Also on that note, if someone knows where I can pick up a copy of "Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942" (preferably the latest edition) for a fair price please let me know. They are currently selling for around $380-$400 dollars on Amazon, and that is well beyond the website's meager budget.

Excellent! Thanks John.

I am still trying to locate a copy of the Catalog of American Cars that contains the per-war info. If I dont find one, I may need to see if you can scan some of the infomation for me from your copy if you are inclined to do so.

Some of you have sent me emails to asking if I was ok and still alive as I have been a ghost on here lately.

I am doing just fine, but I have been on the road traveling for work for the last 3 weeks. So by the time the weekend rolls around all I want to do is relax with the family.

I have been to Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, and am current on Amelia Island Plantation in Florida. Hopefully this is the last of my traveling for the next month or so and I can get back to things.

I have been checking the website daily to make sure nothing has come off the track, but my email and web has been limited to quick checks between flights and meetings.

I hope to begin work on the pre-war Model Info pages within the next couples of weeks. So if anyone has factory renderings/photos, or has any pre-war advertising, owners manuals or Sales Manuals/Data Books that may have photos or illustrations of the various pre-war models I would be interesting in getting copies to help with this project.

I would imagine that you are going to see me bring a series online at a time working backwards. I may also quickly put some of the 1899-1910 models up as they are pretty well documented and there were only a few models each year. The 20's-40's are going to be the hardest with when you figure in the custom bodies and one-off variants.

I will try to also create a section for the Packard Trucks if I can find anyone that has a good enough reference library to share with me.

If anyone has any contacts at either the various Packard Museums, or the any of the University of Michigan websites that has factory photos online that can help by giving us permission to use pictures the currently have for this project I would appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks again,

Ask and you shall receive......

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Well not much has been going on with the '54. The summer heat is finally here with a vengence. By 10:00am it is already 95 degrees in the garage.

The heat here has been very bad in the last week. On Sunday it was 115, humid as all hell, thunderstorms, and we started the day with a minor earthquake.

It was 104 today. It is supposed to be cooler before the weekend. So I hope I can get into the garage this weekend.

I did manage to find a spare complete dash cluster for my Clipper. The dash cluster and all the gauges are one year only on the '54 Clippers. So finding one in good shape can be a challange. I'm not sure the mechanical condition of the one in my car currently, but I figure for $50, it makes good insurance.

I also made a few inquires to Tower Paint, and they can make me a few rattle cans of Metallic Bikini Blue (the original color of paint for my car) so I can touch up the firewall. The more cans you order, the cheaper the each can is. I think 5 cans was going to run me around $65. Still expensive. But at least it is something I can do in the garage. Why so many cans you ask? Well I want to spray the dash and interior windows mouldings to match. Mine are a little worse for wear and I never really cared for the grayish blue color they came with. So as my car is going to be a driver, I am going to paint them body color.

I'm not saying John or anyone was wrong. I was just pointing out that I think the trucks the poster was referring to were these dealer created Fraken-trucks used for service purposes. As they are the closest thing to a pickup style truck to ever wear the Packard badge.

I think Owen is on the right track. Here is an example of a Packard Dealer Service Vehicle:

http://jtw37.us/packard.html

As Owen stated, they were hobbled together by dealers for their own use.

Ron, thanks for the info. That corner of the garage wall is about 8 feet long before it merges with the house. That is the only portion of the garage that has exposure to the backyard. So the only place for a door logically would be in that section of the wall where the overlap with the house ends and the corner, and that is where the brace is currently. Being that the wall is also 60-70% shared with the house, does that make any differnce? Would just plywood sheeting the interior of that 8 foot section, and putting a door in the middle of it work?

Worse comes to worse, any well equipted flat bed tow truck should be able to pull in from where it sits. They will just use a set of dolly wheels. That is what they have to use when they pic up wrecked cars off the highway that are unrollable.

If you can get out there and measure the lug pattern that will help you determine what wheels will fit. As Eric stated the seniors used a 4.75x5 bolt pattern, and the juniors a 4.5x5 bolt pattern. Not sure what the commercial pattern used. I have four 4.75x5 rims that I bought mistakingly as I was told they were 4.5x5 when I bought them. But I am in Southern Calif, so that wont help you by Monday.

My garage has vaulted ceiling, so there are really no raftersto speak of. It only has 3 rafters that run front to back and a single one that run side to side. That is why I built the lofts so I would have over head storage. I am trying to get at much stuff up and off the floor as possible. The shed I built has been a godsend. I was able to move both fenders out to the shed. Those fenders took up a lot of floor space. Plus I moved all my wood working tools such at my tablesaw and scrowsall out to the shed, as only use them every once in awhile. That helps to keep the work bench clear that runs the length of one of the side walls.

My garage is bascically 20x20, and but a 24x24 would make all the difference. I hate not being able to walk all the way around the car without the garage door open. The other thing I dont like about my garage, is that the garage door is the only access into the garage. It has no side door. Beacuse of where the garage is placed on the front on the house, it makes it impractical to add one. The garage is attached to the house on wall shared by the bedrooms. So I dont think my daughters would like me cutting a door through their bedroom into the garage. I may try to cut a door though a wall that leads into the backyard, but it would have to be close to the corner of the garage and that may cause an issue with the diagonal earthquake braces that are built into the stud framing. So I will have to see if it is possible to even add a door in that location.