Re: 1924 Sport 136

Posted by Karl On 2024/5/16 13:13:41

Thank you, David, for clearing up this little error…. and my thanks to West Peterson for his appreciative comment. To say something about the originality of my !924 Sport…. I already bought the car with some non-original modifications. At that time I was not aware of the special features of the original. For example, the original top linkage was missing. The original seats were missing and all nickel parts were chrome plated. Also, the window frame, the snap rings and the wheel mounting rings... which as far as I know were only painted black. During the restoration I gained more and more knowledge about this vehicle, in which David Mc was significantly involved. There were a few reasons why I decided not to completely restore the car to its original condition, despite the considerable effort involved. On the one hand, it is almost impossible to get access to the original parts, which are already very rare, from Germany. I learned this while searching for some parts that I consider essential to the look and character of the 1924 Sport. When I saw the first photos of an original vehicle, I asked myself why the designers had brought such a SPORT model onto the market with so much drab color and so little sporty elegance. (If you drive along in front of a hedge with this original color, from a distance you can probably only see the wheels.)
Perhaps this was due to Packard's zeitgeist at the time, as other comparable car manufacturers at the time had color schemes that were still very close to today's tastes.
Of course, I chose colors for my sport that were also current in those years... also at Packard. And even though I couldn't mix the original Dark Red color at the time... I really like the color combination I chose. In any case, I refrained from using metallic colors like those you can sometimes see in Pebble Beach on very exclusive and very expensive vehicles on which they really have no place. But since this is ultimately “only” about “taste” and less about values…. after all, my 1924 Sport is not a 2 million Duesenberg…. we really shouldn't argue about it. And as I know from the Pebble Judging Rules... there is only a relatively small point deduction for a non-original but timely color choice.
Since components... such as the convertible top linkage... are to be attributed to a contemporary Packard follow-up model, I did not see any break in style and the character of the Sport was not changed as a result. On the other hand, the original Sport roof frame is a fairly thin/wobbly construction. I won't put on the original soft top cover either, although I still have the Material in my inventory as a reproduction but would like to use it for something else. I didn't want to make any compromises on many other components. So I thought it was essential to have the original headlight lenses from Bausch & Lomb on the Sport because they contribute significantly to the original look. I looked for it in the forums for 2 years because everything offered at E…y etc. was always too small. Then a hint came... Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the email and don't remember the name of the person who gave me the hint... and I actually got these glasses NOS.
I think I'll have another positive surprise in the near future about original parts that I value... but more on that later when I have them in my hands.
Wherever I could recreate the missing original parts myself, I did so.
So I hope that with my “deviations” I don’t lose the rest of my friendly commenters.

Karl