The company remains today as a part of the Wihuri Group, by which it was acquired in 1955. As so many other companies in the automotive trade in the Nordic Region, Autola represented several auto makers and had other agencies during its history, but Packard was long the most important, especially for the company's development before the second world war. The brand gave the company a quality profile that it tried to exploit in other contexts. Autola was owned and managed by influential and well-reputed people with valuable contacts both locally and internationally. The customers, and especially the Packard clientele, were largely well-known citizens, members of the upper reaches of society. Autola's staff was recruited with ability to interact with this clientele in mind, a clientele that by its nature and its need was both demanding and intractable.

Autola Oy was founded in December 1921 in Helsinki with its main business to be selling workshop equipment and accessories for the needs of the Finnish automotive trade. Founders were Consul-General Oskari Kauppi, Engineer Kuno K. Kinnunen and Banker Väinö Laurola. Consul-General Oskari Kauppi was elected Chairman and Kuno K. Kinnunen was appointed to serve as President. In 1924 operations were expanded and complemented beyond workshop equipment. The first automobile import agreement was concluded with Automobiles Renault S.A. The agreement with Renault was short-lived, however. It was terminated after only two years. An import agreement was concluded in the fall of 1924 with Packard Motors Export Corporation.

After starting to sell Packards in 1925 operations developed at a brisk pace. Revenue grew from 1.9 million mark in 1923 to 8.1 million mark in 1925. In 1927 Engineer Arvo Aalto was appointed to serve as President. He was sent on study tours to England and France to explore what the automotive world had to offer a growing company in Finland. Even so, American products were in majority in the beginning. In 1926 Autola concluded an import contract with Graham-Paige and successfully sold its medium-price products. Miller Cord tires were also sold and within a year the company was a leading tire seller. Gasoline is highly flammable and naturally Autola could offer quality fire extinguishers of the Pyrene brand. Cars broke down and had to be repaired. Autola sold workshop equipment made by Joe Sunnen. Machine tools for grinding crankshafts, boring cylinders and grinding valve seats were good sellers.

The newly minted diploma engineer Wilhelm Guerillot began his career at Autola in 1928. Autola had just completed its best year to date with 192 cars sold, 38 of which were Packards. This was something to build on. Guerillot was offered a position at the Packard factory in Detroit to improve his skills. In the summer of 1929 he traveled to Detroit and began on the assembly line for rear axles where the pace was not so hectic. In time, he went on to study all phases of manufacture and also worked with final assembly. He had a wonderful time and he was boarded at 1248 East Grand Boulevard. At the time Detroit was a pleasant and secure residential district with good service providing good subsistence for auto maker employees. The stock market crash in October 1929 brought on major changes for Packard, Autola as well as Guerillot. He was laid off from his job, but was rehired at lower pay and after some time he decided to stay in Detroit despite the uncertain situation. He stayed on until July of 1930, at which time he returned to Finland and Autola. Dismal prospects awaited him. Sales of Packard cars had dwindled to 23 in 1929 and in 1930 only 10 were sold. As newly appointed sales manager, Guerillot could only hope for better times. Despite the recession he moved into a perfect bachelor's den at Topeliusgatan 11. The building, called Eureka, was built in 1922 according to revolutionary American principles with a central kitchen in the basement and distribution of ready-to-eat meals prepared to order and distributed to the desired level by a dumb waiter. Surely an ideal solution for a confirmed bachelor with long working days and an exhausting business travel schedule.

During the boom in the late 1920s Autola sold Packards to many prominent persons. Customers included ambassadors, doctors, district judges, pharmacists, bankers and landowners. The Managing Director of Kansallis-Osake-Pankki, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who later became the country's President, ordered a seven-passenger closed Model 243 Packard Eight. The car was sent to Moscow and placed at the disposal of the ambassador. The young republic did not have funds for this type of investment, but a representative and good car was needed just the same. Also the republic's then President, Lauri Kristian Relander, was among the customers. Autola had participated in a bidding contest for an official car for the president's office, winning the contest with a seven-passenger 443 Limousine. According to Guerillot the car was soon "improved" by a local body builder. It became 15 centimeters higher than normal and was equipped with stiffer springs to handle the increased weight. The car was originally white, but was subsequently painted blue as the original color created too much attention, everybody being used to seeing dark colored cars used to transport government dignitaries. Popular humor called it the milk van, but more serious was that the President didn't like the car's rough ride. Passengers' top-hats flew off with the slightest bump. The ride was so rough that a 1930 Cadillac was acquired to replace it and the Packard was relegated to a backup role. This was a serious setback for Packard and Autola. From then on Cadillac was the premier car brand for the President's office.

After 1930 Autola had to look for more modest products to stay alive. In 1931 car sales virtually ceased; unemployment skyrocketed and Autola began selling American World brand radios and domestic Pyrkijä bicycles. The worst Packard year was 1933 with not a single car sold. In that same year Autola began to sell British cars. An import agreement was concluded with Rootes Ltd. and sales of Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam and Commer began, initially at a slow pace, but later more successfully. During the following year the end of the depression was in sight and shops around the country began to order machine tools and expanded their capacity. Autola also modernized and expanded its own workshop. Packard's new 120 model was a perfect fit at these times of improved economic outlook. New customers were added, and some of the old, well-to-do ones were delighted with the new lines and the more practical and easier-to-handle products. From an almost total stalemate, sales rose to 13 cars in 1935, 31 cars in 1936 and as many as 116 cars in 1937, which became an all-time record as sales again turned down with a weakening of the economy in the fall of 1937. At this time even Autola's chief executive was allowed to drive a Packard. Arvo Aalto switched to a Packard 120 in 1935 and then traded to another junior car every two years. Autola broadened its product line by adding Federal trucks in 1936, but stopped selling Graham in 1938. Over 12 years, more than 350 of these medium-price cars had been sold. The Federal venture was successful, the marque being the most sold truck in its weight class in 1939.

The company's financial position improved steadily with rising car sales, but in 1936 Autola suffered a serious setback. A cargo-steamer with both Packards and Nashes onboard foundered off the coast of Scotland, causing Autola and another auto company major losses since the cargo was not insured for full value. Shipping cars from Detroit to Helsinki normally took four weeks, but there are examples of shipping taking only three weeks and as much as seven weeks. The number of ports of call en route determined the duration of the voyage, but cars could also remain unsold and undelivered for other reasons. The economic setback was relatively well compensated by the record sales in 1937. As many as 70 of total of 116 cars sold were of the new Six model and this changed Packard's position in the market immediately. For example, Olavi Anttila from Lojo traded in his Buick from 1934 for a Packard Six and paid an extra 54,000 mark, signed for on April 7, 1937, one day after delivery and 28 days after shipment from Detroit. He got only 25,000 for his used Buick Eight. Even at that time cars didn't hold their value very well. According to the price list the new model, which in addition to standard equipment was equipped with automatically canceling directional signals, a heater and defroster for the windshield, cost 78,550 mark. An eight-cylinder 120C would have cost 18,000 mark more.

During 1939 Autola managed to further expanded its product line. A deal was forged with the German Krupp group to import the robust Krupp trucks. When the war broke out on November 30, 1939 virtually all auto imports were halted for several years to come. One single 1940 car was delivered during 1939 and an Eight chassis during the summer of 1940. Importation of spare parts also came to a halt and domestic suppliers grasped the opportunity. After a modest start they began delivering wear parts for most vehicles needed for the war effort. Autola built up a large organization with a complete machine tool shop, parts inventory and personnel put at the disposal of the armed forces. Tools and equipment were sold to the shops at the front and used to repair all kinds of vehicles under horrendous conditions until the end of the war.

Reconstruction work after the war was slow because a large part of the total production was sent to the Soviet Union as reparations for war damages. The reparation amount, 300 million dollars, was in practice almost astronomical, especially considering that Finland had lost one of its most important forest product producing areas, Karelia. The fleet of cars requisitioned for the war effort was mostly returned to its owners, as were most tractors and horses. Upon their return many horses are said to have recognized their owners, but this was not true of the car owners, who could barely identify their own cars in their severely molested state. Material that could not be returned to its rightful owners    was auctioned off by the army and used for spare parts or junked. Among Packard's cars from the 1930s it turned out that the 16th and 17th Series cars with all-steel roof were better able to endure the harsh treatment and brave the elements than earlier models with fabric insert roofs, not to speak of the traditional bodies with body sheet metal over an ash frame.

In this run-down and mutilated country Autola resumed its operations. The first Packard, a Clipper DeLuxe Eight, was delivered August 7, 1946 to engineer Leo Toikka, head of the Valkeakoski paper mill. His previous car was a gray Packard 120 from 1935, which was probably well worn by this time, especially since he hadn't been able to hide it away during the war years. In 1947 an agreement was concluded with Caterpillar Tractor Co., USA, whose products were particularly well suited for the needs of the time. Wilhelm Guerillot was offered a new challenge and was responsible after 1948 for selling these important products. Sales of Packard were modest and uneven and all-dependent on the availability of import licenses. Before the so-called Korea boom, some 20 cars were sold. During the two-year period 1950-51 times were hectic, with over 100 cars sold; in 1952 7 cars were sold and in 1953, exactly like 20 years earlier, not a single one! But in 1954 times were slightly better as 16 customers got themselves a Packard. An unusual piece, an eight-passenger Limousine, stretched by body builder Henney, was sold to Oy Strömberg Ab. Nine years later the car ended up with Rudolf Hellberg, a merchant and bicycle dealer in Borgå and the brother of a certain Rakel Wihuri, to whom we will revert later. Not even the revolutionary V8 models were able to turn the downward trend and the last Packard, a 58 L 4-door Sedan, was sold to Post- och Telegrafstyrelsen in the summer of 1958.

New capital was needed to make Autola into an entity capable of keeping up with the demands of the 1950s. Autola had two real winners in its stable when discussions were initiated with the principal owner of the Wihuri Group, Antti Wihuri. The two were Volkswagen and Caterpillar, both of which were very profitable. Following an agreement among the old owners and Antti Wihuri, the latter was appointed chairman of Autola's board of directors in 1954. Autola and the Wihuri Group were merged the year after. Rumors were adrift that Antti Wihuri's wife, Rakel Wihuri, had seen a Packard on display at Autola's showroom at Mannerheimsvägen 9 and immediately demanded to have it registered in her name. The terrified salesmen knew that the car was already sold and only on display temporarily. Rakel Wihuri had then disappeared and asked her husband to buy the entire company so that she could have the car. The story may be a fabrication, but it describes the public's perception of the strange car market with an utter scarcity of import licenses, awarded to car dealers on the shadiest of terms. More two-wheelers were added later the same year, when the agency for Italian Ducati motorcycles was acquired.

After the fall of Packard, Autola invested increasingly in the new products in demand at the time. This was also the time when the original employees who had participated in building the Packard brand in Finland began to reach retirement age. Arvo Aalto, president since 1927, was succeeded in 1957 by Klaus Neurman. At the same time Autola underwent a complete reorganization and many of the former faithful servants, such as Arvo Aalto and Wilhelm Guerillot quit and sought new positions with other enterprises. In 1959 an import agreement was concluded with Van Doornes Automobilfabrieken N.V. and sales of DAF was started. Two years later Autola changed its name to Wihuri-Yhtymä Autola Oy and the parallel with Packard's fate as cooperation partner with Studebaker is almost creepy. The head of the Wihuri Group, Antti Wihuri, died in 1962 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Rudolf Hellberg. The somewhat impractical premises at Mannerheimsvägen were turned over to the machinery and equipment department. Construction of a new facility for the automotive department was begun in 1958 in Hertonäs, east of downtown Helsinki. The facility was expanded with space for the car dealership and was inaugurated in 1963. There were still quite a few Packards on our roads and some of them utilized the knowledgeable staff and the well-stocked parts department at the new facility. A pleasant detail in the context was a grandiose gesture to consumers of smoking tobacco at the time, with generous ashtrays placed indoors for personnel and customers. The people in the shop had made them from two Packard hubcaps joined by a 60 centimeter long chromed steel tube. The holes for the fastening bolts were straight through the hexagons on these overstocked 22nd and 23rd Series hub caps.

Autola's imports and sales of cars began in 1924 and was wound up on January 1, 1980 when the Wihuri Group's last automobile brand got new representation. However, Autola's original operating strategy from 1921 was based on equipment and machine tools for the auto industry. Despite the total restructuring of the Wihuri Group in the 1970s, Autola survived as a subsidiary and today sells trucks, car heaters, marine equipment, tools, workshop equipment and machinery for property management. With the same ownership structure and new group management, the Wihuri Group has evolved into a global multi-industry company with revenue of 1.5 billion euro and 5,000 employees in 2007. As a matter of curiosity can be mentioned that the group among other things represents the Boston Whaler brand. This unsinkable American quality product uses a familiar slogan – Ask the Man who Owns One!

Picture captions

Page 4

Autola's main shop was housed in this unassuming building at Porthansgatan 3, where also a driving school resided and a coffee shop served the customers. The walls are not yet adorned with automobile agency signs.

Page 5

Below the office premises at Henriksgatan (Mannerheimsvägen) Autola had a garage for its own use and as a service to its customers. The picture shows examples of Packard, Paige as well as Renault. The car in the background with tag A 28 is a blue Packard 443 7-passenger Sedan owned by merchant A. Huuskonen from Heinola. The car was originally delivered September 7, 1926.

Page 6

Autola's premises in Nya Studenthuset at Henriksgatan 9 one early summer morning in 1927. The cars are parked with their radiators facing the traffic. The stone pavement is shiny wet and in the storefront windows hang signs representing the most important agencies. In the middle a Packard 433 Sedan, the two flanking Paige cars representing Autola's medium-priced offerings.

In the basement at Henriksgatan there was also a small workshop. The cars to the left and center are of the Paige brand; to the right one can barely see a Packard radiator with its mascot.

Page 7

Packard Six 233 at Brunnsparken in winter 1926. The Brunnsparken mansions were popular as background when Helsinki photographers depicted high-end automobiles. The British and French embassies have today replaced the nice buildings to the right in the picture. Nova Oy was an Autola reseller for a short period.

Page 8

Doctor Jalmari Lydecken's daughter Mirja is here posing with a Packard 233 Six Limousine in front of the family residence at Östra Brunnsparken 8. Snow chains and a Winter Front radiator front make makes winter driving a joy. The picture appears to be shot in early spring 1926. A mirror image of the sturdy camera stand can be seen on the side of the cowl. The house has been demolished and the French embassy buildings now occupy the lot.

Page 9

A realty ad from the mid- to late 1920 reads as follows:

A appealing perspective . .

Away from the city's hustle and bustle, away to fresh air, freedom and your own home on your own land! Away to Helsinki's rapidly growing West End, to

                                                                                       MUNKSNÄS!

Car owners in particular should pay attention to that sentence! How wonderful after the day's toil and moil in the city to drive out to your spacious, peaceful Munksnäs villa! Hurry to purchase a lot! Our payment terms are the most liberal: 20% down, 6% interest and 4% annual repayment.

------------

Helsinki grew by leaps and bounds during the 1920s. Several new communities were planned outside the city limits already in the teens, but few materialized. Two higher-end residential districts, Brändö to the east and Munksnäs to the west, are good examples of areas with plenty of space for both families and cars, even though both could be reached by streetcar. Autola's customers typically were mostly found within the city limits, but Brändö and Munksnäs were well represented. The population of these residential districts grew rapidly during the 1930s and it is easy to understand that also car owners felt more at home here than in the city. One of Autola's customers, Heinola Fanérfabrik, was owned by the Zachariassen family that lived in two pleasant two-story mansions between Strandstigen and Munksnäs Strand with an magnificent view of Bredviken. Even today it is easy to imagine how the family's Packard cars were parked on the Standvägen side of the property.

Page 10

A Paige is seen as window-display at Henriksgatan, on a for a car dealership very        sophisticated floor.

Page 11

This red 640 Eight Limousine was delivered on November 15, 1928 to pharmacist Tauno Jääskeläinen, residing at Cygnaeusgatan 16 in Helsinki. His wife Hildur sits in state behind the wheel with headgear fashionably characteristic of the period.

Page 12

At the first automobile expo held at Gardesmanegen in Helsinki in the spring of 1926 Autola displayed several Third Series Packards. The smaller Paige cars are seen to the left in the picture. Renault with its strange sloping cowl are apparently displayed far away to the rear.

Page 13

Packard 233 Touring, Essex and Hudson parked in front of  reseller Nova Oy's dealership. The beautiful neo-renaissance building at Södra Esplanaden 12 was built by Unionbanken, renamed Föreningsbanken i Finland, Nordiska Föreningsbanken and, finally, Merita Bank, which became a part of Nordea. The building houses neither banking nor car dealership operations today.

Outside the shop at Porthansgatan  stands the 640 Roadster that was sold to Erik Rosenlew in Björneborg on April 15, 1929. Temporary registration plate KOE A 73 indicates that the picture was taken shortly before delivery. Behind the car stands sales manager Wilhelm Guerillot wearing a hat and shop manager Jalmari Salminen in a peaked cap. Judging by the broad smile of the third person, he was the one behind the wheel during the test drive. New Packard and Graham-Paige signs are seen hanging on each side of Autola's garage door.

Page 14

Automobile advertising from the years 1927, 1928 and 1929.

Page 15

Price list 1939 Senior cars. The brochure is printed by K.F. Puromies, a small print shop in Helsinki used by Autola for several decades. The printer's owner was also a loyal customer who drove four Packards between 1930 and 1939.

Page 16

Autola ad from 1939.

Packard 1105 on a journey in Lappland in 1939.

Page 17

The town of Björneborg's fire department ordered this white ambulance delivered as an Eight Hearse chassis November 4, 1938. The wheelbase is a phenomenal 160 inches and extra equipment includes one side-mounted spare, a siren on the roof, a fire extinguisher, an oxygen tank, a spot light and, of course, a complete ambulance interior.

The body was built in Helsinki and included everything from the firewall back. It is interesting to note that the taillights are identical to the ones used on a 1939 Super Eights.

Page 18

A customer characteristic of the period during the second half of the 1930s was construction company Neliö Oy who bought three cars between 1937 and 1939. The cars were used by the Kotsalo family and visits were paid to the French Riviera annually. In the summer of 1939 the family made its final journey before the war in this 1939 Packard here being loaded onboard S/S Ariadne at the Port of Helsinki.

Page 19

This quote was written by Wilhelm Guerillot, who priced the car very generously. The list price was 156,000 Finnish marks, but with a discount of 18 percent the car was offered at 128,000 Finnish marks. The customer, Finska Gummi Ab, manufactured Nokia tires and rubber boots. Despite the favorable offer no deal was struck this time. Torsten Westerlund continued to drive his Packard 120C from 1937.

Page 21

This 5406 Patrician Custom Limousine was originally sold to Oy Strömberg Ab in Helsinki, but was taken over by Autola's chairman, Rudolf Hellberg, in 1963. The car practically new at the time and wasn't used much by the new owner either. As late as in 1982 the odometer showed 22,000 kilometers.

Body builder Henney was responsible for the stretch job on this black beauty. The rear doors were planned to be identical right and left, which made the job more profitable, or actually less unprofitable. Henney's and Packard's cooperation ended after 1954.

Page 23

The same price list as on page 15, but in Finnish.

Back cover

Autola advertising from 1938.