Re: The 1951 Patrician of Jim L. in OR

Posted by Jim L. in OR On 2014/10/15 22:04:09

That sounds like a truly excellent system. One of the greatest if not THE greatest tool for automobile (and I suspect other things as well) restoration has got to be the digital camera. I can well imagine that attempting to photo every step during the disassemble and label process during the old days of film processing, the lab costs could almost rival the price of the parts. Coming in for a close second is the zip-loc storage bags. Put the two together and, short of a total brain wipe, it's hard to go wrong.

With this car, I got it already taken apart so it was a little late. What I'm doing now is sorting through the bits and pieces with the goal of doing pretty much what you suggest. Perhaps in this case, one other source has come in handy - that of having two other '51 Packards as reference material. The guy I got this car from did have things bagged & labeled but I'm "translating" into my own system.

So when it comes time to put things back together I hope to have all the bits sorted, bagged and tagged with photos. And that should make things go quite a bit better.

As for the trunk mat, I think mine is made the same way but on finding a "just dusty" section, the color seems to be a reddish brown. As for "things holding up" my Patrician's body (even in parts) is doing better than my body.

Thank you for your suggestion - it's excellent.