Monday 5th January 2009

What to do? What to do? Well after all that's been done so far, not a lot remains to be done. Last week the elves, seeing it was still close to Christmas but turned out to be Wade, had tried to get the glovebox light and clock working and emailed me this ".....As to other news, I have good and bad. The good is that the original tilt switch in your glove box appears to work OK, the bad is that the clock doesn't. I have had a quick look at it and it appears to be in good condition, it's the most complex car clock that I have seen. I will talk to you about it later, but if you like I can take it to Barry Smith to give to his brother who is a watchmaker. He has done some repair work for me before......". And of course I said yes, a working clock should be a normal feature in the '41. Wade and Gina are seeing Barry on Wednesday and he'll take the clock with him then.

A front end alignment is the major job still needing doing so I rang Jeff, a member of the Packard Club for the phone number of Brian in the Willys Club and left Brian a message to call me so I could book it in. But what could be done was wash the '41 of the accumulated grime, dirt, oil spots and grease marks accumulated over the last 13 months. And a great day for it too, about 95 degrees in the shade and who knows what the temperature was out in the hot sun on the concrete in front of the workshop. All I know it was HOT or as said in the vernacular in Oz, Bloody Hot! So donning a wide-brimmed cricket hat, that's sat on the rear shelf of my cars for many years and is slowly bleaching to white by the sun, I started. Shortly after I started Wade came out of the workshop and asked "where's your camera"? Told him "in the '41", and that's when i Had my picture taken for a change. Most of the dirt and grime came of fairly easily but there were oily/greasy spots that took more effort to clean. There are still some "marks" left but I'm hopeful these will polish out when I get back to the workshop later in the week. Opened up the doors to "dry out" the interior because of a number of leaks evident by the washing process. Will be sourcing a new windshield rubber gasket ASAP to replace what's there now. MBM in this case will NOT be suitable. And when I opened the left rear quarter window cracked the glass, as it was slightly stuck in the rubber, and when the open glass front end of the window hit my bicep, off all things 3 vertical cracks appeared! Further rubbers required when this glass is replaced as well. And a little trick I learned, courtesy of Wade, was cleaning the WWW's. Necessitated a quick trip to the local supermarket buying a bottle of household bleach and some scouring pads. Back at the workshop mixed up a 50/50 bleach and water solution used a trigger pump sprayer and sprayed all the WWW's on the '41, and also did Wade's '37 Super 8 which was next to the '41. Back to the first WWW sprayed and scrubbed with the scourer and hosed off. Repeat, spraying and scrubbing and hosing as necessary until a remarkable transformation is revealed. They all look remarkably clean and WHITE now.

While I was washing the '41, Wade was working on some parts for his '34. More specifically taillights, front fender lights and various other smaller parts including the wood screws to hold door handles and such to the wooden door frames. Seems Packard used screws with a slightly domed head for these. Wade was checking he had enough for all the handles and fittings and it seems he has with enough left over if need arises. He also proved an adept hand at gasket making too, with WFI producing a pair of rubber gaskets for the '34's taillights. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of these bespoke items. Wade also showed me the brackets that mount on the front fenders that hold the fender running lights of the '34. He'd had them re-chromed some years ago, along with a whole slew of other stuff for the '34, and these started flaking almost from day one while sitting on the shelf. He'd been back to the platers but only to be told it was "just the way it is with these old muck-metal parts". They did steer him in the direction of a guy who cast up a couple of replacement brackets in bronze but he died before he finished the job. Wade's now left with a couple of original badly flaking originals and a pair of bronze castings needing a lot of work, including plating, to bring them up to scratch. He's going to try to get the originals re-plated one last time before proceeding to the fall-back bronze casting option.

Then backed the '41 into the workshop. What a nerve wracking process! Besides being unfamiliar with the sitting/steering position and the gearshift lever being on the other side of the steering column, the lack of rearward visibility was quite pronounced. Definitely have to improve the mirror situation before much longer. And Wade says the more you practice the better you get, but I don't want that at the expense of bumps and scrapes, so I'll be very circumspect in these situations. Put the new Bill Hirsch hupcaps on and now she looks complete.

Wade had proceeded to do some work on his '37 Super 8 because it was running hotter than normal. Wade in reading the manual discovered it said that in summer the head thermostat could be removed and the shutter-stat was sufficient. He was going to try that to see whether it improved the hot running of the Super 8, Removed the top radiator hose and thermostat housing and the thermostat from within. Then MBM manufactured a new thermostat housing gasket and the housing and top hose re-installed. Wade tested the thermostat a little later by boiling water and immersing it therein. Although it was opening it wasn't fully opening so this may be a cause for the hot running but time will tell.

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Huge step up there Kev!

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I too like pretty women and sparkly diamonds Gerd, but the trouble is I can only afford old cars!

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Speaking of fluid, are you using Silicon brake fluid?

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Ahhhhh, the patina of age. It isn't only old cars that go that way. I should know, now that I have "grandpa" skin.

Ron,
for adding your Speedster to the Owner Registry. And thanks also for the history and such, I enjoy these as they make interesting reading.

And I suggest, some here might think I'm pushy but what the heck I can only ask, could you document your Speedster in the Project Blogs Forum? I'm sure it will provide a great resource for others who may wish to do something similar. As well as provide you and us with regular documented updates of progress achieved.

Fair bit of comment on this in the AACA Packard Forum.

http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/564890/gonew/1/41_120_with_a_divider#UNREAD
Eric, the earth will not crumble if you click on the link!

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Found it, there are three posts from Turbo289 on Page 8 of Turbopackman's Project Blog and mentions the Speedster he's building in Nampa Idaho.

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Thanks guys - keeps us "Obsessive-Compulsives" happy, if nothing else.

After all "Out of chaos comes order" Nietzsche
http://askville.amazon.com/chaos-order-Maxwell-Smart/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=4754532

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G'day Ron,
to Packardinfo. You're not alone in building a Speedster, have a look at Turbopackman's in the Project Blog Forum:
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=738&forum=10
There was also a discussion a little while ago with another member who has one.
And another matter, although - Could you please add your Speedster to the Owner Registry together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it?