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After many hours of work, lots of cuts and an expanded vocab. It's finally driveable !!! I drove my 22nd series 250 miles this past weekend. It performed very well, got it up to 125mph and no parts fell off. Handles like a dream and sounds great going slow. Everywhere I went everybody has to stop and ask questions. I love when traffic slows just to see me go by. It feels great to see the culmination of my imagination come to life.

ps: don't forget, it's not a packard drivetrain.

here are some pics from after the initial journey, and one of my personal pin-up the day my packard was adopted into our home.

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Congratulations! I've owned my Packard for 11 years and have never heard it run. I hope to experience the joy of riding in a Packard before too long.

You drove 125 MPH?!?!?!?!?!

Nice "Hood Ornament". I hope she likes the Packard as well.

125 mph around I-285 in Atlanta is just keeping up with the minivans. It's great when a plan finally comes together!!!

Mascots are indeed important to us Packard fellows!

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update:
I just returned from a 3855 mile trip from atlanta to arlington south dakota and back. Along the way we stopped in White Bluff Tenn, lynchburg TENN, Coralville res IA, Lake City IA, Soiux City IA, Lake Okoboji IA, Lost Island Lake IA, Souix Falls SD, To Arlington SD.
Thank you Kieth for putting us up the first night, and we had a great time at the coffee shop.
It seemed that nobody in this great country has ever seen anything like my car. Every single car on the road would get beside me and just stare. Every single gas station somebody would take pictures, every single bar would empty into the streets to get a good look.
That to me was the ultimate compliment.

All went well, I averaged 21mpg, 80mph. And no parts fell off. I saw a total of 3 packards on my voyage. One belongs to a very nice fellow in White Bluff tenn, One was along our journey going down I-80, it was probably a late 40's clipper. One I have my eye on in arlington sd, it's an early 50's, not sure which model. I hope to buy it this fall for my winter project. Don't worry I won't, I will not molest this one and it is worth restoring to factory condition, but it will still have to be a daily driver to be in my fleet.
All in all I had the most amazing adventure. I owe it all to my Packard.

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Bob. Glad to hear that u and Sherri had a good trip to SD. I always enjoy socializing with other car buffs, especialy Packard fans. Glad u found the modest guest house accomodations here to be convenient for your journey too.
Keep us posted on your projects.

Congratulation, that's great! I always wanted to do that with my old girl. But the other old girl doesn't want to. She thinks it will break down and we'll be stranded.

By the way, how did you make those nice looking rims fit?

The not breaking down and nice rims are one easy answer. Beauty is only skin deep, So is my Packard! Everything you see in the picture is packard, everything underneath is '06 dodge dakota. The full frame, drivetrain, dash and front seats are newer dodge stuff.

I like to drive long distances so I needed something I could find parts for.

Which reminds me of a great story from our trip: We hauling butt down a country road near Souix City. I saw a gaggle of pheasants in the road way, so I joke to Sherri I said " Bet they've never been run down by a Packard before" So I goose it up to about 85mph thinking that theyll hear the exhaust get out of the way at the last minute. I didn't see any signs but I guess there should have been one reading deaf pheasant at play. So with a good solid THUD you could feel from the floor board to the seats that mangled feather duster exploded on the front of my car. I thought great like I could just go to the dealer and get another darn grill off of the shelf. Some beach! About a mile down the road I finaly stopped to acces the damage. No big deal one headlight full of blood and feathers, no problem. I had taken the pics of my headlight conversion with my phone to post here on the forums, so I just pulled it up and walked into the parts store and got another for less than five bucks. But not till after I saw the look on the parts face after I asked for a bulb for my 48 packard.

I was going to post something positive about your trip and I truly hope you were kidding but killing game bird(s) deliberately with a car is both unlawful on several counts and morally reprehensible. I am disgusted that you would deliberately kill or attempt to kill wildlife, or for that matter any animal, with a car as a "joke". I wish someone had witnessed this and reported you to the S.Dakota Fish and Game or State Police and had you charged with these offences.

Wildlife is wildlife. It lyes dead in the road quite often.

I don't report poachers. It is morally absurd to deprive some man of trying to feed his family while some goddamned city dweller living on a postage stamp sized lot wants to come out here and run all over everyones land just because he has hunting license in season.

City folk need to stay in the city and out the rednecks line of site.

Moreover, the bird did not fly away. They usualy do. It was probably sick and a threat to other wildlife spreading disease. People who don't have a clue other than emotional rage need to get a life.

I shot four squirrels 2wo days ago. They ate ALL of the apples from my apple tree. Usualy I EAT the apples. Same for the Cherry tree. People who don't understand anything more than what they can go to Walmart and buy in a plastic bag just to throw out the window before they get home with it need to experience some hard times in their life just long enuf to get their head out their ass.