Yeah, I found a 6 volt timing light on Ebay for somewhere around $40, by Snap-on, no-less and it works awesome. Biggest problem I have is sighting the bell housing hole with the light and not getting a haircut from the fan. I ended up with a probe camera and I set that up to view the hole and just hold the light down in line with it and watch the screen. Takes a bit of juggling but once everything is lined up, one gets a clear image of the timing marks. Chris.

Very interesting report, Dave - thanks for digging up and posting. It's hard to believe that in the late 30's, with the cheaper cars piling up the sales units, Packard was reduced to making less than $10 a car!! Also, not to nit pick, but some of those numbers didn't add up for me... maybe I'm doing something wrong?? Like in '31 where it shows a $.8M loss ($800,000) with 9010 units in sales - I get a unit loss of $88, not $757. And in '38, with a $1.6M loss ($1,600,000) and 50260 units of sales, I come up with a $32 unit loss, instead of $318. Am I computing that wrong?? In '34, a $7.3M loss in sales ($7,300,000) and 6265 units would be a loss per unit of $1165 and THAT agrees with your report??? Chris

I don't think you give yourself NEAR enough credit, Joe. I've read your blog (all 93 pages of it, post-by-post) and you encountered, reasoned through, and solved innumerable problems with your '40, where lots of folks would have thrown their hands up in utter frustration! I am no mechanic either, but I can 'monkey-see, monkey-do' pretty good and always stick with it until I get SOMEWHERE. 'Have to say, I found inspiration AND assistance in that Blog-Journey of yours and it may have contributed to me not giving up when I fought to get my car to run properly for over 3 years!!! Give yourself some kudos. Chris.

Pat, don't know... I'll check and post. Chris.

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BDC you're absolutely right - the issue here is simply a numbers game. If the virus is allowed to spread unchecked, it will propagate like wildfire. There are a known number of those classified as 'at risk' (elderly, infirm, compromised immune systems, etc.) per 100,000 population, and the count of those folks would simply overwhelm the medical system causing untold deaths. Slowing the spread keeps the 'at risk' numbers down and basically, they don't run out of ventilators. MOST healthy people who contract it will recover from it.

John, glad you're well and hope your family members get through this okay. Things in Canada are similar, although not as enforced or dire, as the population is 10X's less dense and there just isn't the same level of interpersonal contact. Even so, we are in BC, one of the hardest hit provinces in the country because of the large Chinese population here and the subsequent travel to and from China. We're lucky on this site that we can have unlimited contact with zero risk, although the cancellation of Packard events is too bad. I had hotel reservations for the 2020 National Meet in Rohnert Park CA, but have cancelled them as our international border has been closed to all but essential traffic and it does not seem like a very good time to travel anyway. Hope everyone stays safe; not sure where this all goes from here, but it sure could get a heck of a lot worse if the world continues to be 'on hold' for too much longer. Once the health risk subsides, we'll then have to deal with the financial fallout! Chris.

You have no idea how badly I wanted that car, John. Unfortunately, no room and right now I am in the midst of building a large garage to house my other cars, so this one just wasn't possible.... but I sure liked it!!! Chris.

Pat,

Not sure what the 'year-range' is, where Packard used the same horns, but those look identical to my '39 horns (presuming they are original and I think they are) and if you do need to search for them, best to cast the widest net to increase your chances of scoring, right?? Someone on here probably knows the answer, but suffice to say, they weren't a 'one-year-only' part so that will help with availability. Chris.

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Can I ask why, Trevor?? What changed? Gorgeous old car; looks like it was your passion at one time. Just curious.... Chris.

I went with Coker nylon bias look-alike radials on my '39 touring sedan and would definitely throw my vote in for radials over bias ply. I agree with Pat (56Chevman) that nylon bias ply tires tend to 'lead' and grab any anomaly in road surface; one spends a lot of time 'counter-steering' them, to say nothing of noise, flat spots from sitting, etc. A little more dough, but well worth it IMO. Chris.