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Mal, Does your Packard have a 6 volt alternator or upgraded to a 12 volt?
John

John,

The previous owner "upgraded" the car to 12 volts, so it's a 12V Alternator. Will post a pic later of the alternator installed.

Monday 11th March, 2019

For the last few months not much has been happening on the Packard front. Just a couple of club runs, one in January to the Lady Luck Festival at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, about 90 miles each way. The other in February to Vaucluse House, about 75 miles each way. Car ran well, only thing being it still runs hot. So I did my best Marty Feldman impersonation during the trip in keeping one eye on the road with the other on the temperature gauge.

Then on 11th February I dropped the Packard off to John & Will at WJR Automotive for some work before the next trip. Took a lot longer than expected, only getting the car back last Friday, the 8th. WJR installed the mechanical fuel pump that Wade had rebuilt for me. Retained the 12V electric pump for priming or overcoming vapour lock should it be necessary. They also installed the master cylinder off the '48 Limo chassis after it was stainless steel sleeved and rebuilt as well as adjusting the brakes. Also gave the chassis a comprehensive grease, draining and re-filling the trans with new oil and topping up the diff oil. Finally changing the engine oil and filter.

Could have done some of the work myself but the body isn't as co-operative as it used to be. Can get under the car, but once there it becomes difficult. Didn't realise how good it was to have the hoist available at Wade's Workshop, didn't miss it until I needed it!

But why the work before the next trip? Because that trip is to the Aussie Packard Clubs National Rally, about 630 miles South at Warrnambool in Victoria. My return trip will be "slightly" longer, about 760 miles, as I intend to visit a guy on the return trip to do a story on his '22 Twin Six Packard for publication in a future issue of our club magazine.

Always some nice cars being worked on at WJR, including a lovely Jag XK150. Another that caught my eye was a late '60's Daimler 250 Sedan which was for sale at what I thought was a modest AUD$20K, currently about US$14K. the Daimler 250 Sedan shares its body with the Mark 11 Jaguars of that era but the engine is a 2.5L(150ci), Aluminum Hemi V8. This car has the Borg Warner 35 Auto, but no P/S or A/C.

Will update the Warrnambool trip and Rally, hopefully on a day-by-day basis, in posts here or more likely in the Shows and Events Forum.

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Always liked that Jaguar body style as used on the Daimler. There was a British TV show "Inspector Morse" where the bright red early 60s Mark II that Morse drove was prominently featured. Several episodes saw it at the crime scene but in several others he had to hitch a ride with his cohort Sergeant Lewis because his Jaguar was laid up at the mechanics again. Wonder if the seemingly ongoing issue was due to the famous Lucas electrics.

Quote:

Don't know if justified or rather nonsense but German friends of British cars call Lucas the inventor of the electrical darkness. To go the -> whole nine yards.

Lucas just came out with a new switch. On, off and flicker...

Good afternoon...Morse did have his Jag in the shop quite a bit but also because he had it in a good few crashes, some of his making and some by others...but Oh boy did Morse love that red Jag...Can't say that I blame him...Ernie in Arizona

I've waited years to spring this one...

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Priceless!!! Even funnier than a bumper sticker Kanter used to have that said something like "All parts falling off this car are of the finest British manufacture".

I had that sticker on my Triumph Spitfire. I bought it new and the first day a tail light fell off. During the years I owned it nuts and bolts constantly rained down from under the dash. The final insult was when the left front wire wheel came off the car as I was getting on the on-ramp of the Ventura Freeway. The wheel sailed across to the off-ramp and slammed into the side of a California Highway Patrol car stopped at a traffic light. I promptly sold the miserable thing.