Conn, One of the sweetest sounds to my ears is the roar of a Merlin engine be it a Rolls -Royce in a Supermarine Spitfire or a P-51. As a kid living along the Detroit River I also had the thrill of watching and hearing the big Merlin and Allison powered hydo plane boats vying for the Harmsworth Trophy etc.
My father was in the Canadian Navy during World War 11 and served in the English Channel on Motor Torpedo boats which were powered by 4 Packard marine V-12 engines. He always spoke very highly of the reliability and power that these engines provided. Packard contributed so much to the war effort it is a shame that it's contributions are not as well known as they ought to be.

This wouldn't really fit in the pre-war or post-war categories so I hope it's fine posting it here.

Anyways, I was able to attend the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends "The Final Round Up" in September (the gathering of P-51 Mustangs that is) and as many of you all know, these magnificient fighters were powered by the Rolls Royce and Packard Merlin engines, and what a place to be, surrounded by the roar of over 100 of those Merlin engines. Anyhow, it's always bugged me to hear people refer to the Mustang as "The Cadillac of the Sky", when these birds were powered by Packard... It'll always be the P-51 "the Packard Powered Mustang" to me. (or something like that...) That engine changed a lot of things for our Army Air Corps. and played a vital roll in the WWII Allied victory. I'm just glad that Packard was able to contribute in such a way, and I wish that people had a better way to know about that history. It's sites like this that make that possible...Thanks!

Just thought it would be a neet topic to open for discussion that really is overlooked...
Conn

Joel,

It was great to meet you and John. I thought your tent layout was great and hope you had a productive show. I really enjoyed talking to you guys.

I had a great trip and enjoyed my three days there immensely! Met quite a few folks in the PAC tent and covered the Corral, all the vendor fields and the Show Field on Saturday.

Already looking forward to next year!

Regards,
Robert.

Well I pulled the backing plates off. It required me to use the impact gun to break the bolts loose.

With the back plates off I spend about an hour with a large screwdriver scraping gunk off of the steering knuckles. I think I chisled off 5 lbs of muck. I ran out of brake cleaner, so I will need to make a stop by the store so I can finish the cleanup.

With the bolts removed from the backing plate this also allowed me to remove the steering arm from the knuckle. this made it easier to clean everything up.

Slowly it's coming along.

Pushbutton -

Thanks for the light-hearted comparison. I'd never been to Carlisle, but some Chevy friends keep telling me I should go. Used to be some Packard vendors hit both Hershey and Carlisle, but apparently not so these days.

With a '67 Camaro, '70 and '72 Chevelles, and a couple of Mopars in and out of the shop where I work over the past year, there's little need for me to go all the way to Carlisle to see muscle cars.

Yup, I sure don't go to an automotive swap to see tables full of crafts, but the event promoters counter point is that ya gotta have something for the spouse and kiddies.

However, after opening a door to a portajohn at Hershey one year and finding "waste" piled up to the rim of the seat, I tend to avoid those in favor of a real bathrooms.

I just wish the AACA people would quit using the graying of the hobby or hotrodders and kustomizers as an excuse and get out in public to see what works better at other events and what attracts people to them. While weather is beyond anyone's control, there are a lot of things that need to improve to get me to go back to Fall Hershey for even a day.

Meanwhile, PackardInfo.com is shaping up to be quite the online place to meet people from all over the globe, but I know how much people like to be able to put a face to a screen name. It was great seeing you and BigKev, in addition to the regulars, at the annual all-Packard meet in Warren last summer; maybe a few more will make the trip next year.

Carlisle: Corvette, Camaro, 55-6-7 Chebby, 65-up Rustang, 55-6-7 Thunderbird and Chevelle parts up the ying yang, good place to start your beanie baby colection or fufill your numchuck or pirate DVD needs.

upside: hot girls on the weekend to observe (not that I would notice), nice bathrooms everywhere, good car corral if your tastes lean to the more recent years, clean cars from the south brought up to the show.

Downside: you still have to pay to park (like Hershey), you have to pay to get in, there aren't many vendors selling car parts that aren't the above listed grouping of muscle cars that have reproduced parts available from multiple sources.

Hershey: parts, parts and parts, very high "real vendor" to "non automotive crap" ratio, unrestored cars all over the place to look at enjoy and maybe even buy. Hershey has the higest amount of vendors specializing in older, pre-muscle car makes and models, groups of clubs and members in zones (steam cars, Classic car club, Rolls Royce, a semi-Packard section thanks to Bill Hirsch) brass car stuff, model T&A parts (the ONLY T&A at Hershey) for days, people who know older models and have an appreciation for restoring a car to the way the manufacturer made it (true restoration). A happy time with a lot of like-minded people.

Upside: all of the above, next to no non-old car junk to breeze past (multiple Chinese tool vendors nonwithstanding)
the one place in the world to meet people from all over the globe who are into the same make/model/year that you are.

downside: parking isn't free, not as many porta-johns for the area covered, it is vast, you need to be in a walking mood or get the AACA to consider you handicapped and allow a golf cart (more this year but still highly civilized when compared to Auburn melee).

I still really, really like hershey

Randy -

I've been buried in work on both the work- and home-fronts, but I'm glad to hear you got together with some good people from the group and obtained some essential parts for your project.

Sorry to hear you got rained on, but at least you didn't have to contend with the show field mess. I have heard and read (elsewhere) that it was pretty screwed up this year.

I'm hoping someday things will settle down here and the AACA will get their meet layout straightened out. Maybe then I will try Hershey again, but probably only for a day in the swap meet.

Meanwhile, I'd often thought about hitting Carlisle instead of Hershey, but have heard that event is mostly muscle car stuff now - not much there for older cars anymore. Anyone have any insights?

With conventional con rod in V8, top of rod thru-bolt points toward camshaft and nut at bottom points toward side of crankcase. Offset rod has round smooth part of big end towards cam, flat sides of big end towards side of crankcase. Offset rod enables much more max stroke.

Robert, It was good to meet you at Hershey and see the great photos of your 1956 400. Hope you had a great time.

Des axe is where the centerline of the main bearings is offset from the centre line of the cylinder bore. Popular mostly in very early 20th century single cylinder or inline engines.

Why do want an offset rod cap type rod???