Wow! nice eye Randy. I knew I'd seen this before. If I'd gotten further
into my Old Style font notebook, I'd have reached my entry for Packard.

Like many typefaces in the Solotype Catalog, Dieter Steffmann
digitized this as Packard Antique. So if you are able to use Windows
Truetype or Type 1, it's a freebie. Comes with a bold variant as well.

No promise, of course, that Steffmann's version will match your
sample precisely.

OptiFonts are handled these days by Castcraft.

Their website is, to say the least, outdated and the only part that
functions usefully is the Designer Collections link. Since Opti
Packard is not in any of the four Designer Collections and the
Online Catalog images don't appear, you would need to contact
Castcraft.

Over the last few years, I've contacted them by e-mail 5 times and
received a reply once. Hopefully you'll fare better. I'm sure that they
could provide the font in the format of your choosing.

As to which font would be most accurate, it seems likely that the
OptiFont was used. Since Dieter Steffmann's version is free, you
can check it out for yourself. It doesn't fare the best on-screen, so
be sure to print a sample paragraph or two to see it on paper,
where it looks splendid.

There was a version called 'Paliard' that was made by NovelFonts in the mid-90's but I have been unable to find anywhere that still sells them. I found only one site that shows a sample, and it looks identical.

Great info Mike and Mike.

$57.50 per font, did I read that correctly?

Does OPTI have a connection to URW?

I'd love to see a Foundry Flow Chart to see where
all these obscure type companies came from.

bj

My advice would be to contact Dieter Steffmann before you do anything to distribute this (if you just use it yourself that's up to you). For one thing, Dieter may want to know what changes were made; for another your software may 'fix' it only so that your software doesn't see errors/warnings -- are you sure that makes it compatible with any other similar software, like FontLab or Fontographer?

Anyway, talk to Dieter, is my advice.

I am impressed! I have been looking for the font off-and-on for about 5 years or more.

I had begun to think that it was a custom font.

I have a couple questions: First, is Opti Packard a Truetype or Type 1 font, or does it only appear in the Solotype Catalog? Second (if Opti Packard does not exist in an electronic form), do I understand you correctly that Packard Antique would be the closest electronic form of Opti Packard?

Thank you!

Once again...I am truly impressed.

Thanks for the info.

Now...I opened up Steffmann's Packard Antique font with High-Logic's Font Creator Program and I noticed that there were several errors/warnings. I fixed (very meticulously, mind you) the errors and warnings, which included contour directions, redundant points, overlapping contours, and a few obvious defects. I saved my fixed font as a new font file (Truetype).

What is the best way to handle this in terms of releasing this "fixed" version out into the "wild" of the Internet. Of course, I would give Steffmann full credit still, but I would make a note within the font that it was a cleaned up version of the font. Should I name my fixed font differently? Should I even be doing this?

I was hoping that my cleanup work would make the font appear better on screen, but unfortunately, my changes had no effect in this regard. You are right however, that the font looks excellent when printed out.

Thanks for the advice...I will heed it.

Don