Thanks guys - yes, it's a tough one because the radiator is obscured. The wheels and hubs were also the main reason I doubted it was a Packard Six.

I'll try throwing it on to the AACA site to see if somebody can come up with an ID.

Brian

A friend of mine has sent this picture of his mother with the family car -presumably mid-1920s.

He was told it's a Packard Six, which I very much doubt.

It's right hand drive and is a tourer with only two doors. It's difficult to see because the open door is obscuring the front of the car. The wheelbase looks smaller than the 126 inches of a Packard Six and the wheels/hubs don't look familiar. At that time, many foreign chassis were imported and bodied locally. The designs of those bodies often did not resemble factory models. More like what the local body company was producing.

Any ideas or suggestions on what this might be?

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Mal

I think what you say is true about the earlier series cars, according to the sources I have seen. Numbers differed but tended to be reasonably close. Even if it was a mixture of components, they appear to be correct. Clearly restorable. But not by me!

The plate on the car is definitely a reproduction. Whether it's the correct production number or not - who knows?

Cheers

Brian

Thanks for your reply, Leeedy

Yes, it's a sorry tale and I can feel your frustration. Some of this happened with the "old car" movement but maybe not to the same degree. Being an old racer at heart, I keep running into people with amazing experiences or stories to tell and say "you should write a book". Some of them have, but many left it too late. Most who did write something ended up publishing it themselves, especially if their special expertise was in something a bit off centre (like air-cooled race cars). Despite what publishers seem to think, there is a market for well-presented books on almost any subject written by somebody who really knows what they are talking about.

You still have an amazing collection of classic bicycles and deep knowledge of the subject. Something a publisher is typically incapable of recognising or understanding. So they will likely continue to reject your approaches or offers. At least two of my older friends have resorted to self publishing and came out of it reasonably well financially. More importantly, their knowledge was captured for posterity. You have a ready made repository of classic bicycles and material, and could assemble a "bible" on the subject. Potentially a very time consuming exercise, but the result is that your collection serves a purpose and your knowledge is captured. I'm just thinking aloud, but my great fear is that what you have will go with you when you depart. That's a tragedy.

Even having a searchable repository online of correct examples of classic bicycles and pics thereof would be enormously valuable, but only scratches the surface.

One of the side benefits of such an effort is that the instant experts et al are easily proved wrong when they start talking nonsense.

As a complete aside, when did your 1956 Packard 400 (hardtop) disappear? I am idly looking at one for sale here with a rather hazy past but last sold through a dealer in Chicago called Chicago Car Exchange, Inc. It's Scottish Heather/White paint (code MK) and trim code 86, car number 5687 1773. Which means it was built in late 1955 but a 1956 model. I hope you don't recognise any of that!

This 400 has been sitting in a shed here for more than a few years, so would no doubt require a mechanical birthday. I'm pretty happy with my current RHD 1956 Clipper, and would be hard to prise out of that.

Cheers

Brian

Thanks Don

I should know better, after living in the US for so many years.

But my experience with vacuum tube contraptions dates back to my childhood and university days! Almost prehistoric.

Cheers

Brian

Thanks Mal

I'll check it out. Right around the corner!

Cheers

Brian

Thanks Howard

How on earth did you know that?

The radio museum does have spec sheets for most of the old AWA models. I will have to get the amp out to see what model it is. They usually have a label on the amp, but it will be on the top so I can't see it in situ.

There's plenty of stuff about for the transistor version of these, which appeared a few years later. But the valve versions are much less common and model numbering was a black art!

Cheers

Brian

Hello Howard

Thanks for all that. I have not had any problems in practice with the manual switch as installed. It bears no resemblance to the accessory switch in the factory document. It is quite a large three position rotary switch labelled "UP", "DOWN" and "NORMAL". As a precaution, I normally turn off the regular on/off toggle switch before I leave the car sitting or use the manual switch but I will check how the manual switch is wired to see if this is really necessary.

Yes, I would say that the manual TL switch was fitted sometime after the car was delivered. Hopefully, whoever did it had access to the wiring diagram provided by the factory but presumably not the exact type of switch described there. The manual control is very useful in practice because the car sits low and has a long overhang at the rear, making it very prone to scraping on quite modest driveways etc unless the rear can be raised.

Thanks again

Brian

Well, my car does not have (or really need) AC, but the general point about the clutter behind the dash on my 56 Clipper is nevertheless correct. Hence my decision to have somebody else change the instrument lamps, and fit a new one to the auto indicator quadrant. Guess he won't be so quick to accept the job next time!

The fact I was able to find someone willing/able to do this was perhaps a minor miracle.

I'm still waiting for the guy who will tidy up the paintwork to clear enough space (and possibly enlarge his entry door) to recover from a deluge of virus-induced work. In the meantime, decided to turn my attention to the original locally-produced AWA Pressmatic AM radio fitted to the car, but not currently operating. No luck finding someone to wrestle with this thing in the car. Only advice I can get is remove all the components and bring to them for testing/overhaul.

The car is fitted with a small JVC AM/FM/multimedia player with Bluetooth which pairs nicely with my iPhone to play tunes on the move. This works just fine, but the dial on the old radio shows a number of AM stations which still exist - don't ask me why - and I'd like to have it working. This is where the fun starts....

It's a pushbutton valve radio, so the amplifier section is several times the size of the tuner head visible in the dash. I've decided to summon up whatever remains of my valve radio knowledge to look at this myself (no choice). The amplifier enclosure looks to be in pretty good shape externally and is bolted up to a frame under the left hand side of the dash. It also appears to have an original braided power lead still attached to it, but the speaker wires have been cut. The display light on the tuning head comes on when the volume button is turned, so it's getting some sort of power. I'll have to remove the glove compartment liner to get at the tuning head, which is directly above that.

It looks like there is a single (newish) speaker fitted in an enclosure next to the amplifier box. It says Pioneer on the label, so I dare say is a more recent fitment. Maybe (hopefully) that means the radio was working reasonably recently. ie in the last twenty years or so.

I assume the aerial, which is mounted on the front guard, is no longer attached.

I've searched everywhere for wiring diagrams or installation instructions for this thing, but no joy. I imagine this is not too different to the valve radios fitted in the US to left hand drive cars around the same time. Anybody on this site have experience with these or any tips before I dive in ?

Brian

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That's interesting. I have not tried the Bose player in a car. Maybe it's not really up to that environment and as you say charging is still an issue. I was struck by how many people chimed in on your post re music in a Packard. A lot of us think the same way, perhaps.

Your mini power module sounds like an excellent device for the older cars. There is a company here in Australia (Jaycar) which sells similar stuff but you need to know what you're looking for. It sounds like your place also gives good advice.

After we started talking about this, I discovered that my JVC player has several USB ports (mostly for charging) but can take a memory stick with music on. Haven't tried that yet, but sounds very convenient.

Cheers

Brian