SAH members from the U.S. and Canada touched down in Dayton, Ohio, for the Fifth Biennial Auto History Conference, held in cooperation with the National Association of Automobile Museums, on March 31st through April 3rd.

The joint conference was hosted by America’s Packard Museum, which is located in the restored Citizens Motorcar Company. The museum sincerely believes that these fine automobiles are still meant to be driven. A highlight for me was going to lunch in a 1947 Clipper Deluxe Eight sedan and returning in a 1953 Henney 400 limousine.

Dayton’s claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of aviation—also the self-starter, the Stoddard-Dayton car and Delco. We were given ample opportunity to experience the city’s rich history through bus trips to Dayton Wire Wheels, Carillon Historical Park and the United States Air Force Museum.

The papers presented at the conference covered a range of topics, including automobiles and aircraft, automobile design, early auto shows, roads and cars in the army. Presenters’ audio visual aids ranged from simple slides to elaborate PowerPoint presentations, but all managed to keep to their allotted time, much to the relief of Kit Foster and his crew of facilitators.

Thursday’s lunch at the hotel featured Jane Walker, the daughter of Willard Hess, of Hess & Eisenhardt. Ms. Walker spoke of her father’s credo, "work for formality in elegant simplicity," and described the specifications and special features of customized limousines he built for presidents and other dignitaries, including the 1961 custom-built Lincoln parade car built for President Kennedy.

Lucky conference attendees has their pick of these fine Packards to transport them to Ridgeleigh Terrace, the former home of Charles F. Kettering, for lunch or dinner. Once there we were treated to a highly informative look at the life and genius of "Boss Ket" by Dr. Glen Hamilton, a trustee of America's Packard Museum. Photo: Tom Jakups

On both Thursday and Friday, conference-goers could opt for a ride in a Packard for lunch at Ridgeleigh Terrace, the former home of Charles F. Kettering. Ridgeleigh Terrace was built by Kettering in 1914 and was his home until his death in 1958. Much of the house was destroyed in a 1994 fire, but it has since been restored. It was the first house in the country to have central air conditioning, designed by Kettering.

After lunch, Dr. Glen Hamilton, a trustee of the Packard Museum spoke about Kettering’s work with the self-starter and his other inventions and also told the history of the house.

SAH members look closely at restored wheels at Dayton Wire Wheels. The company does vintage restoration work on Borani and Buick Skylark wheels among others. Photo: Tom Jakups

Bus trips on Thursday and Friday took us all around Dayton. The first stop on our Thursday afternoon trip was Dayton Wire Wheels. This company provided the original wheels for Cord, Mar-mon and Duesenberg as well as wheels for racing cars and airplanes, including Lindbergh’s "Spirit of St. Louis." It now provides wheels for low riders, luxury cars, SUV’s and motorcycles. No, we were not given free samples.

From there we were brought to a nondescript garage in an industrial area. Inside was housed a private collection of automobiles which included Pierce-Arrows, Buicks and Mercedes. Bunched together as they were we could see that one would have to empty half the garage to get one car out. Must have been quite a spectacle in the neighborhood when that happened.

A final stop Thursday, and all too brief, was to Carillon Historical Park, which tells the history of Dayton through historical buildings, artifacts and exhibits. Included in the park are the Wright Brothers Aviation Center and and a replica of Deeds Barn, where Charles Kettering and the "Barn Gang" invented the self-starter.

Friday’s bus tour took us to the United States Air Force Museum, the largest and oldest military aviation museum in the world. We walked through the Early Years Gallery, which shows how military flight began; the Air Power Gallery which presents the planes of World War II, Korea and Vietnam; and finally the Space Gallery, which details the evolution of astronauts’ space suits, food and other gear.

It was all smiles at the Banquet Dinner at America's Packard Museum. Bill Chapin, of the MotorCities National Heritage Area, is flanked by Bob Signom, founder and curator of the museum, and Marcia Bethel, executive director. Photo: Tom Jakups

After a full day of presentations on Saturday we repaired to the Citizens MotorCar Company for cocktails, dinner and the presentation of the NAMMY awards to deserving museums. Our dinner speaker was Bill Chapin who regaled us with anecdotes about Hudson, Nash and AMC. While we were at the museum we had an opportunity to walk among the many Packards—some restored, others with that appealing patina of comfortable aging—that are housed there.

I would like to congratulate Kit Foster, Bob Signom, Marcia Bethel and all the presenters for another great history conference. I can’t wait for 2006.