I was looking for a little half way stop on a recent trip from Flint, Michigan to Baltimore, Maryland and at just about the halfway point this gem of a museum popped up. It isn’t right off the I-80 Turnpike but is a short 12-minute (10 mile) drive.

It isn’t an overly large museum but for its size it packs a lot in and is well worth the $10 admission.

The Legacy Gallery deals mainly with the Packard Brothers and Warren, Ohio. James and William Packard founded the Packard electric company there in 1890 producing incandescent bulbs. In 1893 they partnered with the Winton Motor Carriage Company’s George L. Weiss to begin producing automobiles. In 1899 the first car rolled off the line. In 1903 the automobile manufacturing company moved to Detroit and the Warren, Ohio division focused on making automotive electrical systems. General Motors bought the electrical division in 1932. The last Packard car was made in 1958.
The cars on display in this section are all models made in Warren and include: 1903 Model F, 1902 Model F, 1901 Model C and a 1900 Model B.

The Great Hall Gallery is dedicated to nothing but showcasing a rotating display of the fantastic cars produced in Detroit. On my visit I was fortunate enough to see: 1937 model 1507 TWELVE 2/4 passenger Rumble seat roadster, Vincent Black Lightning motorcycle, 1956 Packard Executive, 1955 Packard Caribbean (bought by Howard Hughes for his future wife Jean Peters), 1951 Packard Pan American, 1948 Harley Sericar motorcycle, an ambulance conversion used by the US Air Force, plus many more.

The museum also has a rotating Featured Exhibition, but was dark during my visit.

The National Packard Museum
1899 Mahoning Ave N.W. Warren, Ohio 44483
Phone: (330) 394-1899

https://packardmuseum.org/
Email: national@packardmuseum.org

Tuesday - Saturday, 	12pm - 5 pm
Sunday, 		1pm - 5pm,

Copyright Roy Richard