warren to aid in the design of a new car to replace the single cylinder Packard machine, built up to this time.

It was realized that the single-cylinder car, successful as it had proved among other cars of its day, was out of date. Decision was reached to build a four-cylinder machine and Schmidt went to work on it. Model K was the result but it proved entirely too complicated and too expensive for the market then offered for “horseless carriages" and it was necessary to put a price of $7,500 on it. While model K proved impractical and a start on a new model was necessary, the experiments and work which had been carried on in the development of model K furnished a number of important innovations. Principal among these was the radical departure in placing the transmission on the rear axle.

This same design was also used in building the Grey Wolf, one of the most famous racing cars of history. Packard's Grey Wolf was in appearance much like the racing cars of today and incidentally put the record for one mile below one minute. It was beautifully streamlined and weighed less than 1,500 pounds. The radiator consisted of a series of long copper tubes which extended along each side of the body. This system of radiation was used in Great Britain in building the winner of the 1927 Schneider Cup Race. Elimination of the resistance offered by other radiators aided this British airplane in attaining a speed of more than 300 miles an hour.

With the design still in process for the new car which the new Detroit company was to build, reorganization of the old company was completed.

The first stockholders' meeting was held January 29, 1903. In this session the Directors elected were: J. W. Packard, W. D.. Packard, Russell A. Alger, Jr., T. H. Newberry, Philip H. McMillen, Henry B. Joy, Joseph Boyer, and S. D. Waldon. In addition to the foregoing, the following were important stockholders: John S. Newberry, F. M. Alger, Robert E. Gorton, Rembrandt Peale and C. A. DuCharme.

The original Packard Motor Car Company, to quite some extent, was a family affair, and still remains so. The McMillen, Alger, Newberry and Joy families were the moving forces in its organization and they have been principal owners and, to a large extent, directors of the company's destiny ever since. Perhaps this has had much to do with the fact, unique in the automobile business, that Packard's organization has remained practically unchanged for over a quarter of a century. All four families are related either by business or blood ties, and all are descendants of Michigan's pioneer "first families."

Something of the pioneer spirit of their fathers must have been possessed by the young men who back in 1903 went into the then hazardous business of building “horseless carriages." During this period of Packard development these scions of great rail and water transportation builders received the jeers and scoffings of their friends and acquaintances but the interesting thing is that as each generation had its struggles against a new idea, that new idea was based on one theme- transportation-and as the fathers succeeded in their clear-headed vision so did the sons in their enterprise, which was then a novelty.

They were urged by bankers, lawyers and businessmen of long experience to drop “this foolish automobile business" but nevertheless one-quarter million dollars in cash went into the treasury of the newly founded Packard Motor Car Company. It seemed a huge sum of money then but was deemed ample for any needs which could possibly arise. However, they learned quickly, as others later were, to find, that an automobile factory has an absolutely insatiable appetite for dollars.

Definite decision had been reached to move the plant from Warren to Detroit and a site of 40 acres was purchased along the Inner Belt line rail road of the Michigan Central. The directors considered five acres ample for the factory site and as the City of Detroit had some time before built a thoroughfare around the outside edges of the city-known as Grand Boulevard-they felt that later they could dispose of 35 acres at a profit..
Bricks and mortar flew fast when work was finally started on the two-story factory building.

All Detroit was interested in the new structure and smiled behind its collective palms. Here was a factory of fine finished brick with arched and awninged windows in front and almost solid sheets of glass on the other three sides, so closely were the windows placed. “Why try to make a factory look like anything but a factory, and why try to light a factory with the sun?" Detroit asked. And downtown, along Griswold Street, which was then Detroit's banking district, heads which had shaken at the idea of these popular young men having anything to do with a business so sure of failure as building automobiles, wagged vigorously.

With the new factory completed, all the machinery in Warren was loaded into freight cars and shipped to Detroit. The handful of men who made up the Warren plant pay-roll, with one or two exceptions, also moved to Michigan.. Among these were C. J. Moore, Sidney D. Waldon, and E. F. -Roberts. The Packard brothers remained in Warren administering the affairs of the- Packard Electric Company. J. W. Packard remained as President of the new Detroit company although he left the active management to those in Detroit. H. B. Joy, as General Manager, was the directing head. Director T. H. Newberry, Philip H. Mc Millen and Russell A. Alger worked closely with Mr. Joy. From the outset they stuck to the principle that they would only "make such a "wagon" as they would drive themselves."

Discussing the Packard Company's early days one afternoon at his home at Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Mr. Joy frankly confessed that he had known nothing about manufacturing. “I didn't much like the idea of taking charge of the plant, but no one else would and having gotten my friends into the thing I felt it was up to me to take the job and do the best I could. Don't know where we would have landed, however, if it hadn't been for the other directors who stuck with me."

Mr. Joy insisted that the Packard Car always should be the best that the factory could build and that it always must be sold for its full list price. He was a pioneer in the idea of making materials to fixed dimensions with tolerance limits so close as to make one part fit exactly with another. His fight for this ideal and for the principle that Packard cars must always be of the best quality, made "sledding" hard in the first year of the new company. Had it not been for his courage and the vision of the other directors associated with Mr. Joy, it would have ended in disaster the first year.

Whole volumes could be written of the troubles experienced in the first year of the Packard Motor Car Company. Losses in the factory sent any hopes of profit glimmering. Banks would loan no money to automobile factories and the men back of the Packard company had to use their personal wealth to keep things going. The net result of the first year's operations was a loss of $200,000 on a production of 200 cars.

Model L, the first car built at the Detroit plant, found as ready a sale as the cars produced at Warren. When it was finally introduced to the public, it represented a radical departure in appearance over all other Packards which had been produced up to that time. Mechanically it also showed a decided improvement over other “carriages" of the period. Drive from the motor to the rear wheels was through a shaft and the trans mission was on the rear axle. Model L was a big open job as were all others in 1904. It had no protection from the elements other than that offered by rain-proof aprons worn by driver and passengers. Puckering strings gathered these aprons tightly around the necks of wearers when rain fell.

Considerable attention had been given to the "aesthetic" in the design of this car. It probably was one of the first to be decorated with fine contrasting stripes in the painting of the bodies. The design also showed a definite step away from the old horse-drawn carriage influence. Model L might well take an even more important position in the annals of the automotive industry-it was the first motor car produced by precision methods.

Packard history beginning with the successfully passed critical first-year's operation in Detroit, was much the same as that of any moderately successful manufacturing company-any company building solidly on a secure foundation of quality craftsmanship. One car followed another in quick succession-each succeeding one better than its predecessor in quality and appearance. Favorable public reaction forced gradual extensions of factory facilities and buildings. The company prospered and a conservative policy was maintained of retiring a goodly share of excess profits back in the business, thus building continuously and soundly for future expansion and progress.

Models N and S followed model L and had an even greater success. Then came the long line of "Eighteens" and "Thirties" which achieved even greater popularity and led up to the justly famed "Thirty-eights" and well loved "Forty-eights." Through these years Packard was noted for its pioneering in both design and manufacture, a reputation well sustained by such all-important developments as the spiral bevel gear. Its advances far afield in design culminated in the famous "Twin-six" regarded by many as the greatest V type engined motor car ever produced and first introduced in 1915 to a great reception.

Some years before this period, in 1910, to be exact, Packard was fortunate in obtaining the services of a man possessed of genius for management, for development of new marketing methods and for skill in manufacturing with machines-Alvan Macauley. His record in mechanical development work and in building up of both production and distribution of cash registers and adding machines had attracted the attention of Packard directors and he came to Packard as general manager. With what else he had to offer Packard from his experience with the National Cash Register Company and the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Macauley had a firmly grounded idea-it proved to be almost a half-billion dollar idea.

From the first, Packard had built cars for a clientele limited to comparatively, few because of the high selling prices. Limited production and hand labor necessitated higher prices. The new thought which had been given great consideration was that machines could be built and tools designed which would produce much improved motor cars in greater numbers. The World War intervened to hold up full development of the idea, but experience through the war period helped carry it to a successful fruition. European combatants demanded Packard trucks in numbers beyond Packard's ability to produce. Every effort was bent toward increasing production facilities. As a result Packard was ready at the entrance of the United States into the world conflict, with a great plant and a smoothly running production line turning out trucks by the many hundreds.

Mr. Macauley had been made President of the company in 1916 and believed it inevitable that the United States would be drawn into the conflict. He was convinced that this country would be called upon to furnish great numbers of fighting airplanes. Because Mr. Macauley was right, Packard was ready with the powerful Packard aircraft engine which became the basis for the Liberty Aircraft Engine, perhaps America's greatest single contribution to the cause of the Allies.

Accumulated experience in designing and building fine gasoline engines had made it possible for Packard to develop and build the famous "905" the most powerful motor, and yet the lightest, considering its power, that had ever been built in America. Strangely enough an original and Packard patented feature of the Packard car sold to W. D. Sargent, of Chicago, in 1900 became the basic feature in the "905," the Liberty Motor and practically every water-cooled aircraft engine which has ever been built-it was the use of a welded sheet metal water jacket for the cylinders.

With the new airplane engine, Colonel J. G. Vincent, Vice-President of Engineering, its designer, had also worked out a comprehensive mass production plan. This was presented to the U. S. Government by Mr. Macauley with designs for the engine as a patriotic gift from Packard Motor Car Company. The production program for turning out Liberty Motors in vast numbers by many different plants was built on Mr. Macauley's theory that machines properly operated and correctly de signed could produce better work than could be turned out with hand labor. The theory proved sound in practice and hand labor methods fell away as Packard pioneered the path to tremendous production of war-time airplane engines.

With the coming of peace Packard had a great plant in which a large measure of success perhaps could not have been gained by manufacturing for a limited market. Actual experience in building the finest quality of vehicles by machines was in Packard's possession and was launched with the Packard "Single-Six." From its introduction in 1920 dates Packard's real rise to a place in the industrial history of the world.

Packard has been credited with giving the machine tool industry a new impetus and with having spurred it on to a new era which has brought important results for all manufacturing with metals. There is little doubt that Alvan Macauley's original theory has had a world-wide effect on industrial progress. It is certain that all automobiles have been improved by machine methods which were first completely designed and built by Packard, designed by Packard experts and machinery manufacturers cooperatively, or designed and built to meet Packard's exacting demands under the new order of things in the Packard plant. Concrete examples by the hundreds can be cited or offered in proof.

At the same time many new systems of management were evolved. Industrial experts have devoted many pages in scientific journals on industrial management to descriptions of the systems Packard worked out for cost finding, and production and inventory control. Under the new plan, inventories follow right along with production, with reserve supplies scientifically calculated and a daily check maintained by a simple workable method on everything going into the making of a car, which has resulted in the saving of millions of dollars through lower inventories, reduced obsolescence and lessened operating costs.

Also important in carrying out the new Packard plan was the manner in which the distribution organization throughout the world swung quickly into new methods of selling and servicing cars. Close cooperation was developed between the factory and the field in both sales and service. This was no "overnight" change. In the plant and in the field the new "Packard" was evolved slowly and carefully. The background and the infinite pains exercised in the planning, made success assured.

From the general design of the "Single-Six" came the Packard "Eight," as powerful and comfortable as the original "Twin-Six" and possessing that increasingly important attribute of simplicity. It became a fitting companion to the "Single-Six." Packard engineers searched the world for materials and are constantly striving to make Packard cars better. Here are just a few of the more important things Packard either evolved or pioneered in this country: the Eight-cylinder-in-line engine; four-wheel brakes; automatic chassis lubrication; the chassis stabilizer and-ride control.

Since its original Twin Six car of 1915 Packard had been continuously producing Vee type 12 cylinder engines. Its Twin Six aircraft engines were used in large numbers by both the United States Army and Navy. They held the record as the most powerful service engines in the world. Two of these great motors were the first to carry man 100 miles an hour on the water. They have kept Gar Wood, famous speed boat driver, to the fore as the marine speed king of the world for years.

With all of its accumulated experience and with a growing demand for super-powerful cars Packard returned to the Twin Six principle for its largest cars in the spring of 1932. It introduced a completely new Twin Six as the leader of its line. With this great car of the ultra-luxurious type, Packard inaugurated the "certified" motor car. Each Twin Six is certified as being ready immediately for normal driving. Each car is given a 250 mile "breaking-in" test at the Packard Proving Ground. It is operated on the big two and one-half mile concrete speedway (which by the way holds the record as the fastest circular track in the world) in the hands of engineers and other experts and all adjustments normally necessary in the first few hundred miles of operation with all automobiles are made during this test. The entire running-in test is in addition to the usual motor running-in operation at the factory, special dynamometer tests and hours of road test work.

The Packard Proving Ground, located near the village of Utica, just 20 miles north of the Packard factory, is one of the show places of that part of the country. It has the appearance of a country estate with a typical great English manor house. In it is a rare combination of beauty with utility. It is a part of the production equipment of a factory yet it is a place of velvet lawns, great elms, flowers and shrubbery planting to make a landscape gardener pause and admire.

It occupies a site of 500 acres and is equipped with miles of winding test roads, abrupt hills, roller coaster roads, miniature man-made deserts and other test equipment in addition to the great oval speedway.

The proving ground was one of the equipment features in the Macauley plan for Packard. It was believed certain that every feature of the new Packard cars would have to be tested in every way that it was possible to do so, if the plan was to reach its complete fulfillment. Beauty was a part of the plan for it was considered that environment would make itself felt without a question of doubt on the car itself.

Careful planning with the most infinite pains taken with every detail resulted in almost immediate success for the new regime in the affairs of the company. Packard grew rapidly in importance in the manufacturing world. It remains as an outstanding unit of the automobile industry.

Only naturally such success in business should attract the interest of the whole world and the name Packard has grown to be symbolic of the world-wide establishment where Packard cars are built, distributed and serviced; of the giant personnel of these local and far-flung establishments; of Packard workmanship, engineering and training; of Packard products, including besides its cars, Diesel marine and aircraft engines.

Tracing the history of Packard Motor Car Company down through the years from 1899, we find, as a permanent exhibit in the Engineering building of Lehigh University, built with an endowment by Mr. Packard, the original car, model "A"-still capable of running as well as when first built.

While Packard early in its history was, naturally, afflicted with the yearly model habit, the famous "30" was a stopping place for several years until the days of the six-cylinder which ran for several years without any major changes. Then performance, supreme, was sought and the Twin-Six without any basic changes ran for eight consecutive years. In 1915 the present body lines were established.

This is significant-no yearly models since 1915-but Packard has had product innovation, plenty of it. You can't change the striping on the body of an automobile and call it product innovation-you can't change the design of the name-plate and get away with it. The motoring public knows product innovation-it's something you can't bluff- you've either got it or you haven't-"Ask the Man Who Owns One."

This interesting article was prepared by the National Accounts Division of the B. F. Goodrich Rubber Company in order to acquaint their field selling organization with the factors and circumstances which contributed to our outstanding success and the high position we hold in American Industry.

There adheres to any large corporation a cluster of facts plus an abundance of romance and history-not generally known. Through the courtesy of the B. F. Goodrich Company we were supplied with additional reprints of this "true story" which we know will be of intense interest to members of our organization.