Tips for moving a Patrician that has been parked for 35+ years?

Posted by Fibonachu On 2024/6/27 16:15:36

Just as background, I have been working on old cars/engines for 30+ years and have a complete shop, so I am not a novice as far as older vehicles are concerned. My daughter and I are just finishing up rebuilding a 58 Chevy truck so we need a new project.

My wife's great grandparents bought a 53 Patrician new and took a road trip to go pick it up from the factory. It has been sitting parked at their farm without being touched since sometime in the early 80s. No one in the family can really remember exactly when it got parked. I have the opportunity to buy it from the great-uncle that currently owns it and am planning to pick it up this weekend.

My question here is if there are any special tips/tricks for moving it safely? Given how long it has been sitting, I expect the drums all the way around to be frozen. My intention is to winch it up onto a trailer to get it home and tinker on it there.

From looking at the manual for the ultramatic, I think I should be able to just put it in neutral to let it roll. Is that correct? There seem to be a lot of unusual things about that transmission that I don't fully understand yet, and I want to make sure that I am not going to do more harm than good trying to move it in neutral.

Are there any other tips for unsticking the brake drums that are specific to the Packards? I know the usual tricks of tapping around them with a ball peen hammer, using a strap wrench on a 2x4 and trying to drag it, heating it with a torch, etc.

Any other gotchas that I should be aware of? I am not going to try starting it until I change all the fluids, make sure it isn't seized, prelube everything, etc.