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Re: surplus stuff at Fred's place
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Okay... but why Kentucky? Some kind of meet or show?
Posted on: 2023/8/23 20:57
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Re: Packard Bikes
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And here is a photo I thought you might enjoy of a prewar Schwinn-Built Packard bicycle. This one was ordered with very rare optional V-shaped gothic fenders.
When we got this Packard bicycle in the mid-1970s (when this photo was taken), it was missing the Delta Silver Ray headlight. Bicycle people don't know this, but these bicycle headlights were made based on 1932 Buick parking lights. Delta Electric of Marion, Indiana was the supplier of power window switches for 1955 and 1956 Packards. Anyway, we filled the mounting hole for the Delta Silver Ray with a bicycle accessory Packard Cormorant ornament as we have described elsewhere in this thread. Prewar Schwinn bicycle collectors may pick out more details of this unusual Schwinn-Built Packard bicycle. Image and bicycle courtesy of Leon Dixon / National Bicycle History Archive of America (NBHAA.com) Attach file:  Pacard bike.JPG (49.30 KB)
Posted on: 2023/8/21 13:39
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Re: 1955 Caribbean restoration completed...
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Awwww. Too bad. Just goes to show that photos can be deceiving. Still... looks so very nice! I always had good luck with Electron and Robbins. Electron has been around a lot of years and they should know better on the rear window. But I understand that they changed ownership a few years back. So today, anything may be possible. I once had the original factory convertible top patterns for 1955 and 1956. I gave them to a friend who once made tops for me at Acme Auto Headlining back in the 1970s. But he died and things changed hands. Nobody knew what happened to those patterns. Many years ago when we had a trim shop, the only problems I ever had with their tops were poor materials. But I fixed that by having the fabricators like Electron use only materials that I specified. As for the window zipper on your Caribbean– IF they sent you a toothed zipper instead of a modern coil zipper, there is an old trimmer's trick. A toothed zipper (depending on installation and window size/design) can be replaced using half of a new window and zipper. This way you only have to deal with loosening the rear beltline trim and just installing the new window curtain on the tack strip ...without disturbing the rear bow attachment! Unfortunately, this method will never work with a modern coil zipper since (with exception of special precision coil versions). This is because there is no standardization of coils per linear inch. Thus coil zipper halves are permanently mated at one end unlike toothed zippers that can be completely detached. This very issue became a problem during development of Mazda Miata when I worked for the corporation. The zip-out rear window on the Mazda Miata folding top was my idea– credited or not. I had originally intended the Miata rear backlight window to be easily replaceable using half of the old zipper. It was intended to use a tooth-type zipper. But you know what happened. Other people got involved who thought they were smart and would morph my idea the way THEY wanted it. All without bothering to check with me. Too many cooks spoil the meal. They even tried to re-write the Workshop Manual procedure that I had written (after all– who was I?). That's when they discovered that coil zippers are permanently mated! So the entire method I had predicated and designed would not work. I could have told them that... but nobody asked. Maybe this is one reason why I am never mentioned in the histories although I did so much development work on that car! Anyway, for your Caribbean, you may be able to grab the zipper tab with the top partially lowered and then unzip it. Primitive and wonky, but a way to do it. At worst you may end up having to detach the fabric and curtain up top on the rear bow. Then going whole hog on rear curtain replacement. Tough to find a good trimmer who can accurately do this kind of work today. What fabric did you use? I am in the middle of attempting a fabrication and inner face coloring dye of special VERY expensive fabric that looks like 1955. Has already cost a fortune and has taken years...
Posted on: 2023/8/6 18:09
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Re: Packard Bikes
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And... another request. Ever since we posted a Packard Pedal car in this thread, that got a lot of attention.
So from one of our bicycle catalogues from the late 1920s, here ya go... This luxurious Packard pedal car actually had a real tail light/stop light, leather seat, detailed simulated controls and real spring suspension! But that's neither a Cormorant nor a Pelican ornament on the radiator...! The pedal car company that made this little treasure called the radiator ornament an "Eagle" but it doesn't look like one of those either...! Attach file:  PackardPedalCarToledoWM.jpeg (252.68 KB)
Posted on: 2023/8/6 17:06
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Re: 1955 Caribbean restoration completed...
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Hello... Whoever did your top did a magnificent job! Really nice and it is very rare that I see such fine work. Rear stainless bow trim is in position and looking good. Top fabric is fitting like a glove and makes this Caribbean look brand-new. Great profile, no exposed side rails, no evidence of ill-fitting and no wrinkles. Now, THAT is a nice piece of work, done the way it ought to be done! A very fine installation. Of course, the rest of this Caribbean is a thing of beauty. So, congratulations and job very well done!
Posted on: 2023/8/6 6:47
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Re: The Last 1956 Packard Caribbean convertible #276 is for sale
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Interesting sale. Agree on not the best place to sell such an automobile. Furthermore... • Someone has re-done the interior and made the seat cushions dead flat as a board (they were originally contoured). • Added white windlace at the doors (should be black). • Suspension is squatted down in the rear (if the leveler is working, then the Caribbean ought to be sitting level) • Tires appear to be too small radials with skinny whitewalls. • Factory air decal is oddly wrapped around the air conditioning muffler assembly (when it ought to be on the radiator splash apron). Why? • Wrong air cleaner decals stuck in wrong position on top of the batwing (instead of down on top of the pots). • Anti-short protector guard is missing on the voltage regulator. • And the wildly ginormous huge aprons on that big top boot are so big they even cover the rear ashtrays! (should be wayyyyyyy smaller). • Gotta love the Concours sign that repeatedly spells Caribbean as "Carribean"... ...and there are other issues... Hope it ends up in a good home.
Posted on: 2023/7/19 10:40
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Re: Caribbean 1955 Anyone know this car?
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Ross has already pointed out the minor strangeness underneath. Inside, the lower cushion seat bolsters are too flat and should be much puffier. Nice to see reflective red Scotchlite hexagons on the wire wheel center covers –as they came from the this way from the factory. Repop covers are painted red.. However the glaring item I see (that no one seems to have noticed) is the Cadillac Eldorado batwing air cleaner. For those who might argue, there it is! Sitting right there on top of the carburetors. As I told someone who doubted me at the recent PAC National Meet... Cadillac Eldorado batwings will drop right onto a Packard Caribbean engine. Just turn them backwards. SOME Cadillac batwings have larger hanging pots than Caribbeans and can hit the rocker covers. Otherwise everything fits. Dead giveaway clues are that this car has a Cadillac air cleaner. The chrome drawer-pull knobs holding the pots (Caribbeans used special wing nuts) and the diecast chrome "V" symbol on top of the housing. Cadillac stuff, not Packard.
Posted on: 2023/7/13 10:14
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Re: Packard National Meet, Rohnert Park (Northern California) June 25-30, 2023
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For anyone who was not there...I can only describe it all with one word: FABULOUS. What a spectacular treat! The Packard Club history book (everyone registered got one) is huge and includes great stuff! Loaded with photos. If you hurry, you may still be able to buy one too! The book will be for sale through the club until stocks are depleted. As for the National Meet... I will share a photo of our visit to the former Earle C. Anthony dealership on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. Packards are from club members. And yes, most of the Bernard Maybeck interior remains unmolested... Attach file: ECAVanNess10 copy.jpeg (354.06 KB) PatricialSideSwipe5WM.jpeg (413.21 KB)
Posted on: 2023/7/10 12:49
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Re: Packard Bikes
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Someone asked. So... Pharis Tire & Rubber company made Packard Tires, not Western Auto... which merely sold them...
Posted on: 2023/7/3 13:36
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Re: Meticulous 55 Convertible Resto
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Auction companies and cars in auctions... and frankly so-called "meticulous restorations" and "award winning restorations" are usually hyperbole. Often wildly so. Some might buy into this kind of talk as translation of value. This is particularly true when people judging these things, selling these things and people restoring them have no idea what they are looking at. Some go by "guides" which themselves have errors and omissions. Case in point. Look at the first 1956 Caribbean here listed as a "meticulous restoration"... • The anti-short cover for the regulator is completely missing and wiring to the regulator is rolled like spaghetti. • Decals on the air cleaner pots are wrong type and wrong color. • Decal on the oil canister is missing • There are 2 pressed rings on the lower masts of the rear antennae. These are not Caribbean or V-8 Packard rear masts, but rather transplanted front fender masts. Original Caribbeans and other V-8 rear antenna masts only had 1 (one) pressed ring on the lower mast section. • 1956 Caribbean convertible tops had a grain on the outside. This car appears to have a 1955 top installed. • The statement that the interior cushions for this car are "reversible to tan cloth" is wildly off, since the factory reverse would have been a grayish boucle. Tan goes with pink? Not in the factory upholstery book, nor in any original 1956 Caribbean with factory interior. And there are other issues with this Caribbean. So. While this is a very pretty Caribbean, "meticulous restoration" and values associated with this terminology and other auction company claims are not always a gauge. Furthermore, people buying these cars are rarely experts. Just people who want one and have the $ to buy. Oh... and let's not forget... the auction claims "287 built" of 1956 Caribbean convertibles. Wow. Let's amend that to the real factory count of 276... please?
Posted on: 2023/6/7 10:56
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