Re: Swap Meet - Canberra Australia

Posted by Peter Packard On 2007/10/30 20:51:01

John, with regard to the Daimler, the built in jacking system consisted originally of 3 hand operated scissor type jacks attached to the chassis. I have one of the three jacks and am soaking it in diesel at the moment to free it up. I don't have any info on the Freestone and Webb body building company. I am not very impressed with the body as they have used ply under some of the main timber bearers. It has started to delaminate and it would have been much better to have used a suitable solid timber.
Daimler also had the habit of encasing their wiring looms in metal. Unfortunately they used a type of aircraft industry wiring which falls apart when it gets involved in too much water. When I got the car there were a number of wiring issues ( cross -feeds and shorting inside the metal conduits). It came to a head when I went to the April 2007 Packard National Tour in Toowoomba. The Daimler was in the driveway at the office. Daimler had also run the main Positive battery lead beside the fuel line, inside the chassis rail. The battery lead shorted on the fuel line, burnt through the line and fused the 10 mm ( three- eighth inch) battery lead. There was 20 imperial gallons of fuel in the boot and fortunately the car was pointing uphill at the time. I have had a fair bit of rewiring to do as it toasted the main loom ( inside the chassis- of course). The Daimler was easily the cost of a Packard 12 when new, but is a very different kettle of fish in terms of driveability and maintenance. Peter