Ask the Man Who Owns One: Packard Ads from 1908-1953

Packards were the dominant luxury vehicle in the first half of the twentieth century. Here are some of our favorite Packard ads from the magazine.

Advertisement for a Packard Eighteen car from 1908
Packard Eighteen
October 31, 1908
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This Packard Model Eighteen was one of the first Packard ads carried in the Post.

 

A Packard Twin-Six car advertisement
Packard Twin-Six
June 10, 1916
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The Packard Twin-Six claimed to make “the twelve-cylinder car the world’s standard of automobile sufficiency and value,” and could be yours for less than $3,000.

 

A Packard car ad from the late 1920s
August 6, 1927
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“Like the beautiful proportions of Eastern architecture which centuries have been unable to improve upon, Packard lines have set a standard which the whole motor industry has been unable to more than copy.”

 

An ad for the Packard Twin-Six, a car from 1932. The automobile is on a road lined with trees.
Packard Twin-Six
October 8, 1932
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“Packard takes each individual Twin-Six to its Proving Grounds and there, on the world’s fastest concrete speedway, scientifically breaks it in.”

 

A Packard car ad from 1934. A drawing of a tree is behind the vehicle.
June 2, 1934
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In 1934, Packard tried an early version of “social media,” creating a booklet with the names of people in the local community who had bought Packards. “Ask them the questions given, and any others you may think of. Then follow their verdict.”

 

An ad for a Packard covertable. From 1940.
Packard Convertible Victoria
March 30, 1940
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This Packard Convertible Victoria “boasts no less than 160 horsepower. The most powerful 8-cylinder motor in any American passenger car whispers beneath its bonnet.”

 

An ad for the Packard custom convertable from 1941.
Packard Custom Convertible Victoria
March 22, 1941
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“The Electromatic Drive, for example, is a revelation in simplified automatic driving. The clutch operates itself with uncanny skill…And available in all closed Packards, at extra cost, is a sensational new Packard “first” — real, refrigerated Air Conditioning!”

 

An ad for the Packard Clipper car. The car is in front of a beach house with affluent people nearby admiring it.
Packard Clipper
June 1, 1946
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Packard had an early hand in co-branding. This ad features “Two star performers: the globe-girdling Pan American Clipper and the beautiful new Packard Clipper.”

 

A Packard car ad. Three automobiles are superimposed on an image of ballerinas.
Packard Patrician, Packard Convertible, Packard Mayfair
April 11, 1953
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This Packard ad features Alicia Markova, “Universally Acclaimed World’s Greatest Ballerina,” although she is neither interacting with nor endorsing Packards. Packard stopped making cars five years later, in 1958. The last Packard ad ran in the post in February of 1957, after the company had purchased Studebaker and changed its name to Studebaker-Packard.