Day Trip - January 20, 2009

Our first day trip of 2009 began when we left the church at 10:30AM for the Racquet Club downtown. After a nice lunch, we departed for an interesting view of a unique piece of history; the Packard Museum.

If you want to see a larger view of any image just click on it!

Our day trip for January 2009 started with a great view of Dayton from the Racquet Club for an excellent view. See how much of this view you recognize from this high angle. Do you know which building is Memorial Hall?

There were 26 of us in the dining room. See how many you can name.

Well, perhaps it isn’t fair to ask you to name so many with their backs to the camera.
After lunch we went to the Museum.

Our docent did an excellent job of telling us the history of the Packard Motor Company and their autos. He shared a wealth of information and showed that he truly loved these cars and this museum.

A good percentage of the cars in the museum were convertibles. Perhaps that is because collectors prefer them. I don’t know. Most of the cars were owned by the museum but many were privately owned.

1935 Convertible Sedan

I took a liking to the hood ornaments. The Packard autos seemed to have a good variety of them.

Occasionally, it was a good idea to rest one’s legs.

The museum even had some great examples of non Packard autos. This is a fine example but you will need to ask Ruth if you want to know what it is.

I was surprised to see that Packard made much more that just automobiles. As this display shows, they made the motors for WWI aircraft, the famous P51 WWII fighter, the PT boats and they even made a bicycle!
It is a shame to see a company with such creativity no longer with us.