And... if your Colson-built Packard bicycle was made as a factory Colson model or line (in this case, "Flyer"), here is what the headbadge looked like when new.

Compare this NOS headbadge to the NOS Packard version we posted earlier. Again, note the nickel plating on the raised portions of this headbadge.

Of course, image is courtesy of Leon Dixon and National Bicycle History Archive of America.

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Hello... glad you and many others are enjoying the thread!

Packard bicycles are indeed a fascinating subject. So keep watching. There is much more to come!

And now... a bit of detail on scroll-type Packard bicycle headbadges and Colson-built Packard bicycle headbadges.

As I have pointed out in the past, this type of headbadge was installed on both Westfield-built(Columbia) AND Colson-built Packard bicycles.

The finish and actual appearance of these headbadges is almost always wrong as seen today.

This will be argued about by those who believe this headbadge finish was all brass in addition to red lettering.

However, a New Old Stock un-bent headbadge reveals more colors with nickel plating on the raised areas.

Today's collectors tend to polish off this delicate plating. Or they usually don't even realize the plating existed.

Take a look at one of headbadges as found today. Then compare it to a New Old Stock original below...

Images all courtesy of Leon Dixon / National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA.com)

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I have learned my lesson for the umpteenth time. I was simply attempting to help here. Period. I have owned at least two dozen V-8 Packards. I have worked on ALL of them.

I have re-started countless V-8 Packards that have been left sitting. Countless.

And I have been doing this since the 1960s.

I started buying old cars in high school– and that was a long, long time ago. So I learned a few things.

I realize this experience does not count today on the internet. But...that's a long time and a lot of Packards. Even though all this experience can be minimized on an internet forum down to nothing.

One reason why I rarely do many replies of this sort is that internet forums are often not havens for solutions. They are havens for endless arguments. ENDLESS.

And the almighty "wikipedia" and YouTube.

So. pooh-pooh my start-up recommendation. It has worked countless times. I have yet to bend valves or destroy an engine. And IF one pays attention when manually rotating a V-8, resistance with all of the spark plugs removed can be obvious.

All I am saying is that it is not necessary to perform brain surgery on an engine that was stored indoors and running when parked. Nor should it be necessary to be beating on valves and rockers with a hammer– no matter what YouTube or anyone else says.

There are exceptions to every procedure in automobiles. If anyone would know, it ought to be me. I have written my share of factory workshop manuals and corporate service bulletins at a professional OEM level of the automotive industry. Covering hundreds of thousands of cars.

Have fun and I will remain silent with no further comments on this wonderful topic.

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Hello...

No need to do endoscope pics in cylinders or extraordinary measures.

And I believe if you scroll back through discussions on this site about starting V-8 Packards that have been sitting for extended period you will find my original recommendations/procedure.

I have started dozens and dozens and dozens of Packard V-8s over many years. I have always used Marvel Mystery Oil for a number of reasons.

My Quick Recommendations:

• Connect fuel line to a known, flowable source of clean gasoline, like a gas can (flow from the vehicle gas tank may be clogged and flex line to fuel pump may be perforated from age and rot).

• Remove air cleaner and check carb accuracy, completeness, operation, etc.

• Remove all spark plugs.

• Using a suitable method (I use a trigger-pump oiler) inject a squirt of MMO in each spark plug hole. Then allow to sit at least overnight.

• Attach a large breaker-bar type wrench and socket on the crankshaft vibration dampener bolt on front of the engine. Then slowly attempt to manually turn at least 1/2 revolution. If crank turns freely, allow to sit again overnight. If crank doesn't turn at this point, inject another MMO squirt, wait a day and try again. If still not turning, then you have bigger problems.

• If turning freely, then turn the crank at least two full turns. If all turns without problems, install known good spark plugs and reconnect wires in proper order.

• Connect battery and check for engine electrical operation. If all is well, turn the ignition key and crank over a few times. It should turn.

• It may be necessary to put a bit of gasoline down through the carburetor to prime a start. Be sure to install at least the flame arrestor section of the air cleaner.

The engine should start.

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Gotta ask... a "1952 Lincoln hydrostatic transmission"????? Do you mean a Hydramatic transmission?????

The issue here is not a parking pawl nor is it your pushbuttons (which are likely now a Frankenstein customized nightmare if they work at all). A jerry-rigged transmission out of a completely different car is the problem combined with jerry-rigged pushbuttons. Heaven only knows what is really going on here, but absolutely frightening! One would need to sort out and un-do what has been done to this Patrician to even have a prayer of getting it back on the road.

Any rise in value for having factory air is certainly completely cancelled by this wild transmission modification. Guaranteed trouble. Guaranteed.

• As far as spark plugs being accessible, all you need is a spark plug socket, and extension and a ratchet wrench.

• There is no guarantee that the A/C compressor is frozen up. And unless it shows clear signs of the compressor clutch being somehow locked up, simply disconnect the electrical connector to the compressor. Easy.

• Be sure to turn the air cleaner around facing forward (presently mounted backward) before attempting to start.

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Yes. While power door locks were usually not listed as options for Caribbeans, this indeed happened.

My 1956 Caribbean convertible came equipped with power door locks, factory air and wire wheels.

As someone who has collected Caribbean info all my life, I have to ask. What number is yours?

And since we're on the subject of Packard bird ornaments, you might find this catalogue page from 1954 interesting.

Gem Ornaments Company made aftermarket accessory and replacement car ornaments for cars. But they also made smaller versions of their ornaments for bicycles and motorbikes.

Of course their most popular of these ornaments were patterned after Packard Cormorant (or Pelican if you prefer) hood ornaments. Gem called them "Swans." The smaller versions were "Swanettes."

There were numerous Gem ornaments but in this case, these were super-whizz-bangs with gold plating on the bird bodies.

You might be surprised today, but quite a few of these ended up on bicycles in the 1950s. Especially on Packard bicycles!

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If you have been following this thread, you may recall when someone had a Packard bicycle for sale at the beginning and was seeking information.

Several claims were made about this bicycle and I attempted to correct those claims. However information I provided was ignored.

Particularly vexing was the wild claim about the handlebar stem being somehow related to a Packard Motor Car Company design. Oh!

Lately these stems keep turning up (often on the western end of the country) with still more claims. Usually people swear these are "prewar"... of course they are not.

So? Without further ado, here is a post I just made on a bicycle site where this stem has once again popped up...
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Ahhh. One of these stems again. One was only recently for sale on this CABE site.

These stems keep turning up and I keep identifying them... and the IDs I provide keep getting ignored. As a big hit record star that I used to perform with during my music days (we were even in the Army together) used to say to me... "Mannn... people are gonna believe what they wanna believe and say what they wanna say! You can't change it."

But I will try here one more time.

These stems are almost always claimed to be "prewar"... they are NOT. They are postwar and appeared in the late 1940s.

One of these stems showed up in recent years on a circa teens-1920s "Packard"-branded bicycle originally sold via California wholesale-distributor, Bean Son Company (BSCO). The bicycle was claimed to be authentic (it wasn't). This Packard bicycle was posted on a Packard automobile web site with a flowery description claiming the design was somehow done by Packard Motor Car Company in the early 1900s. The design of the stem was claimed as follows:

"It was built by The Bean & Son Company of San Francisco, CA to follow the design of the Packard automobile with the goose neck handle bar stem being made from aluminum (precious metal at the time) and to have the lines of the cormorant feathers at it's sides like the hood ornament of the Packard automobile. "

A ridiculously absurd claim. The bicycle in question was NOT "built by Bean & Son Company." It was wholesaled and distributed by (not built by) Bean Son Company– NOT "Bean & Son" (no such company). And the stem had absolutely ZERO connection to Packard Motor Car Company, nor any or their designs. This is pure hallucination. (see attached photo).

But like so many others in the bicycle history world where often the blind are leading the blind and anybody can make up and say anything... people actually believed this outrageous fantasy.

I tried to correct the "information" online... and my correction and accurate identification were –as usual– ignored. The Packard bicycle (which also had postwar girl's J.C. Higgins parts) later turned up in San Francisco and was auctioned off. For a hefty price. All with the silly story for the stem intact and my corrections again, ignored!

I suspect like my Japanese "DuJee" aluminum bicycles, these stems were made of scrap and surplus aluminum left over from World War II. DuJees were made of aluminum intended for Japanese Mitsubishi "Zero" fighter aircraft. Likewise I believe these stems and other postwar American-made bicycles and items of the 1940s came from a similar American source. I won't go into the minutia of why here in this thread.

How do I know about these stems? I've been collecting and saving bicycle history for a lot of years. Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, I saw quite a few of these stems on bicycles... and for sale in shops. I bought several and kept them. This, of course was a long, long time ago.

These special aluminum stems were made by a company on what used to be known as Detroit's "East Side." The company was located on Gratiot Avenue. The name of the company was Midway Machine and Tool Company. Advertisements for these stems first began to appear in bicycle industry trade magazines in the late 1940s. I am attaching an original ad for this stem from a 1947 issue of American Bicyclist & Motorcyclist magazine (yes, we have most issues from 1920s through the 1970s with many in original bound volumes). This stem was also advertised in other bicycle trade publications like Bicycle Journal (we also have every BJ issue in bound volumes from beginning to end). I also interviewed an engineer involved with making these stems decades ago.

I had about 50 of these stems in boxes I saved and brought out to California in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, these all disappeared when my buildings were robbed over 20 years ago. Over the years since, these aftermarket Detroit-made aluminum stems continue turning up on the western end of the country. Often with crazy stories of what they are.

So if anyone on the planet today knows these stems, it would be me.

Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
(NBHAA.com)

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