I drove the Patrician to and from LA for the PI Membership meet and the car did pretty good. I found I had to add 2 gallons of water every time I filled the gas tank. I found a freeze plug that is bad and leaking. I did buy a new freeze plug and manifold gasket set at the swap meet.
I haven't fixed the exhaust leak yet. That is the next project.
I am not convinced the distributor was fixed. The Patrician did not want to start on the last leg home, so I removed the distributor cap and found the points were too close together. What moved? The distributor shaft can still be moved (wiggled) while in the car to open and close the point gap. I will pull the distributor out and give it to a different mechanic and have him put the right bushing in my distributor.
Meanwhile I have to remove the grill and fender to pull the intake/exhaust manifold off to fix my exhaust leak.

I have bought 2 more Packards and my wife wants me to do more on this car before I do more on the newer Packards (both cars have been added to the owner registry).

Attached is a picture of my Patrician in the garage of the Hotel where we were staying. I got there on Thursday with no rain. It rained all day Friday and part of Saturday with the Patrician in the garage. It sprinkled on Sunday for the drive home, but not more than 3 minutes. So I had a dry drive to and from the meet.

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Thanks for the advice on the speedometers. I'll remember it for the next speedometer that needs repairing, like on my newest 55 Clipper.

I thought I had an exhaust leak where the exhaust pipe hooks to the exhaust manifold, but I have exhaust leaking out the butterfly valve, where the spring is on the exhaust manifold. The muffler shop says they can fix it, but they want the exhaust manifold off the car....
I just removed and replaced the exhaust manifold and used high temp rtv last fall. Now I guess I have to order new exhaust/intake manifold gaskets, remove the manifolds, get the leak repaired and put it back on. I was hoping for a short cut, but there doesn't seem to be one (if I want it done right).

I am driving the car to the PI National Membership meet, with the exhaust leak, in a couple of days and won't have this fixed in time. But I will have fun driving it and going to the meet.

There is a 1940 six engine for sale in Phoenix, AZ. Check out the Arizona PI club.

Happy Birthday! And many more!!

I bought a car with a battery that was over 6 years old and I charged it and the car worked fine for a couple of weeks. One night I drove to a car cruise and back, it wouldn't go into park and slid down the driveway. The car wouldn't start, I had to jump it. I charged the battery over night and it was 13.3 V. I checked it later that day and it was 12.5 V. I took it in and got it checked it, was bad, but it kind of held a charge. I will be buying a new battery. Check yours out too.

I have been driving the car around town and decided to work on the speedometer, since it didn't work. I went for a little ride and held the speedometer cable in my hand and found it wasn't turning. I went under the car and found the speedometer cable was connected to the transmission. I took the car to a local speedometer repair shop and took in 2 other speedometer in hopes one would work. The shop found the speedometer cable broke inside the housing and found none of the speedometers I had worked. They did rebuild one speedometer but they couldn't fix the speedometer with the trip odometer.

Who can repair the speedometers with the trip odometer? My local guys can't and now I have 2 cars that the trip odometers don't work.

I must have had an exhaust leak as when I started the car with the repaired speedometer, it was quieter. So the speedometer shop tightened up my exhaust pipe where it connects to the exhaust manifold.
It's nice to know the speed I am going with out using an app on my cell phone.
I want to drive this car to California for the PI National Membership Meet in February 2017.

I concur. I had the same problem with my 1940 160 Sedan with the 356 engine. I was blowing exhaust gaskets. I finally took the manifolds to a good machinist/mechanic and he machined the exhaust/intake manifolds and it is running great. I should have done it sooner. I hope I do it on my next Packard to save me time.

Here are 4 more Packards that made to the Pavilions in Scottsdale, AZ
Gatley bought his 30 Packard in the 50s and still has the original interior in good condition. (Above)
McAtee bought his 53 Derham Formal limousine from the 3rd owner in the early 80s. (Above)
Ball's 57 Clipper has been in the family since 1967 and it does have a working supercharger. (below)
Joy's 56 400 has been in the family since new, he's the 2nd owner, it is all original.

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We met up at the Pavilions in Scottsdale, AZ on Oct. 22, 2016. The Pavilions is billed as the largest longest running car cruise in the USA. They meet every Saturday night. Well it doesn't rain here in Arizona...
Here are 8 Packards that came that night.

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Took the car to the transmission shop to get the transmission shift adjusted. On the test drive with a mechanic, we heard this loud bang! Car got noisy, the brand new muffler was blown. The transmission shop did not want to work on it.
I talked to many people as to why the car was now backfiring through the exhaust and carburetor. Was told it was in the ignition. One guy said to pull the distributor and bring it to him, so I did. He found the distributor shaft was loose.
The distributor was just rebuilt, I said. Well the shop did not replace the distributor's bushing. After I gave it back to the shop to finish rebuilding my distributor, I installed it and it ran great, except it was a little loud!
With a new muffler, it now sounds good. I can hear the lifters now, but it runs great!
Maybe the transmission shop will adjust the shift point now...