Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

In the "opening rear window" thread I promised to post a picture of a Packard that was been equipped with wood gas system.

It's a scan from a local magazine about old cars but I think that the picture is from some government photo stash. They represent cars that will be taken to government use during the WWII. The picture series has also two other similar '36 Packards with regular fuel setup. I can post them too.

If you are wondering why does the vehicle have this contraption there is a good reason for it. During the war and interwar period we had bad shortage of the fuel. But we did have a lot of wood...

The text goes roughly:
"The picture has identifying number 577/16. This and other pictures are taken in the same place just in front of Senaatintori in Helsinki. The car is 7 passenger '36 Packard with A-19 plates from year 1940. It seems that the vehicle was used during interwar period for long distances as it has truck sized gas generator in the back of the vehicle and the whole roof is reserved for wood chip bags under the waterproof tarpaulin cover. Big condenser in front and chip wool filters hint that the wood gas system is an AKMO branded device. Civilian driver seem very small built. The windshield seems to have some driving permit. Under the vehicle there are early winter tires that preceded Nokian Hakkapeliitta tires that were known as "kelirenkaat" (close to "weather tires" with more road related meaning).

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Thanks for the photo and especially for the translation! It's remarkable what things were done during WW II as gasoline supplies became unavailable to much of the public. I've seen (as no doubt many others on this site have) pictures of cars in England with what were described as "charcoal" converters on the rear, perhaps using a related technique.

I think charcoal would work in Finnish wood gas systems too at least with some modifications. The wood gas setup is fairly simple but too big for a neat installations.

Usually wood gas equipped car were still able to use gasoline too if it was available. The power output of the engine dropped remarkably with the wood gas setup. Some blower installations were tested to make up some of the lost power but they were too expensive for wide use.

Some of those wood gas powered vehicles have survived to this day in operational condition.

There was a fellow in Thunder Bay Aruri Lehtinen, of Finnish origin, who has sadly since deceased, who converted an old International truck to wood burning as fuel. He was a chauffeur for a Finnish Army general in WW2 and after the war worked in the logging industry where he observed and worked with wood burning vehicles. He built the wood burning truck from memory after coming to Canada. I have attached a photo of it from the photo collection of a friend Ed Stankey (also now deceased).

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Pretty nice International. It might have been quite hard to build a wood gas system from a scratch.

I tried to find more info about this guy. The first name seemed a bit odd for a Finnish name but it lacked two letters. It was Artturi.

I managed to find another picture relating to him.




"Artturi Lehtinen and a wood gas vehicle.
Location: Haapaj?rvi"

I didn't find date for the picture but it is probably from the interwar period. I guess Artturi is the driver. The truck is probably a Volvo.

The picture set that had the wood gas system Packard had also two others. They were still in original condition but probably received the systems later on.

The first text part goes:
"Slope end bodied 7 passenger '36/'37 Packard that might even had registration plates A-1. Could this have been reserved for some upper class warrior because it doesn't wood gas system installed? This picture with Helios code 576/8 has note written with pencil stating "A-1 Autola OY Guerillot". The name Guerillot says a lot to Packard enthusiasts. He was a French engineer that had emigrated to Finland at young age and worked for Autola OY for his whole career. He was so loyal and self sacrificing that he assembled a list of all imported Packards and their first buyers on his free time."

And the second:
"In the picture there is a brand new looking 1939 Packard with A-3 plates. And of course it is a 7 passenger model with an inline 8 as the others in this article. The Helios number is 577/10. But unlike the others Packards in this article this has optional equipment, such as a car radio and it's antenna can bee seen in front of the front left door."

The mentioned Helios is a photo shop that still exists in some form.

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This impressive photo proves that with a lot of money and effort you can turn a beautiful car into an underpowered road locomotive.

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