Packard Motor Car Company by Greg Zyla

Q: What happened to the Packard Motor Car Company that was supposed to put a car out in 2006? I loved the beautiful Packard cars from back in the Forties and Fifties. Galen C., Florida.

A: Galen, there was an effort to build an American based V-12 Packard not too long ago, and the information is still on the internet at www.packardmotorcar.com.

The man behind the effort was Roy Gullickson, then of Phoenix, Az. and now reportedly living in Canada. Gullickson previously worked as a mechanical engineer in charge of development at White Motor Corp, which is now Volvo Trucks.

In 1995, Gullickson purchased the rights to the Packard name, and by 1998 had built a V-12 powered luxury sedan prototype. When financial backers failed to materialize, Gullickson abandoned the project and announced May 10 of 2007 that Packard Motor Car Company was for sale. Assets would include the Packard car name trademark, the Packard V-12 running prototype, engineering data, photo files, spare parts and tooling.

Supposedly, Gullickson was seeking to sell his interest at an asking price of $1.5 million. He even tried to sell the company, or seek investors, on eBay in 2000 through noted classic car auction affiliate Kruse International. The auction drew five bidders, the highest a $275,000 late hour offer, which was well below his secret reserve price.

The Packard brand was active from 1899 through 1958, and sold more cars than Cadillac and Lincoln during 20 of 21 model years from 1925 through 1949.

Although “never say never” may apply here, the likelihood of a new Packard coming to market for purchase is extremely slim.

However, I would sure love to see Gullickson’s prototype in person.

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