Brents 1955 Packard Clipper Custom Touring Sedan

Posted by 55clippercustom On 2009/1/22 12:42:49

Hello,Thought I would start a little project blog here for everyone to see!! I am in the very early stages of restoring this 'ole Clipper into hopefully a decent driver!!! I have been looking for the right type of 50,s car to restore and make into a driver that maybe I could go to a few cars shows,swap meets,ETC,and just have a decent weekend driver!!I have always liked and appreciated the less popular type cars that are somewhat unsual and rare,so I think i've found the right one for me!!! I am a diesel mechanic and have worked on or around cars my whole life,In saying that I have never really done any major restoration,Body,or paint work,although I have always wanted to learn,so this should be a great learning experience for me!! I may decide to farm some of the paint and body work out,just depending on how much time and money I have available at the time!! I think this 'ole Clipper is a really good project start!It is very original,complete,and straight,and has little rust!!It supposedly Is a 1 owner with the exception of the guy I acquired it from who had it only a few months.The car supposedly was bought new by a mechanic in the Air Force,and still belonged to his family up until sometime last year!I think it spent a lot of it's life near Tampa,FL where he was stationed at(still has the base stickers on the bumper),and ended up near Atlanta,Ga where his family sold it to the guy I got it from.In summing up all the history I know on It,It now resides in upstate South Carolina where I live!!Just as a quick description as to where I am at in this process,I have had car a little over a month,and quickly determined engine is froze solid..SEIZED!!!! After soaking with everything Imaginable for weeks,I pulled oil pan,Inspected and tried to break free,still with no success,So by then I had come to the conclusion that this thing would require at the least a full rebuild,and no telling how much machine work and $$!!!So thanks to this site I happened upon a good 352 that had been fully rebuilt in 1981 and never used,It had been stored in a garage!! I drove to Ohio(1200 miles round trip) and bought this for a very reasonable price from Pac-Man-Don,who is a member on this site,he had every receipt of work done back in 1981,him and his Grandpa built it!!Don also threw in bunch of other hard to find goodies,that really made trip worthwhile!!So as of last weekend I spent 3 12 hour days cleaning,painting,sanding,degreasing,rust removal,on engine,engine bay and ETC!!! I also blew engine out good with compressed air,and pulled oil pan and inspected and cleaned again and ETC! I got most everything painted up with factory colors,using the Packard Turquoise from Bill Hirsch,and am currently finishing up reconditioning accessories such as Carburetor,Distributor,Fuel pump and ETC!! I hope to have engine installed by this coming weekend!!I will post some before and after pics,please feel free to let me know what you think,any advice or comments will be appreciated!!!! Thanks!!!!!