If I recall, there is a screw or two that go into the frame horizontally, reached from under the front fender. They never imagined that anyone would ever take the thing off.

A real 48-51 bird has two slots for the wings.

These flatheads run very low valve spring pressures and don't turn too fast so it is not an issue. I have several hundred thousand miles on various flatheads from Kaiser to Stude to Packard with unleaded fuel, no additives, and no problems.

While your engine is apart, be sure to check the fit of the exhaust valves in the guides as this is a common wear area and heat transfer out through the stem is important to keep the valves happy.

Your mother is an excellent sport. Give her my regards.

I am a good judge of that as my mother drove me in my 50 Super from Baltimore to Detroit for a PAC National Meet when I was 15.

Will PM you my phone number so we can talk through whats happening with your transmission. Sounded to me like the shift to second was actually attempting to engage reverse.

Stunning. I am assuming that a complete repaint of the car was included in that price--or was that just for the metal work?

In the last twenty years I have put new bottoms on at least a couple dozen 51-56 Packards. By that I mean: new metal at the back lower corner of the front fenders, new inner and outer rockers, new rear wheel openings and doglegs, and if needed the first several inches up of the rear quarter panels. It has not taken longer than 80 hours to do that down both sides of the car and there is no benefit to removing the body from the frame. Oh, and I make all those parts myself in that time.

Any postwar sedan that needs more rust repair than that should be abandoned as there are more than enough of them to go around.

Could we have some photos of the damage, especially the backside of the rockers where the floor braces meet the inner rockers?

More shopping is going to be necessary!

If you need to remove a lot of undercoating, wait till a freezing cold day and attack it with a needle scaler or just an air chisel set on a low pressure. Cold=brittle=falls off when the sheetmetal is vibrated.

If you just want to unscrew a few things, choose the correct size socket from an old set and grind (6) 45 degree chamfers on its edge in line with the hex. Drive the socket on with a hammer to clear the undercoat away.

The 51-4 mirror's base is contoured to match the profile of the molding. 55-6 are not. Will probably wobble unless you grind the base. Those things go for a pot of money so I wouldn't recommend that.

Check that your system is not putting out more than 7.2 volts.

If the points are burning, then replace the condenser.

I have also seen it on the Henry Joy Tours--but like a real Packard it never made any fuss to be noticed in a negative light. Love the yellow and maroon. Visor MUST go. Interior is tired. I think you could do a lot worse.

This is the Autolite distributor where the vacuum chamber turns the entire distibutor? In which case, just loosen the screw that fixes the vac advance pull-rod to the bracket on the periphery of the dist. body and rotate the dist. to achieve your desired timing. Retighten the screw. With this style there is no need to move the bracket bolted to the engine block.