Re: I need some serious advice about buying a Packard

Posted by R Anderson On 2016/2/26 13:40:50

Much good advice here!
I'm a retired teacher and a long time vintage car owner. Like you, my Dad taught me nothing about cars because to him, a mechanical engineer amazingly, a car was for transportation only, and he'd rather play golf, so he never did so much as change oil. Even as a little kid I loved cars but to him there were merely an appliance. He discouraged me when I had a chance to buy a 2 seater T-Bird in High school, at a very reasonable price! After college and in my 20s I drove a 5 yr Volvo but decided I wanted a really old car with some character, so bought a nice looking '47 Olds straight 8 Coupe that was in the paper, knowing very little about it. I was lucky that it turned out to be a decent car.

As mentioned these older cars are much simpler than modern cars, and so they are great to learn on. I taught myself to work on and maintain it just by reading Chiltons and other books on Auto Repair. One I really recommend for basics is the Popular Science book: "How to Repair and Service your Own Car" by Richard Day, published before cars got very complicated. You can probably find it on Amazon. I learned almost everything I needed for most repairs from this one book. It'd have been even easier if I'd had the resources of a club, but there was none nearby at the time, nor personal computers or the Web. Now you have that specialized knowledge right here at PI.com. I loved the learning process, solving problems, and working on it was very therapeutic after a crazy day at school, believe me! 40 years later, it's been a most rewarding hobby. It isn't rocket science, you can learn any aspect of it that you put your mind and effort towards mastering.

So the bottom line is you can do this, don't be intimidated, hang in there and ask for help when needed. If it's not a daily driver there's no big pressure to fix things asap so it becomes a fun challenge and the challenges are worth it!

The best other advice I can give is stick to pre-war, or '41-47 Clipper (in my opinion just as desirable), and consider a 4 dr sedan, they are just as classic, very practical, usually cheaper to buy, and far easier to find. You should be able to find a solid decent prewar car for well under 10K if you are patient, and a club will have the best contacts. Get a running car with solid body (get a club member to help evaluate it, most love to help out) that needs cosmetics, which can be done later. You don't need correct seat covers or perfect paint to have fun, and it should be all about fun!

So have at it, and remember that all the good advice you'll need is right here, the best car group on the net! Even though I (once again) own a vintage Olds, I still enjoy reading and kibitizing here from time to time, because Packard owners are the best! Keep looking... you have to have a Dream for a Dream to come true!
cheers, Roger in NY