Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Does anyone know whether the earliest cars had chain drive? I've just been to Lanhydrock House in Cornwall, and there is a comment on an early photo that the house had two cars in 1901 or 1902. One named as a "Chain Driven Packard" (no photo of cars)
I'm away from home & haven't access to my own library, which would probably give me the answer!!
If true, it shows that at least one was exported to England.
The other possibility is that it was a chain driven Panhard!!
Michael Taylor

Packard introduced a shaft-driven unitized rear transaxle with enclosed transmission and differential with the Model L, 1903. As the earlier single-cylinder models had a crankshaft which was parallel to the axles, they conveniently used an open chain-driven bevel gear differential which you can clearly see in these pictures of Howard Schaevitz' 1902. I'm sure someone here knows these early Packards far better than I, but I hope I've correctly answered your question.`

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Many thanks Looks like at least one of these early cars got to England!
Cheers, Michael

Nearly all of the original owners of the Warren-built Packards are known from surviving records. The only one I know of that's listed as being sold outside the U.S. was 1903 Model F (engine F251) which was sold in Montreal PQ.

Here's an illustration which better shows the chain and sprocket system of the Model C.

The most up-to-date information on these early cars can be found in the 2006 Terry Martin book "Packard - the Warren Years"; this book adds to and corrects some of the information in the Kimes-edited book based on some George Weiss documents that came to light after the Kimes work was published.

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The earliest Packard with chain drive.

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I love this old history, it's just plain fascinating!

Steve

Thank you all for the info.
If the car that was mentioned ( no photo ) wasn't a Packard it'd have been a Panhard
Great to get the real info. All the best Michael