Packard Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
I don’t care if you are into sports cars, hot rod, customs or any other car you see at a car show you will enjoy this museum. No there is not a muscle car in site and no there are no metal flake paint jobs. The Fort Lauderdale Antique Car Museum is about only one kind of car, the Packard. It has the biggest collection of Packards and Packard memorabilia in the World according to staff at the museum.
When we walked in we were impressed but once we started walking around and discovered there were multiple rooms of cars we were ready to settle in for a long tour. We spent two hours at the facility and could easily have spent twice that.
Each car has its own book of facts and history displayed with the vehicle. Some are brief and others are extensive. Some of the cars have an interesting history of fame and others are just good old Packards.
When I was growing up the Packard had already slipped into being an “old man’s car”. It wasn’t cool but the older folks seemed to have a certain respect for the car name. As I grew older I just thought of the Packard as the car Studebaker bought and later killed off. Touring this museum certainly gave me a much greater respect for the brand name and a much better appreciation of what the car once was.
In its day it was the American Rolls Royce and was the car you had to have if you were a “somebody” in America. It didn’t matter if you were a Hollywood Movie Star or a President, if it was prior to WWII you wanted a Packard.
The following are but a few of the fantastic vehicles on display at the Packard Antique Car Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. If you are ever in that part of the Country and have had enough beach time drive over to the museum and see what you have been missing.
This is my favorite car in the entire museum. It is a 1909 Packard Model “18″ Gentleman’s Runabout Speedster. 1 of 11.
I will never be able to own one of these Brass cars but wow are they works of art.
The grill shell design was a Packard trademark.
Packard never made a pickup or truck of any kind but this is a very well built custom.
This is a 1916 Model 1-35 Town Car Limo with a twin six. What is a twin six? Look below.
This is the only one know to exist.
A twin six is a V-12 of sorts made from mating two in line six cylinder engines together. This twin has 424 cubic inches with 88HP.
Check out this interior; now that is a limo!
This 1921 Model “3-35″ is a 7-Passenger Touring Twin Six. It was used in the Inaugural Parade in New York City with passengers Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, and Albert Einstein!
The owner also hosts events in the museum around the cars thus the need for a vintage bar!
There are cabinets and displays throughout the museum. We could have spent at least another two hours on just this stuff.
So you think a windshield radio antenna is trick? This ornate hood ornament is also the radio antenna.
This is the first of its kind 1938 Funeral “Flower Car”.
This is also one of my favorites from the collection. It is a 1926 Model “243″ 7-Passenger Touring body.
This is also one of the Packards I always think about, 1955 Caribbean Convertible. These cars are great.
This is a 1929 Model “645″ Dual Cowl Phaeton
This grill is pure art.
I think this is one of the most beautiful cars in the collection.
Unfortunately, this is what I use to think of when you said Packard.
Packard never built a Firetruck but they supplied many a chassis for commercial heavy duty use. This is a 1930 model.
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Great web site. My friend has restored Mrs. Scott’s (Scott Lawn Care) 1938 Parkard Limo. It has a stright eight engine.
I have been an avid follower of the Packard marque for over sixty years and have collected and/or scratch built mosatly 1:43 scale models of every year of Packards exsistance. Now have over 95 models. Do you sell any collectibles? Thanks for letting me view your collection. I think its a great website. Keep up the good wo0rk. Peter
We are not the museum but did do a review of our visti there. If you would like to contact the museum directly you can visit their site at http://www.antiquecarmuseum.org/site/about/about_main.html. Their phone number is (954)779-7300. Sounds like you have an interesting collection of scale models.