I have just struck gold...in my own backyard.

Posted by portlandon On 2008/5/3 17:49:55

I had my garage door open this morning, with the the back of the packard pointed out the doors. A car stopped and an old friend from High School got out. I hadn't seen him since graduation! After awhile we got onto talking about my packard. I explained to him about swapping the motor with another one that I had acquired. He tells me of a guy he knows who builds hot rods, customs and such having an old packard motor in his shop. I can't resist, so we hop into my truck and head about 3 miles out of town to his shop. He is there and confirms that he has "this old motor" that has Packard on the valve covers. He uncovers it and it's a 352 w/twin ultramatic still attached! I try to hide my excitement, but fail. He said that a buddy of his chopped up the car and used the tail light sections of the 1/4 panels & headlight sections on a custom job, and got rid of the rest. The guy saved the motor because "it ran & drove so damned good he didn't have the heart to get rid of it". I scrapped away at the engine stamping by the distributor and see the first 4 digits are "5587" which is out of another 1955 400. He said I could have it for $100 dollars if I thought it was fair. I've never whipped out my wallet so fast in my life. I'll pick it up tomorrow! What is so funny about this is I live in a small town of about 800 people. What are the odds of finding another 1955 engine within a 3 mile radius of me? Not good, as it took me close to a year & a 700 mile multi-state road trip for the other one I found. I truly have found gold....in my own backyard.