Well, we had a nice trip to Pretoria with the Packard seats on the back of our truck. It is approx 70 km's from my house so a good friend of mine offered his truck to take me.

I met Cobus at his workshop and was very pleased with his work on a Chrylser Valiant. He will probably be finished in the next 2 weeks so we can go and pick it up. I hope I will not be disappointed!

Attach file:

---

  (201.59 KB)


  (93.60 KB)

It has been a while but I finally scraped together some cash to redo my seats. I found someone in Pretoria that will do it for about R12000.00. taking the stuff there on Saturday. I think that is about $1700.00? They do retro fitting of leather on Mercedes cars and provide a 3 year guarantee on their work. Also they import the leather from Italy and will finish the job in 2 weeks. I have decided on a beige leather. Know this is not original, but will be better than the ugly vinyl I have at present. The carpeting I will handle myself. The ceiling I will leave original, although it is dirty and brittle it adds to the cars character. I still need to redo the wood grain effect....that will be a first for me. It is high time that I get the inside finished as it detracts from the enjoyment of driving the car.

I have been driving intensively since fitting a new exhaust system. I had to have it made up locally and though it is a bit loud on exceleration it idles very quietly. And it is stainlessteel so should last hopefully! Here is some recent photos. The non standard rear view morror is for safety sake. Also check out the Packardinfo sticker - doing some advertising in South Africa for Big Kev! Also some pic sof the insides and my other oldie being impounded by police - but that is another story.....

Attach file:

---

  (174.93 KB)


  (171.46 KB)


  (137.39 KB)


  (140.63 KB)

Hi

Yes the radiator is held in by 3 bolts on each side and is a bit awkward to remove. When I removed mine it was very dity so it will be welll worth flushing it. Packards do get warm sometime. Also look at the water distribution tube in the block when you get to that. It seems this is very important for efficient cooling.

By the way, my car is number 2392-5-38239. Also a standard 8 but right hand drive import to South Africa!

Cheers.

Barrie

Hi Michael

Good to hear that you are coping with the sliding mechanism!

To be truthfull I also dont remember a spring in my car? Possible broke off years ago and was discarded. I do belive a spring will be very beneficial. As long as you can get a similar spring it will be helpfull. I will check into this and let you know. Maybe the african Packards didn't get springs?!?!HAHA!

By the way, that lever also feels very loose on my car. Seems to be supposed to be like that as it is spring loaded.

Hi Michael

As far as I know the lever disengages a toothed wheel that runs on a rod that is the length of the seat. This then makes it possible to slide the whole seat back and forth. I removed the seat cushion and the bolts keeping the seat bolted to the floor. Then you can remove the whole mechanism for cleaning. Clean off all old grease from the rails and lubricate. This should do the trick. Remember that the lever is only for disengaging the toothed wheel so it should not need any undue force. Make sure the toothed wheels left and right align with each other when reinstalling the mechanism.

Hope this helps.

Barrie

I use the magnettes inside old computer harddrives. They are immensely powerfull. Just attach to bottom of drain plug on outside. They are so strong they will never fall off by themselves. Then when removing the drain plug the metal flakes will flush with the removal of the plug.

Sorry! Here is the pic!

Attach file:

---

  (159.99 KB)

My dog Kerneels - in winter time!

Hi J.R.

That round things was added during the sixties here in SA. It is reflectors, red in the back and white in front. The law made it compulsory cause our roads then, even in towns were not lighted. You will see the same on the Rambler pics here. It seems that garages added it for motorists as aftermarket fittings. It looks bad so during resto it is always removed. The colour is not original. The original colour was black. I changed it now to the dark green which is not original as well. I dont like these cars in a lighter colour, but that is personal choice.

During this weekend I tried to fix the electrics and specifically the indicators. Everything went well and I can say that all lights except mains are working. I think the relay is shot.

Took the car for a drive as well, but I think the valves are sticking as it was smoking badly and running on 6 or 7 cylinders. This improved the more times I went around the block. Hope I dont have serious issues. Will need to check brakes again! Also managed to get the car inside my only garage. Fit very tightly.

Attach file:

---

  (212.48 KB)


  (219.49 KB)


  (232.60 KB)