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Just curious, does anyone know WHEN Packard started printing owner's manuals?

I know the 1905 parts book is on this site, and the 1908 manual. But did they have something for the (1900) Model B for example, of which they sold 49 units? Hard to imagine some written reference did not exist.

Robert J. Neal published the history of Packard's owner's manuals in a two-part article in The Packard Cormorant #146 and #147 in 2012. The earliest manual he found was from 1906. The documents were named Instruction Books from 1906 to 1910.

The earliest I have found and own is from 1904. I have a print ad from 1899 and some other early 1900's as well.

Nice! Might you be so kind to show more of what's in that? 😃

Back in the day, you could only copyright a work by submitting physical copies to the Copyright Office. So I did some searching just now and found that the Ohio Automobile Co copyrighted a book called "Packard Automobiles" in 1901. The Copyright Office should still have it on file, but they do not digitize their records, so I or someone else would need to call and see if they have it and could get a digital copy.

Note that this is referred to as the copyright deposit, not copyright record.

Edit: Looking in WorldCat, seems like the Ohio History Connection Archives & Library may have a copy. I'll give them a call.

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Can't promise a time but I will try and have that as a first scan to share. I have an assortment of ephemera on my to do scan list that I am happy to share with anybody for private use only (i.e. not for reprints on ebay). I should also point out that https://www.hcfi.org/ has scans (up to 100 for $40 membership and they have a 1903 and a 1905 Packard limo "manual" which both seem more like history and brochures.

I heard back from the Ohio History Connection Archives & Library and I can get a scan for $12 but apparently it might be a couple weeks lead time. So we will see.

Here's the manual. Enjoy. This isn't watermarked, etc. to be friendly for others to reprint for personal use only. As someone who used to work at printers, I did my best to find the happy medium between the scan being "squared" vs. reality where it was less than perfect. Some of you who are OCD about print quality and the like will understand.

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Packard_1904_Owners_Manual.pdf Size: 6,525.12 KB; Hits: 59

Those were the days when vehicle prices were printed in manuals! Corey (CCR), very impressive manual and very friendly and generous of you to share it. Could you please be kind enough to allow Kevin (BigKev) to add the digital copy of the manual to the Literature Archive?

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Sounds great, where can I buy one? 😃

Oh, all that's left are 1 each at the Ford and Nethercutt museums. 😔

Absolutely. Ultimately my goal is to catalogue what ephemera I have maybe on my own site but definitely here to be shared amongst enthusiasts. I'm still searching for manuals for Sixes between 1913-15 if anyone has. I have the one for "The 1912 Six".