This is so exciting to see such giant leaps each post, Kev! I'm really looking forward to going for a ride in the near future. Sure will be a far cry from the last time we rode around with smoke pouring in through the rusty floors as the road whizzed by our very eyes!

Such a rewarding time in a long tough project.

Neat find, Kev! Amazed at how vibrant this appears compared to B&W footage normally associated with the era.

Heck Kev, you'll have your whole car painted before I even get my trunk lid painted going at the rate you are! Keep up the good work. Cant wait to ride around in it, maybe next PI meet!

Saw this at a car show today. This must be about as rare as it gets! I'd imagine teens? Gosh, I'd bet someone with an early car would flip for it.

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I'm really lucky to have had some nice trunk handle pieces to have mixed and matched in order to have ended up with a functional assembly. The T handle had been re-plated and never used. The lock cylinder was full of copper and chrome. After hours of cleaning out, the lock cylinder out of the original handle on the car was fitted to the T style. The face plate was also in very nice shape, but had a broken stud. The stud was an integral past of the pot metal casting, therefore fragile and had broken. Thought on it for a while and came up with a fix. Caught the outside of the broken nub, and threaded down the middle. Probably stronger than new.

Needless to say, there are lots of little details I negated to mention, like everything it took to create the assembly, like spring, square washer, cross drilling to add a cotter key retainer, and so on. Have about 12 hours labor in completing. It sure was worth every moment, turned out so nice!

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I tried to resist getting involved in adding a trunk rack to the car; they are really a pain in the butt. You have a harder time getting into the luggage compartment, they increase the overall length of the car, and are a nightmare to find every little proper piece, especially '39 Super 8 and '40 senior line cars, as they use unusual stanchions, and a rack with pivots located specific to those models only.

It all started with a lovely trunk, including fitted luggage found at a previous years PI meet. This trunk was never apparently used, the nicest I'd ever seen. Shortly after buying, it dawned on me that "now you've done it dummy, you'll have to install a trunk rack".

Needless to say, the parts came from many, many places and usually the work of a certain secret Packard Parts aficionado in the vicinity of Dallas. Seems like many Packard parts conspiracies unfold in Dallas. Imagine my surprise upon returning from a trip, only to find a boxed up trunk lid in my office. This came by way of Santa Maria, California, but I'm not fooled, the conspiracy was concocted in Dallas. I'm not buying the loan parts man theory either.

So why another trunk lid? Well, in '40, senior cars had a different trunk handle, and different license plate light, located higher and separate from the trunk handle when trunk rack equipped. Also different are the bumper brackets, and bumper. The bumper no longer says "Packard" when trunk rack equipped. The license plate lens is also different and '40 only.

The job of fitting required pieces began over Christmas 2012. The trunk lid was tough to fit. It had to be fit so to speak, including shrinking side to side, and modifying the curve by gently bending the whole thing. A few dents needed to be worked out also. It's a nicer lid than the one on the car. The one on the car could have had the holes welded up and re-drilled otherwise. Next up was fitting the rack components which is on-going.

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I've not seen the one that was in AZ since last posted. Too bad, it was really neat!

Been busily working away and thought I'd stop by here for a brake. Imagine my surprise to see the Flackmaster drumming up some business for Packard Info. I'm glad to be a distant part in a lump of coal turning into a diamond for Joe and Big Kev. Joe, may you do 80 in high gear overdrive, and 0 when pushing the brake pedal. Kev, may the lights stay on for many seasons to come! Merry Christmas...

Jim

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The climb into the cave above was tough; the drop getting back out apparently had the folks watching from across the wash a little worried. Admittedly, I was the dare devil in the top of the image, My brother Mike (Mike owns a '40 110 convertible coupe) was the dare devil below. Exploring Kev's tour site was really fun. Everyone seemed very interested because it was so accessible to see, yet such a historically significant site.


The meet was really fun! Don't let Kev fool anyone, he does plenty. It's so rewarding to see Packard Info proudly displayed in bright lights on the marquee.

We had a blast pre-running the tour destinations, especially doing the dirt road at 35ish MPH in the '40. I really didn't know we would be doing dirt road touring, and had only installed the engine shield and radiator air deflectors shortly before leaving for this event. Was sure glad I did.

Meeting everyone from last years event was great, and meeting new folks from here was a treat. I echo Kevin's synopsis of how nice it was to be with folks, ride around together experiencing every facet of Packarding.

It also bears mentioning that our Packard friends on the final leg of the PI national tour were big contributors to the success of this gathering. A special thanks to Jay Johnson and Gary Osko for their hand in making this happen. There seemed to be great mutual benefit from this joint gathering, as many of the members of PI had not been aware of Packard Info, and conversely, folks from Packard Info were not aware of Packard's International and local regions. A win-win it would seem!

With that said, the banquet turned out well, with the awards well received. One note worthy mention is that Jay Johnson's beautiful '56 Caribbean was the Don Laughlin award recipient this year.

The only mishap was of course not with the Packard, but with a relatively new radial tire on the Packard Info trailer. Not with the nearly 15 or so year old bias ply tire on the Packard. I hate radials. Hahaha

This was really fun! It was great being with everyone and making new friends!!!

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Couldn't wait to get there, so the Packard Info. trailer is loaded and it's wagon's ho! Leaving in about an hour. See everyone tomorrow!

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