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Packard produced their first automobile as the Ohio Automobile Company on November 6, 1899, in Warren, Ohio, at the encouragement of Mr. Alexander Winton, founder (1896) of the Winton Motor Carriage Comany of Cleveland, Ohio.
It seems Mr. James Ward Packard was displeased with the quality and performance of his 1898 Winton and let it be known to Mr. Winton. Winton challenged Packard to try and build a better automobile, stating :
"...the Winton waggon as it stood was the ripened and perfected product of many years of lofty thought, aided by mechanical skill of the highest grade, and could not be improved in any detail, and that if Mr. Packard wanted any of his own cats and dogs worked into a waggon, he had better build it himself, as he, Winton, would not stultify himself by any departure whatever from his own incontestably superior productions."
Packard's reputation for quality automobiles was echoed by their new-for-1901 slogan: "Ask the Man Who Owns One"
By 1901, William D. Rockefeller already owned two Packards and would later purchase more. Also, Henry B. Joy, a wealthy Detroit business man and owner of many shares of the Ohio Automobile Company stock, purchased his second Packard in 1902. In the fall of that year, the Ohio Automobile Company changed it's name to the Packard Motor Car Company and moved to Detroit in 1903 with the help of Joy.
The red hexagon shape used on Packards was trademarked in the 1920s as imitation builders tried to benefit from Packards image and sales success. As Packard automobiles continued to move upscale, they added the tagline, "Original Creations by Master Designers" to promote their new 1926 line of custom-designed and coach-built automobiles. Two years later, the Packard family crest officially became the emblem for the automobiles, in honor of the passing of founder James W. Packard.
The recession of the late 1930s hurt Packard as their cars were priced upmarket and styling had become stagnant. Despite hard times, Packard still outproduced "The Standard of the World", Cadillac, in 1941. As World War II took over the company's thoughts, they sold the dies for their Junior and Senior to the USSR, where they were used in the creation of the Russian Z.I.S. The Packard Motor Car Company ceased in the late 1950s.