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We will be learning a lot more about the 1937 prototype in the near future.

The article Jared and I wrote for The Packard Digest (also posted here - see above) was mailed to our members and I received a phone call yesterday from long-term member. Some of you may know Marvin King and he told me he knows all about the car and Jared's GGF Larry. Marvin first met Larry around 1970 and was buying spare parts and learning Packard mechanics from him. When Larry moved to northern Michigan in about 1972 he sold his complete inventory of parts to him. Not only that, but Marvin also bought his tools, tool chest, shop lab coat with "Packard School" embroidered on it, photos and nearly everything else - right down to his lunch box that he took to work. Marvin still has all of this.

About Larry: He was a member of the Packard experimental service garage team that worked in a building behind the Packard Factory Branch at 574 East Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit. He also did dynamometer testing at the PPG. This experimental service team took care of executives cars, show cars, prototype and testing cars.

About the car: Marvin recalls Larry telling him that Packard wanted to build a car that would be easy for a woman to parallel park. So the wheelbase was shortened and the motor moved backed several inches. He said there should be an indent in the firewall to allow the motor to fit. Larry told his wife about the parallel parking feature and she took over the car and seldom let Larry drive it again.

Last night I spoke to Jared about this and later this month I will arrange a meeting with Marvin and Jared to learn much more.

I'm curios about the shift lever location if there is enough left to visualize. It would seem if you moved the engine back the trans and cane shift would also have to move so is a stock lever located right next to the seat or did they rearrange the handle or seat in some way.

The 120C and 115C were essentially the same from the cowl wall back with the 115C being 5-inches shorter. The shortened length was taken out forward of the cowl. My 115C has an indent in the cowl for the engine, and the cane shift is close to the slanted footboard. These I believe are the same as the 120C. A lighter 6-cylinder engine and shorter wheel base would make it easier to park and drive in traffic than the longer and heavier 8-cylinder. David Flack will know.

(o{}o)

Well, JW, you are right. The 115C is indeed an easier car to drive in city traffic, but WE know that. My Mom always prefers driving the 115c when she is in town. As for the other details, we shall see what the car says - who knows, it might have a shortened 36 frame, there are many differences that could be noted by the field trip.

Oh, and as for Marvin still having everything from Jared's GGF, I highly doubt that is true, as i have been buying parts from Marvin since at least 72 or 73...!

I would encourage whoever visit the prototype Six to photo document it as completely as possible and share with us. This is what I attempted to do with the first production 1955 Patrician (5582-1001).

(o{}o)

This is a great development, thank you for posting. I look forward to learning more from Mr. King. After Larry's wife died in the mid-60's, he did spend the last few summers of his retirement up north. That would be at my grandparents' property (where the car still sits). It sounds like he never fully left his home in Detroit. He passed away downstate in or before 1975.

Here is a picture of the lower dash/transmission area I took on my last visit to the car. We can see that the floor and even the frame are almost disintegrated (that's daylight visible behind the brake pedal). But the shift lever still moves left and right. As for any special mods, it's very hard to say. The rusted springs of the bench seat are around the site somewhere, but it was detached and pulled from the interior long before my time.

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Hello again,
The story of the #1 Junior Packard continues. This month we were able to remove the engine and transmission from the wreck of the car that has been in the woods since 1956. The wooden coachwork has fallen out and the upper sheet metal panels are paper-thin. However, the frame cradle for the engine was remarkably preserved, despite being packed in sand for decades. Amazingly, the engine's oil pan was intact despite being buried as well. I stumbled across the dipstick and (after the engine was moved) I pulled out thick, black oil.

After almost 60 years of exposure to sun and rain, the shape of the fasteners was really very impressive. A couple head bolts were tried, and they backed off with a simple crescent wrench--no heating. This allowed us to make an angle-iron pick point to lift the engine easily. By the end of the day I was able to remove the four main transmission studs and separate it from the clutch housing.

For anyone's information and interest, I have attached pictures of the numbers stamped on the block and the head.

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Thanks for the follow-up. Have you located the actual motor number? It could be at least as interesting if not more so than the casting numbers and dates if original to the car. The motor casting date is curious in that it's only a few days before the series began production (Sept.3) and blocks would have had to have been cast well in advance of 9/3, so I'm wondering if it's a replacement motor. Motor numbers began at T1500 IIRC - someone correct me on that if I'm wrong, please.

For comparison purposes the casting date on my 115C's engine is 11 16 36 and the stamped engine number is T17395. The car was delivered on Dec. 24, 1936 by the Oklahoma City dealer. An convertible coupe.

(o{}o)