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MAN AND MACHINE
Ask the man who owns one!
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Manmohan has played the field with many vintage and classic machines. His heart belongs to the Packard Clipper though
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IMMORTAL MARQUE Though Packard might have, well... packed up a long while ago, its cars still endure the test of time. As if to testify, his 1947 Clipper stands by Manm
Last November, Manmohan sank to the depths of despair when his precious Packard was submerged by rainwater that had streamed into the basement parking space in his apartment complex. "I could not bail her out in time because others had parked their cars on the ramp. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw her drown." In the days that followed the deluge, debilitating depression engulfed him and he had to stay away from work for a while.
Manmohan proves the validity of the Packard advertisement - "Ask the man who owns one". These famous words are attributed to William Dowd Packard and James Ward Packard. The Packard brothers were just blowing their own trumpets when a prospective buyer asked them for some literature on their car. Today, 50 years after the company went belly up, the ghosts of the Packard brothers can say that again. Over 55 per cent of the Packards ever made are still up and running and Manmohan says a Packard owner is least likely to look upon something else as the apple of his eye. To prove the point, the man waxes lyrical about his six-cylinder, three-speed 1947 Packard Clipper. As he describes it, the car is a lady. "She is full of curves. Not many straight lines."
When a man loses his heart to a woman after having played the field with reckless abandon, he surely must have identified great qualities in her. Manmohan comes from a family of auto enthusiasts, and as a restorer of rare vehicles he has had numerous flirtations with vintage wheels. Despite being in such a competitive field, the Packard has captured Manmohan's heart as no other car ever could. So, when its keys fell into his hands, he had the joy of a man who has scooped the jackpot in a lottery. Today, Manmohan is indescribably happy that M J Irani saw it fit to give two of his daughters to him.
"We own the car since 1947. My father-in-law, M J Irani doted on her as if she were his own daughter. He used to import most of the spares, a task made easy because he was an active member of the Packard club (www.packardclub.org) . Even today, the club sends Packard-related literature to our doorstep."
It's considered an honour to belong to the Packard Club, because the marque was driven mostly by heads of State and celebrities and anyone who wanted to travel in comfort and style, with his arm resting on a piece of cushion and a pipe clenched between his teeth.
This was very much in keeping with the Packard tradition of producing luxury cars. In the 1920s and 1930s, the company enjoyed an almost unrivalled position in this segment. The Packards seemed to throw the gauntlet at the dynamic Henry Ford. When the price tag of Ford's cheapest four-wheeler read a little over $400, the Packards' least expensive car cost six times as much. But WWII put an end to `the admirable Packard audacity'. When the implications of a long-drawn war engulfed the world, many huge automobile corporations had to pull in their horns. Primarily because raw materials were in short supply. "The shortage of steel hit Packard hard. While other auto majors had prepared for the rainy day by clinching tie-ups with steel producers, Packard was caught unawares," says Manmohan. In addition, the company had been able to keep costs down substantially as long as it had wisely stuck to a single assembly line. However, in the early 1940s, Packard introduced the Clipper and went in for a second assembly line. This only added to the weight of running the show under adverse conditions. Auto pundits say the untimely launch of the Clipper (1941-42) prevented Packard from deriving maximum mileage out of this stupendous car. It should have waited for the cannons to stop, before going to town with its new model. When Packard launched a pitch for its Clipper in 1946, the novelty factor was missing. In 1954, Packard was clutching at a straw when it turned to Studebaker. Its wish to make use of Studebaker's service network and revive itself remained just that — a wish.
But the Packard glory will never go down. If you are not sure, ask the man who owns one.
PRINCE FREDERICK
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