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                                                        NORDIC   PACKARD  OWNERS CLUB                                

 

SUMMARY OF BULLETIN no.134                                                                                                 by: OLE BÖÖK

 

 

Cover

 

A car that attracted justified attention at the most recent Packard meet was this magnificent 1937 Twelve Convertible Sedan, here with its owner Harald Nissen-Lie sen. The car has been in restoration for more than 11 years and this issue contains the third and last article describing the extensive process. You will also find reports of a failed trip to the Packard meet in Denmark and from no less than four local Packard meets.

 

Page 3

Packard Reflections

by Dag Söderblom

 

In front of me lies a photograph taken in summer of 1934 outside the Finnish Packard-importer Autola´s showroom window at the then Henriksgatan 9 in Helsinki. Thirteen people have more or less voluntarily assembled for a group photo op.

It is easy to see that this is office staff, since 6 of the 8 men wear shirt and tie, with only two youngsters without such attire. All five ladies wear period-typical dresses or blouse and skirt. Most members of the group look rather serious; some have a tense facial expression, but a few are smiling at the camera. These were difficult times for Autola even though the depression was coming to an end. Among those smiling, I can identify Wilhelm Guerillot,

who perhaps should sulk as he had been unable to sell a single Packard during the year. But he looks calm and relaxed. Perhaps he had premonitions about the impending product strategy at Packard.

Why am I bringing up this group photograph for analysis under the Packard Reflections heading? Does the office staff have something to tell us that we do not already know? In order to assess the justification, if any, of the question at issue it so happens that I have first-hand information about how to treat old documents, promotional material and brochures, photographs, in-house publications, annual reports and technical literature in an automobile company. The truth is very simple. That which does not benefit the immediate business is disposed of as soon as possible in order to save space and not incur unnecessary costs. Only the most important material gets to be saved. And that's they way it should be in every successful company. One should look to the future. But what happens to the stuff that ends up in the garbage? Is their perhaps stuff that in spite of orders to discard end up in someone's desk drawer? And after some time maybe gets to be moved to safer locations, either at home or in the attic, or maybe with a friend? Is it theft to salvage discarded material?

Questions abound, but I am convinced that there are collectors and "paper-weepers" who will turn a blind eye to this benign form of theft, or redisposition  of the right of possession, or whatever you want to call it. Such was the case at Autola, and I am sure also at Bäckdahl, Wiklunds, Kohlberg, Caspary & Co. and Skandinavisk Motor A/S. As recently as last November, four unique photograph albums were found with a late controller at Autola, albums which aside from hundreds of photographs also contained a number of documents of great significance for fastidious brand addicts like ourselves. The albums were given to the said controller by a faithful old cashier, the material to be used as he saw fit. Those of us with an interest in preserving our brand's legacy all operate with our own set of criteria for what should be deemed to be significant, and also in this case the most important aspect is to be active and forward-looking. But history also has its rightful place in our minds. If that were not the case, we wouldn't need memory.

The gist of my thoughts, then, is that, together, we must search out what is still preserved and in the possession late descendants and acquaintances        of the people who worked professionally with Packard in the Nordic countries. This also applies to the personnel of the tens of companies who operated   as local distributors. Also private photo albums may contain treasures even the owners don't know about. Research takes time and requires contacts and activity. There are many ways to go about this, but one must not be too aggressive, or too bashful. For decades we have been fortunate in being able to acquaint ourselves with the results of systematic research and exceptional Packard publications, both in the form of magazines, imposing standard works, and informative and enjoyable websites. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to convey something uniquely Nordic with a reasonable Packard connection to that  big country in the west?

So I wish to sew a seed to get more serious about our Nordic Packard legacy. A little bit about Autola is my contribution, but I am sure there is more out there!

 

Pages 4-5

Rally Packard Väst

Text: Victoria af Forselles   Photography: Hans Schmidtz,

 

Picture captions, page 4

Nine Packards assembled at Volvo's parking lot before the visit to the museum.

1. A for us unknown Packard appeared and parked separately from the others. Also this Clipper Club Sedan was an original car before it was channeled and equipped with a V-8, another instrument panel, etc.

2. Örjan Häggbom's recent acquisition, a 1952 Convertible Coupe, still without a top and therefore parked out of the rain.

3. The Saint drove a Volvo P1800.

4. Jerry Grandin beside a mass-produced engine that he had a hand in designing. This engine came in a number of variants over many years, this one for marine applications.

5. Kent Carlson, the meet's main arranger.

6. Volvo's finer cars were often called "Hisinge-Packard."

7. Little Isabelle testing the driver's seat in Örjan's 250 Convertible. Looks OK.

8. Caravan from the museum to Aeroseum.

Time for the 2009 Rally Packard Väst. For the first time we were going to attend a Packard event on our own, but since we had our four-month old baby girl along for the ride, we decided to go modern.

The trip to Gothenburg went smoothly and we arrived at the Volvo parking lot where the participants gathered. The visit at Volvo's museum was interesting, with many fine and unusual cars, small old trucks and modern big ones. The next stop was Aeroseum, a declassified Swedish Air Force subterranean bunker carved out of solid rock turned into a museum of the History of Flight. Aircraft of various kinds are on exhibit and there is a functioning underground command center.

After dinner at Hotel Arken it was time for little Isabelle to see what it's like to sit in real cars. She liked to sit in a 1922 Doctor's Coupe from Denmark but also in the meet's only open car. Thanks for a well arranged meet.

 

Page 6

Since last

 

Finland

Vesa Elg is a new member in Nurmijärvi. He has bought Jarmo Kytymäki's 1938 1600 Touring Sedan. Jarmo remains a member and is looking for a suitable restoration candidate.

Markus Järvi has bought Peter Ginman's 1939 1700 Business Coupe.

Kimmo Viitaniemi has bought Martin Ekman's 1940 1800 Business Coupe.

Timo Pauniranta has bought a 1956 5670 Executive Hardtop form Vesa Hietalahti.

 

Sweden

Kenneth Andersen has bought a 1930 733 Sedan Limousine. He actually came to buy another car, but when he saw the Packard he bought it, too.

Lars Svensson has bought one of the late Ulf Benndorf's cars, a 1956 Clipper Super Sedan.

Ronny Andersson has purchased one of Jan Åke Peterson's cars, a 1954 5411 Clipper Super Sedan.

New member Björn Edberg in Habo has acquired a 1956 5640 Clipper DeLuxe Sedan.

 

Harald Jonsson - he played seriously

Thirty years ago, on Valentine's Day February 14, 1980, Harald Jonsson died. For only nine years he was allowed to enjoy the pleasure and spirit of Nordic Packard Owners Club, the club he founded in 1971. For many years the Swedish work group has been arranging "Harald-leken," (the Harald play), a local meet. The name was chosen to honor Harald, who called the Packards "our heavy playthings" and us old-car people his "playmates." He had a positive outlook on life, was full of ideas and interested in people generally, and was in regular phone contact with many members. But he was also determined as to how the club was to be run, and those principles we still adhere to. Together with his wife Alice, he did practically everything that had to be done to keep NPOC operating. The club earned a good reputation from inception and we are glad that such remains the case. Harald was stricken by an aggressive form of cancer in 1978 and was only 56 at the time of his passing.

 

Page 7

Packard number one and in the press

 

Karin Larsson, Tony Persson's significant other, won one part of a three-club annual event in Sweden in Tony's 1939 Packard Super Eight Club Coupe.

This car was featured in a four-page article in the February issue of the Swedish Nostalgia magazine. The article ends with a thank you to NPOC and Ole Böök for help with information and parts. And that is exactly one of the things our club is meant for!

Third in the same class was Marianne Johansson from Kumla in a 1929 626 Sedan. Way to go girls!

This year's second issue of Hemmings Classic Car was a theme issue about Packard. Forty out of 104 pages were dedicated to Packard, plus four full pages on the subject of Packard by the publication's columnists. And of course the cover.

Sven Sandgren from Storvik won the 2009 "Best Cruising Award" at the "Power Big Meet" in his 1955 Caribbean Convertible. This car was then featured in articles in Motorhistorisk Magasin and Nostalgia.

 

Pages 8-9

The failed trip to Denmark

By Håkan Sjöholm

 

Having participated in the 2005 European Packard meet in England, I was eagerly looking forward to this past summer's meet in Denmark. My 1947 had therefore undergone extensive service, which began by replacing the clutch. The shift linkage was adjusted at the same time. A check of the brakes resulted in new linings as it turned out that the ones on the car had been poorly arc ground. A new master cylinder, new wheel cylinders and new brake lines all around made the job complete. Since the rear axle was leaking and had play in it, the whole thing was disassembled. It was then discovered that the pumpkin had been re-geared, only    to be incorrectly reassembled. It was therefore rebuilt and at the same time the universal joints were replaced. The rear springs were sent out to be re-arched and the steering box was also serviced with new bushings, seals and bearings. The front end was realigned. A lot of parts came from the U.S., where Ole Böök was helpful as usual. A complete new exhaust system was also installed. When we adjusted the timing it was discovered that the wrong type of ignition cables had been installed, so they were replaced. With a new coil and condenser the ignition system was in good shape. What had begun as simple clutch work ended up as extensive restoration of the entire driveline.

After all this work by legendary Ford guy Björn Wallman in Stockholm, we left Stockholm for Denmark in confidence. Down to the summer house in southern Sweden the car ran perfectly. But the morning my son and I were to take the bridge across to Denmark, the car suddenly stopped. First I thought it was the fuel pump, but that turned out not be the case. We got towed to a small shop nearby and after adjustment of the distributor we resumed our journey, albeit with some hesitation. We arrived at the hotel in Nyborg late.

The next day the car didn't run well at all. We had to return to the hotel where many helpful club members tried to find out what was wrong. Different theories were offered, ranging from fuel supply problems, arcing in the distributor, a                   bad condenser and more. Since the condenser was new I rejected all theories of something wrong there. In desperation I called Björn Wallman in Stockholm who sent a new set of points.

While waiting for the points to arrive by mail, my son and I remained at the hotel while the caravan rolled on to Køge on Zealand. Hans Henrik Tollesen then came over to look at the car. As a test we replaced the condenser with one that Hans Henrik went back home and picked up at his garage.

I drove the car a few laps around the hotel courtyard and it ran perfectly. But then there was a loud noise. Something had broken inside the transmission. There was a grinding noise in all three gears when the clutch was released, but none when the pedal was pressed. Something was wrong in the transmission. Not easily fixed on a Friday afternoon. We had done all our driving for the time being. All that could be done was to call my insurance company who immediately sent a flatbed from Sweden.

When the car arrived at Björn Wallman's shop, the oil was drained from the transmission. A bunch of metal fragments could be picked with a magnet.  After tearing the tranny apart it was discovered that the bearing race for the front bearing had disintegrated. See picture. This must be a very unusual breakdown. The bearing people had never heard of anything like that. There may very well have been a defect in material.

Björn was also able to establish that it was indeed the condenser that caused our ignition problems. The little lead on the condenser had come loose and contact was intermittent at best. The condenser worked when we left Stockholm but the lead must have come loose somewhere along the way such that there was poor contact, which caused the car to run fine at times and not at all at other times.

I was unfortunate with two such relatively uncommon breakdowns at virtually the same time. In spite of careful preparations the car failed. It was a shame that we were not able to be part of the program in Denmark.

My son and I went with the wrecker back to Malmö and then we flew back to Stockholm. The insurance company was quick and helpful in hauling the car and I was reimbursed promptly for my travel expenses.

The car was quickly fixed by Björn Wallman and now runs the way it should. During the extensive overhaul of the car by Björn, one fault after another was discovered. The only benefit of the Danish tour was that we got to see some of           the cars and crews that traveled to England in 2005. The next European Packard meet in 2011 will be held in France and then I will take revenge by having installed an overdrive before the long journey.

 

Pages 10-11

Haraldleken 2009

Text: Jerry Grandin 

Photography: Bertil Dimander, Jerry Grandin, Hans Schmidtz

 

Time again for Haraldleken. Five Packards and as many modern cars assembled at a parking lot close to the Stockholm University. The journey went to Pythagoras Motorfabrik, a maker of surface-ignition engines in a workshop dating from 1989. The factory and offices are untouched since operations ceased in 1979. Everything has been left: products, spare parts, casting molds, office equipment, business correspondence, thousands of drawings and hundreds of photographs. Even a newly built engine built with left-over parts. Go to www.pythagorasmuseum.se.

 

Page 12

Fall tour in Denmark

Text: Torben Møller  Photography: Allan Møller

 

On a sunny day in September we met at Jeanet and Michael Bohnsen's place in Hvidovre. Other participants joined along the way to a private museum with German military gear from WW II, including an M10 armored vehicle. (See all those Packard convertibles!)

 

Page 13

Little Christmas without Packard

Text: Dag Söderblom  Photography: Peter Ginman

 

NPOC Finland has elected to arrange get-togethers without the need of bringing a Packard. One such occasion was the Christmas party organized by Peter Ginman and Riita Kahrakorpi.

 

Pages 14-15

What if

 

Translation of an article in Hemmings Classic Car #37, October, 2007 by Patrick Foster.

Comment by the translator: It's ironic that Hotpoint, the company James Nance came from, was in the same industry as Nash-Kelvinator, namely household appliances. Nance was accused of inadequate knowledge of the auto industry, whereas the cooperation between Nash and Kelvinator appears to have been friction-free. After some time Kelvinator was sold to White Consolidated Industries, ultimately becoming a part of Swedish Electrolux.

 

Page 16

Only three months left until the year's Packard meet - register now!

 

This year's Packard meet will be held in Hyvinge July 2-7, 2010. Information available at www.packard.dk.

 

Pages 17-21

A 10-year restoration project

Text: Harald M. Nissen-Lie sen.

Photography: Ivar Engerud, Harald M. Nissen-Lie sen.

 

I have been asked to provide a third and final article about the extensive restoration that previously was thought to take 10 years, but it was actually 11½ years before the car was in my garage.

The second installment ended in March 2007. (Refer to bulletin # 124, Spring 2007.)

 

The following has happened since:

 

April 2007

Interior work, preparing seat frames and woodwork for cloth and leather. Doors, fenders, headlights and many other parts to the paint shop. Ordering glass. Cardboard templates were made for all pieces. Manifolds came back from Denmark after cloisonné work. More chrome pieces added to the shelf for parts ready for assembly. After summer we received samples of cloth, leather and convertible top material from USA. Several hides were needed. Work with door frames, window mechanisms, hinges, etc. In the fall of 2007 the restoration project was moved from the earlier shop in Larvik to John Wallentin's new much larger facility in Våle. To John's credit nothing was lost in the move. In November and December the woodwork for the convertible top was tried and fitted. All wood had to be replaced, the old pieces being good for templates only.

 

2008

 In January the body was prepared to be sent for interior work in February. The car was brought to Frank Karlsen's one-bay upholstery shop north of Oslo on a cold winter day. The car remained there for 5 ½ months, during which time I came for unannounced visits to see what was being done. The end result was first rate.

While the body was out of John's shop, attention turned to the chassis and engine. The engine was totally rebuilt. In April there was also time to fix things, such as radiator shutters, headlights, wiring, emblems, taillights and to do more work on the engine. The final parts were purchased at Hershey in October 2008: fuel cap, rotor, fuel pump and halogen bulbs. In December a lot of work was done to make the engine and all instruments work correctly.

 

2009

By the end of 2008 John and I had agreed that the finished car would be presented at the Norwegian Technical Museum to everybody who had heard  about the restoration for all these years. Panic ensued at the Wallentin shop, but by April the car was running under its own power. About 120 persons   met up to see the car. Knut Samuelsen gave an overview of Packard's history and John Wallentin told us about the restoration job and answered questions from the auditorium.

The car was inspected in June and at the end of the month it was driven to the Nordic Packard Owners Club/European Packard meet in Køge, Denmark, where it was well received.

 

Epilogue

More than 5,000 hours was put into the car by John Wallentin over these 11½ years. 70 percent of the total cost was incurred during the last five years. More hours were put in by the chrome shop, the paint shop, the upholstery shop, etc. But now I am going to concentrate on enjoying myself behind the wheel after all these exciting years of restoration work.

 

Back cover

Packard Twelve 1508 Convertible Sedan

Text: Hans Schmidtz  Photography: Ivar Engerud

 

If you think this is the ultimate Packard, that's what you want. But the supply of ready cars is almost non-existent – only about forty were made – what remains is to find a restoration candidate. The supply of restoration objects is also minimal and only the worst examples are left.

For Hershey 1997 John Wallentin got the assignment to look for the dream car. He met someone, who knew someone who perhaps would be interested in selling his restoration project. John traveled to Michigan and found that with the wreck and a donor car he would be able to bring a 1508 Convertible Sedan back to life.

It is hard to visualize that the magnificent car above has anything to do with the wreckage in the smaller picture.

 

 

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