Re: Side Tracked by a '51 Packard

Posted by Jim L. in OR On 2010/10/15 16:41:31

Hi all,

Well, I went out to look at the '51 I mentioned at the start of this thread and was pleasantly surprised. For a 60 year old original, it's in pretty good shape. At some point there was a repaint in a "red" Packard never intended but it was obviously a top drawer job so if I get the car I guess I'll have to learn to like red on a Packard - at least for the foreseeable future.
I do have an interior question that all the photos in the archives failed to clear up. This is a 200 deluxe (trying very hard to be a Patrician, but more about that later) and I was surprised that the door panels, while showing the same pattern in the photos are actually devoid of cloth and the pattern is pressed into the door panel it's self. Is this the way the 200 Deluxe came?
About being a Patrician Wannabe. The car was either a Dealer show room order or ordered by someone who didn't have a garage big enough for one of the 127" WB models. It has the Cormorant Hood Ornament, the three jet louvers on each rear door and quarter panel, the Patrician's chrome fins atop the rear fenders and what really looks like carpeting through out that looks to be as old as the car & there is no evidence of there ever being the standard rubber floor covering anywhere.
I took it out for a drive and it drives well, the Ultramatic does everything it's supposed to do and the engine runs pretty smooth despite having what sounds like a stuck valve (a very rhythmic "chuffing" sound from the exhaust). It was too dark in the garage to see what engine it had and after the drive I simply forgot to check. It does have the oil bath air cleaner and oil filter and what sounded like valve clatter when it was first started, died away fairly quickly; so whatever engine it is, I'm pretty sure it has Hydraulic Lifters.
The temperature gauge stayed where it should have and there was nothing from the idiot lights once the engine started.
I'm thinking really hard about this one. I'd say more, but the last time I shot my mouth off before having the title in my hand, the deal evaporated. I'm not usually superstitous, but......
Any help about the door panels would be appreciated just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks, in advance -

Jim L. in OR