One of the largest collections of Packard automobiles
Anywhere in the world
↓
Welcome to our museum
The Packard Motor Museum provides an informative educational experience based around the automobiles, machinery, stories and lives of those who led the industrial revolution and created and shaped our modern way of life.
Most of our visitors are shocked, surprised and some have trouble believing that we have 5 sheds onsite to go through.
From the road, it looks like a quick walk through the main building then pop next door to the shed with “Anawhata Museum Trust” painted on it. Ah, no…
Have a look at the pictures and list that follow, and the site map below.
“Ask the man who owns one”
This was the sales pitch of the Packard Motor Car Company and reflected the quality of their product.
The Packard collection is housed in two separate rooms.
The Old Packard room showing the early Packard’s starting with our 1919 Opera Coupe and encompassing a line-up of 1920s and early 1930s cars.
The next shed – the New Packard Shed – houses the more modern Packards, from 1938 through to the 1958 Packard Hawk, one of the last cars off the production line.
A few of the Packards are still at the family farm.
The Collection
Packards
Military Vehicles
The Mostly English Collection
Motorcycles
Earth Movers
Steam & Traction Engines
And there’s more
No matter what your interest, we are bound to have something for you here.
The collection was started by Graeme Craw, who gathered almost anything from the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Many domestic items that had changed the way people lived caught his eye.
The museum’s collection includes:
Saws and early chain-saws
Telephones
Early vacuum cleaners
Toy cars from the 1920’s
Vintage radio collection
Early sewing machines
Money box collection
NZ uniforms from 1850 – 1945
Goat and dog carts
Lantern projector (1890)
Early French slide viewer
Rifles, flintlock pistols, machine guns, bayonets and swords
Cast iron stoves
Early carpenters’ tools
Early saddlers’ and leather tools
Steam models (static)
‘Start up days’
Our vehicles are not just for looking at! Give us a call to find out when our next ‘Start up day’ is scheduled and amplify the nostalgia as pre-loved (and presently loved) motors kick into life.
Site Map
Shed 1
Packards from 1919 to 1939
Trucks, Fire Engines, Chainsaws, Lawn Mowers, Tools and much more
Shed 2 - ‘The Big Back Shed’
Jammed full of trucks, cars, bull dozers, tractors, machinery, engines and spares - and so much more - you have to see it to believe it.
Shed 3 - ‘The Lean To’
Holds an assortment of vehicles that probably need no introduction, but which will provoke some long lost memories
Shed 4 - The ‘Mostly English’ Shed
A collection that runs from Ajax through Hudson through Volkswagen. From there, take the side door back into Shed 1 - and head upstairs.
Shed 1 - upstairs
The Motorcycle Room.
And also, home to typewriters, sewing machines, telephones and the world famous - in Maungatapere - potato masher collection!
Shed 5 - ‘Anawhata Museum Trust’
Last of the Packards.
There are Studebakers, gramophones, irons and plenty of interesting items to round out the final stop on your visit
