Re: 1923 220 Touring - A question on painting

Posted by John Wogec On 2020/12/10 19:50:12

Hi Pippo,
I can't believe you haven't received a flood of responses yet. I am restoring my grandfather's 1929 Seven Passenger Sedan from the ground up. I have the luxury of free advice from several excellent restorers, at least one of whom has told me that proper restoration is simple...take the whole car apart, clean up the parts and put them back together. That is of course an oversimplification. There are some parts on a pre-war Packard that will probably never wear out, like the ring and pinion gear (in my humble experience). One thing I have observed on my car is that ninety years have allowed dirt, rust, rot and corrosion to attack places I had assumed were inaccessible on a car that has largely been stored inside since new. So, without telling you that you may want to carefully explore a few places where that wood may have begun to rot, I would not at all be surprised to hear that you found some trouble spots.

Another fact I have begun to fully embraced over the course of my restoration is that these cares are just as beautiful in original condition as when they are restored, and the act of restoration takes away some of that patina that will never come back. It is only original once, and if you don't have a good reason to tear it down, you may not want to.

In my case, it was necessary to take the car apart because my dad overheated the engine in 1956 and I was encouraged to examine the internals before starting it, and the same (dear old dad), had the frame sandblasted with the car intact, so there was sand everywhere, which I am still finding.

Ultimately, the decision is based on common sense. Good luck with your restoration!