I often like to revisit photos from trips I’ve taken in the past. It brings back nice memories of bygone experiences and makes me aware in changes of my perspectives. For example, over the decades I’ve gained a significantly increasing appreciation of older cars, mostly for the works of art they were and remain. Modern cars generally work well, but are terribly boring.
I visited the Ford Lauderdale Antique Car Museum about 7 years ago. I knew little about it before that visit, so I was most pleasantly surprised by what I found there. I saw an amazing collection of beautiful old Packard cars and trucks – and nothing but Packards. They were housed in a building stuffed with car-related memorabilia, and my brother and I spent a half a day exploring this interesting collection and taking photos. It was a fun experience!
I didn’t know until I was well into preparing the photos from that visit for publication that the Ford Lauderdale Antique Car Museum was one of the victims of the CoVid lockdown. It closed its doors in 2021 – truly a loss to old car lovers. I debated not completing the post(s), but I thought the car collection was interesting enough to members of our audience that I’d share it with you, and provide some documentation of what the museum was like.
The Ford Lauderdale Antique Car Museum was founded by Arthur O. Stone as a non-profit foundation, to showcase his collection of Packard cars and trucks, and related memorabilia. He’d been collecting these vehicles for many years and amassed the world’s largest collection of Packards, which were lovingly preserved and displayed. Stepping into the museum was like stepping back in time – in fact, the museum was designed to resemble a 1920’s Packard showroom and its aim was to educate the public.
Packard was an American luxury auto brand (made in Detroit) that operated from 1899 to 1958. It had a reputation for quality craftsmanship, and owning a Packard became a status symbol – much like owning a Cadillac or Mercedes was in later years.
I’m sharing my favorite cars from this collection in two posts. Today’s post features the older cars in the collection, most more than a century old. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did:
1909 Packard Model ’18’ Speedster:
1915 Model E 2 1/2 ton Truck:
1916 Packard Town Car Limo:
1918 Packard Model 3-25:
1921 Packard 3-35:
1922 Packard Model 126 (Sport Phaeton):
1923 Packard Model 126 (Doctor’s Coupe):
1928 Packard Model 5-26 Convertible Coupe:
1929 Packard Model 645:
1930 Packard Firetruck:
(This series is concluded at this link)
Looking forward to Part 2!