THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504270124
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORRAINE MIZE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 135 lines
Whether they were standing on the sidewalk or passing by in cars, everyone turned their head to catch a longer glimpse. Young and old, male and female, they were all captivated by the sight.
It wasn't a visiting celebrity but a classic they beheld.
The Old Dominion Packard Club brought their spring tour back to Virginia Beach last week for the first time since 1978. Established in 1958, with two of the original members still active, the club boasts 125 members and 200 cars. It is the largest and most active independent Packard club in the United States.
Each spring and fall, the club hosts a meeting in either Virginia or the home state of one of its members.
``The club started as strictly a Virginia club,'' said Ivan Joslin, a Virginia Beach resident and current vice president of the club. ``But as we began doing things, word got out to Packard owners in adjoining states and the membership grew. We usually meet and tour in Virginia, but on occasion have gone to the home state of one of our members for a tour.''
The Packard automobile company was started in Warren, Ohio, in 1899 by two brothers, James Ward and William Dowd. Bob Woolfitt, a Norfolk resident who helped organized the meeting, said the Packard brothers had a Winton car they were having trouble with. ``The builders of the Winton car got so exasperated with the brothers they told them if they could build a better car, go ahead and do it. So they did,'' Woolfitt said.
After the company was up and running, Woolfitt said, the brothers were asked by a customer if they had any sales or promotional material he could look over. The brothers said they had nothing like that, but that he should ``ask the man who owns one.'' That phrase became the slogan for the company and is still used today.
During the late 1920s and '30s, Packard was the premier builder of automobiles in the world, Joslin said. In 1941, Packard began building engines for PT boats and airplanes, continuing their reputation for quality. ``After World War II, Packard was slow to shift back to the public's wants and needs, trying to dictate taste to the consumer and they were gradually overtaken by many of the automakers still around today,'' Joslin said.
In the mid-50s, Joslin said, Packard merged with Studebaker, thinking they were making a great investment only to realize just how much in debt Studebaker was. By 1958, the last auto emerged with the Packard name.
While most club members are either retired or near it, Joslin said, some are younger.
``Most Packard owners today are older, relating more to pre-World War II times. I remember seeing Packards as a young boy,'' Joslin recalled. ``One of my most vivid memories is of two ladies being driven to church in a Packard by a chauffeur. It was an elitest car, driven only by the wealthy.''
Tom Brooks, the club historian and a retired Navy admiral, said many of the Packards of that era were handmade.
``The attention to quality and detail was phenomenal,'' he said. ``It typifies the finest of America's industrial output.
``Cars of that era would cost an average of two years' salary for most Americans. A 1940 model cost typically $2,200 or twice what most other cars would cost. In today's market, the Packard would be comparable to a $75,000 Mercedes. As my great aunt used to say, `Packard was going to the opera while Cadillac was going to the butcher.' As a matter of fact, I inherited my first Packard from her.''
But, Joslin said, that doesn't make owning a Packard today a ``rich man's hobby.''
``You can buy one at a fraction of the cost and fix it up to what it's worth today. A small percentage of our club members do their own restoration work, but most of us can work on them mechanically,'' Joslin said.
Any car 25 years or older is considered a classic, but for the aficionados of the classic automobile they must be restored into the original condition they left the factory. None of this ``modified'' talk with this group.
Joslin and Brooks agree that there is no comparison with the Packards of old and today's cars.
``These cars were made all metal, no fiberglass or plastic and you had room to work on them mechanically,'' Joslin said. ``If you were handy with tools, you could become one of the original `shade tree mechanics' of that era.''
``The Packards of that era were built to last,'' Brooks said. ``When someone of wealth bought a Packard, they expected it to run forever. With the '34 Packard, owners would change bodies every six years or so and have a new car, keeping the original rolling stock.''
Americans today, Brooks said, just don't have the same love affair with cars as they once did.
``When I was young, we could identify every car on the road and we all looked with anticipation each year to the time when the new cars would come out,'' he said. ``Styling and colors were much more defined in those days. Cars today look so much alike, it's just not the same anymore. I worry that interest in cars like these Packards will die out with each generation to come.''
Clubs like Old Dominion Packard are one way to stem the tide to remember, however. Many of the cars in the club are family cars passed down from one generation to the next, Brooks said.
``Ted Bunnell of Bethany, W.Va., owns six to eight Packards, two of which are family cars. Bob Montague still drives a '32 Roadster given to him while in college, and Jim Ritenhour is the third generation of his family to belong to this club. His grandfather was a founder and first club president. Many of us inherited our first Packard from a family member,'' he said.
And it isn't just a ``men's club.'' Carol Darby brought her '53 300 Convertible Coupe, one of three Packards she owns, from Pennsylvania to the '95 spring tour. While most activities center around driving tours of the area, it is a social club.
Headquartered this spring at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center, members spent four days touring Hampton Roads. While most of the wives participate in the tours, Brooks said, many of them enjoy the socializing even more.
``This is a great group,'' he said. ``We all like each other and get along well. This club has been asked on many occasions to join a national club, but we like our independence. Old Dominion Packard Club has its own very strong identity and we want to keep it that way.''
The oldest car in the group is a 1912 owned by Ernie Gill from Maryland. Brooks said Gill has driven the car across country several times in recent years as well as shipping it overseas on the Queen Elizabeth II for a trek across Europe. The oldest active member of the club is Jefferson Davis Diffee of Waynesboro, Va. As club members say, both he and his Packard are still running.
About 35 members with Packards attended the spring tour in Virginia Beach ranging from a '32 Convertible Coupe to a '55 Caribbean Convertible.
As the group was cruising Atlantic Avenue during their tour, a young man of about 20 leaned out of his modern Jeep and shouted, ``Hey, that's a Caribbean Convertible, that's great man!''
Maybe that love affair with older cars will survive after all. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
ABOVE: Bob Woolfitt of Norfolk, who helped organize the Packard car
club meeting at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference
Center, shows off his 1934 Packard Twelve Formal Sedan.
LEFT: Bill Pettit of Louisa, Va., has a 1940 Packard Darrin, which
at one time belonged to the owners of Carter's Grove.
The Packard emblem contains a coat of arms. Founded in 1899 by
brothers, James Ward and William Dowd, company slogan was ``ask the
man who owns one.''
by CNB