File talk:1909 automotive advertisemens - USA.jpg

Category:Packard Motor Car Company has been removed. I added it because there is a direct link to the Packard automobile.

Packard Electric was founded in 1890 by James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard (1861-1923) in Warren, Ohio. It manufactured dynamoes, bulbs, other electric devices, and street illuminating systems. J.W. Packard, electric engineer, worked at least since 1890 on an automobile, and PE hired c. 1893 a machinist, E.P. Cowles from Wequiock, Wisconsin, as the manager of PE's drawing office. Cowles had built a steamer as early as 1875, an he assisted J.W. Packard in drawing a car as early as 1896.

Work on the Packard Model A was begun in Spring, 1899, in a shop installed in a corner of the New York & Ohio Co.. This company handled by now PE's bulb business, and was integrated in the PE plant. Soon, a partnership named Packard & Weiss resulted which included investor George L. Weiss. New York & Ohio handled the automobile administration until July, 1899. Then, a new company was formed named Ohio Automobile Company At this time, W.D. Packard withdraw, and William Albert Hatcher, former plant superintendent at Winton, joined. The Packards negotiated the sale of the New York & Ohio Co., but at last kept it. The first car was built between July and October, 1899. It was completed in the same PE shop, with a historic test drive by JWP on 1, November. It resulted in the application of the first "H" pattern for a automobile gear lever.

A total of five Model A cars was built in this shop. All were finished in early 1901, long before the Packard Motor Car Co. was implemented in October, 1903.

So, it is safe to say that the first Packard automobile was built in a Packard Electric subsidiary located in the Packard Electric plant. This was the reason I added Category:Packard Motor Car Company.--Chief tin cloud (talk) 12:52, 11 July 2018 (UTC)