Packard parts supplier thrives, but nostalgic niche may fade

Fred Bruner surveys a graveyard of out-of-commission antique automobiles, their rusted-red bodies clashing with the icy
blue of the December afternoon sky. Hands stuffed in his pockets, Bruner exhales vapor like an idling tailpipe.

Each of these relics from the golden age of roadsters, coupes and sedans
is a Packard—at one time the high-end of America’s burgeoning residential
fleet. Especially prior to World War II, Packard stood toe-to-toe with Roll-Royce—the Cadillac
of its class, before Cadillac was, well, “Cadillac.”

Bruner
and his seven employees at Max Merritt Packard Parts & Accessories will harvest parts from
these cadavers to help restore other Packards. In fact, in spite of the gloomy surroundings and swooning
economy, the Franklin-based business is surviving and thriving as it provides plugs, pumps, points and
pistons for Packard enthusiasts and repair shops. (For a tour of the firm, see the video below.)

In 2008, revenue reached $1.1 million after almost two decades of about 10-percent annual growth, Bruner
said. The company expects 2009’s final sales figures to park at $1.1 million, as well.

If only the business didn’t have such a limited shelf life. The last
Packards rolled off assembly lines in 1956, and those folks with fond memories of the vehicles and money
to burn can’t be replaced as easily as a chrome hood ornament.

“Do we have a business plan for the aging of Packard owners? The answer
is ‘no,’” 49-year-old Bruner said, somewhat stumped by the question
of how to keep the business thriving.

“There are
a lot of investment-quality Packards out there, and someone will have to take care
of them,” he said, searching for answers. “The children of the car owners
learn to love them like their fathers and grandfathers. And car clubs are focusing more and more on the
younger generations.”

Max Merritt Packard Parts and Accessories
has a lot riding on that transition. In six warehouses packed to the rafters, the
company stocks more than 50,000 different kinds of parts covering five decades of
models, plus a few other makes of similar vintage. It’s amusing to imagine a band of industrious elves
swinging by Franklin after the Christmas rush and assembling hundreds of posh LeBarons and finned Caribbeans, right down to
the cigarette lighters.

The firm is one of the nation’s four
foremost Packard parts sellers, according to Donald Taccone, president of The Packard
Club, a 4,000-member organization dedicated to preserving and restoring these four-wheeled antiques.

“Max Merritt is one of my first choices,” said Taccone, who
owns and maintains nine Packards. “I’ve never had a problem with them, and
I deal with them fairly frequently.”

One can
trace the origins of the business to a 1934 Packard V12 Club Sedan purchased by Indianapolis
native Max Merritt in 1962. A paint-and-bodywork man for Northside Chevrolet in Broad Ripple, Merritt
began restoring the car and looking for parts

Because Packards
had been discontinued years earlier, former dealers were more than willing to part with their inventories.
“They couldn’t get rid of them fast enough,” said 73-year-old Merritt,
a co-owner in his eponymous firm.

Seeing an opportunity
to cater to other collectors, Merritt began traveling the country and staking out swap meets and other
disenfranchised dealers. In the late 1960s, he founded The Packard Farm in Greenfield
with a partner, specializing in Packard and Studebaker parts. In addition to original components, they
sold newly minted reproduction parts.

“Some parts got to be rare,
so you had to have them made,” Merritt said.

Merritt sold out
to his partner in the mid-1970s and started fresh in Franklin as Max Merritt Packard
Parts & Accessories, selling original and reproduction parts. Bruner, an electrical technician who
had married Merritt’s daughter, Kim, joined the business as co-owner in 1989.

“I was interested in the business aspect of it,” Bruner said. “I really didn’t
know cars. I just knew of the Packard from my dealings with Max.

“He really didn’t want to be here full time to run the business. He came in, taught me a
few things, and then went to Florida for the winter. … My feet were to the fire. I was on the phone quite
a bit with him.”

Bruner and Kim got a divorce in the mid-1990s,
but stayed on with Max. “What I always say is that it didn’t work
out with her and I, but it did work out with Max and I,” Bruner said.

Although the company carries body parts like hoods and bumpers, it specializes
in mechanical systems like fuel pumps, carburetors and suspensions. Its
motto: “Dedicated to keeping Packard on the road.”

Or, as Merritt puts it, “You can’t push them to a swap meet.”

The firm recently roared past the 22,000-customer mark. Its niche market so far
appears to be recession-proof.

“We’ve
seen a couple of slowdowns in the economy, but our sales figures have increased
every year for the last 20 years,” Bruner said. “As long as the guys with money keep playing with
their toys, they’ll continue with the restoration of their cars.”

And there’s the rub. The number of Packard owners and enthusiasts is dwindling, according to Packard
Club president Taccone.

“Our membership
is getting old and will start falling off, and there are not that many younger people willing to step
up to the plate,” Taccone said. “That’s the 64-million-dollar
question with car clubs around the world now. What do we do? How do you do it? How do you get the younger
people interested? … We’re all trying to figure out what to do about it. And no one has
the 64-million-dollar answer right now.”

Bruner and Merritt will
continue building their inventory, advertising and working with car clubs to keep
their business running. But is there a way to keep the company from going the way of the rusted
Packard husks in their sideyard?

“That’s a good question,”
Bruner said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how to answer that.”