Thursday, December 07, 2023

1903 Packard "Old Pacific" crossing the Nevada desert during the New York to San Francisco, it was the 1st vehicle (until proven otherwise) to cross the desert. With no maps and few roads east of the Mississippi, Old Pacific conquered mountains, desert, and swamps in an epic 63 day journey across America



The Model F Packard set out from San Francisco on June 20, 1903, it had been modified only slightly---the fenders had been removed, and it had been fitted with extra gasoline tanks and an additional low gear for negotiating mountains. 

In addition to the canvas---to roll out and lay under the wheels to allow the car to traverse the most inhospitable tracts of soft sand---Fetch took along a pick and shovel and log chains to get the car through ruts.

More than once in the early weeks of the trip, Fetch found what appeared to be a well-groomed main road, only to learn after following it, sometimes for miles, that it led only to the entrance of a mine or some wealthy rancher’s spread.

East of Chicago there were more roads available to use, which helped the Packard conquer the second two thirds of America in the same amount of time as the first.

 





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