The first Packard automobiles were produced in , and the last Detroit-built Packard in , when they built the Packard Predictor, their last concept car. A mechanical engineer, James Packard believed they could build a better horseless carriage than the Winton cars owned by Weiss, an important Winton stockholder, after Packard complained to Alexander Winton and offered suggestions for improvement, which were ignored.
Henry Bourne Joy, a member of one of Detroit's oldest and wealthiest families, bought a Packard. Impressed by its reliability, he visited the Packards and soon enlisted a group of investorsβincluding Truman Handy Newberry and Russell A.
Alger Jr. Alger later served as vice president. Packard moved operations to Detroit soon after, and Joy became general manager and later chairman of the board. An original Packard, reputedly the first manufactured, was donated by a grateful James Packard to his alma mater, Lehigh University, and is preserved there in the Packard Laboratory.
Another is on display at the Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio. In the beginning, all Packards had a single-cylinder engine until Packard vehicles featured innovations, including the modern steering wheel and, years later, the first production cylinder engine, adapted from developing the Liberty L, and air-conditioning in a passenger car.
Packard produced its "Twin Six" model series of cylinder cars from to The marque developed a following among wealthy purchasers both in the United States and abroad, competing with European marques like Rolls-Royce and Mercedes Benz. The 3,,square-foot , m2 Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit was located on over 40 acres 16 ha of land. Designed by Albert Kahn Associates, it included an early use of reinforced concrete for an automotive factory when building 10 opened in early Its skilled craftsmen practiced over 80 trades.
