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According to UPI.com, odd news, Almanac section...

This day in history...
In 1903, a Packard automobile completed a 52-day journey from San Francisco to New York, becoming the first car to cross the nation under its own power.

man i wish Packard was around today. it is so AWESOME what they accomplished to have been left to just history.

thanks for sharing!!

Hank

There was somekind of TV documentary that aired about the cross country excursion. It was made some 8 or 10 years ago and aired here in the Nashville Tn. area on National Public Television station.

IIRC the documentary was available at the time on either VHS or DVD for about $40.

We also have this on the website:

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/view.article.php?445

Which chronicles a family's journey across the US driving a Packard in 1908.

Actually, it was a Winton that was the first car to cross the U.S. The Winton and the Packard were on the trek at the same time, but the Winton started first and finished first. The Winton was a private effort and the Packard had factory support. Shortly after these two cars completed their journey, a Curved Dash Oldsmobile did a similar drive. Hard to imagine what difficulties these first trans U.S. drives had to deal with. Many books have been written about these adventures and PBS broadcast a story about the Winton crossing a couple of years ago.

(o{I}o)

Brings to mind a story I read in Antique Automobile back in the 70's.

Two young men graduated from high school in 1911 & decided to celebrate by driving cross country in (if memory serves correctly) a Moline Dreadnought provided by the manufacturer.

The story chronicles their fording rivers or crossing them on RR bridges , following telegraph poles across the great plains, and various breakdowns.

They completed the journey, although one of the men decided to continue walking around the world & never made it back home...

Thanks JW for the correction. Yes, it was a Winton that the PBS broadcast was about.

If were talking about the same movie it is called horatio's drive. Fantastic documentary. Its really worth watching

Friends

There is an excellent full length article about the Fetch trip about a year ago in the The Packard Cormorant.

I was rather involved in the Packards Across America Centenntial Transcontinental run in 2003. I have story which I wrote about in the Packard Cormorant News Bulletin, which will elaborate on here


I met Charles Wake, Alexander Winton's great grandson, during the Magnum Opus at the Packard Centennial in Warren. :He bears a striking resemblance to Winton.
You will remember that a 1898 Winton was the only non Packard at the Magnum Opus, parked back to back to Packard #1. I spent a very pleasant 20 minutes or so with him crawling over both cars noting the similarities and differences-they were both designed by Charles Hatch, who Ward Packard hired away from Winton. We had a great time together, but he did mention that he parked the Winton facing AWAY from the Packard, otherwise he would find a rope tied between them.....


In 2003 I was with the Packards Across America group that came from the East Coast to Warren. I was the only driver that drove the complete eastern route as many people only did a partial trip. At the end of the first day we had about 5 or 6 Packards all together, driving into the inn at Skenatales (sp?). We were going to have dinner together and the local drivers were going home after.

When we got to the inn, there were three WINTONS in the parking lot a; 1903, 1904 and 1916 coming from San Francisco. Terry Martin knew about this but had forgotten to warn me....

I asked around for Charles Wake, and was very pleased to find that he remembered me.

JH " The Packard owners would like to ask the Winton owners to dinner'

CW "We've made plans"

JH " I'll buy you a drink"

CW "I don't drink"

One of the other Packard owners had the exact same conversation.

I tried, after 104 years. The Ford and Chevy people have nothing on this,,,


Regards

John Harley

For a good read on the subject, I recommend: Coast to Coast by Automobile - The Pioneering Trips, 1899-1908 by Curt McConnell. Lots of great photos. These motorists were brave.

(o{I}o)