Thank you, Guscha, for this powerful, moving War II history. Tho' senior Packards exported to oil-rich Canada and South America, didn't realize they were routinely sent to Britain after the advent of 1935-on juniors, but then such a huge need for large ambulances anything but routine. Thank you, sir.

Bob was a terrific, helpful gent, the real article. A most genuine and enthused hobbyist and steward of history.

Bob sounded young, timeless. Couldn't agree more w/ the above posters, and BlakesPackards well sums it; the hobby feeling smaller on learning the above. Losing such keepers of the flame akin to loss of the factory itself.

Caramba. Godspeed Robert Zimmerman.

First order of business: Clean the undercarriage so you can see what you're doing. Computer not required.

Dyke's will be a real boon to anyone with an older car, Packard or not.

The Hollander Interchange Manual was another terrific resource for many of us long in this hobby. Unfortunately, the cars using the same or similar parts are now equally rare today, wrecking yards long since replaced by condos, mall and sprawl.

Just an idea. Since you'll be repainting your '41 Clipper anyway? why not fill in the holes and skip the body script? The 1946-47 Custom Supers showed Packard still grasped understatement, less is more, by deleting same on the side of the body/front fender, and the 1948-50 Custom tubs omitted Packard from the trunk lid.

You've got the debut model of arguably Packard's last understated design with an international mien, free it from those nervous tics. You never saw body script on Bentleys, R-Rs, Lagondas, Delages, Hispanos, et al, and Packard through the '40s still had a refined, overbuilt chassis equal or exceeding any of them.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Dr. M, Jeff Adkins, Moose Motors, Penngrove (Petaluma, CA), not too far south of you and prompt turnaround, rebuilds steering boxes. As mentioned several times on these forums because i believe in singing the praises of anyone who knows what they're doing, and reasonably, as well as believing small businesses are the backbone of our nation.

Jeff is a lifelong Packard specialist, not only rebuilds components, including the original Packard jigs for pressure plate rebuilding as the originals are as strong but've more finesse than the Ford truck units many using,

but sells mechanical and electrical (not trim) parts for all Packards 1935-on, including R-9, R-11 overdrive and Ultramatic transmissions, and supplies NAPA and other area parts houses with drum brake items for all domestics Auburn through Zephyr.

Please tell this worthy that Mike, '47 Super, Walnut Creek referred you.

Why are we scoffing at environmentalists?

Many here gathered are such. The late Terry Ehrich, publisher of Hemmings Motor News, the much missed Special Interest Autos, earlier with the New York Times Review of Books, was an arborist and ardent environmentalist, as were/are autoholics Paul Newman, James Garner, Dave Garroway, Steve Allen (co-owner of an LA motorbike store), Indy race team co-owner Dave Letterman.

Packard long advertised in the National Geographic, as well as Fortune, Collier's, the New Yorker, and Literary Digest.

Here again:

Jeff Adkins, Moose Motors, lifelong Packard specialist and wrench
Penngrove (Petaluma, CA in the North Bay)
(707) 792-9985
packardguy54@sbcglobal.net

Mechanical, electrical parts for all 1935-on Packards, prompt rebuilding of most components, drum brake parts for all old domestics Auburn-Zephyr, supplies NAPA, West Coast shops and other chains.

Do believe BigKev included a sources directory on this fine site, and there is a Search box at the upper right corner of the homepage. Let's not be so lazy. Wondering when some of you um, uh. w o r k on your cars. Or if you've lives away from the computer.

Please tell Jeff that Mike, '47 Super, Walnut Creek referred you.

Right. Ethanol gas is a net energy consumer, unless it's produced from agwaste as in Brazil and as Henry Ford intended his Model T and Fordson tractor, comprising half the vehicles on the world's roads and fields by 1920. Al Gore and other former proponents long since admit ethanol gas from corn a boondoggle, and regardless of source, lower in BTUs than straight gas, with the attendant hydroscopic malady.

If you can get straight gas, incrementally more power to you. Meanwhile, avgas is no better than auto gas, but some guys like the sound of it; marketing takes advantage of unrequited testosterone.
Long ago, when i was young and under the apple bough, I filled up my then '40 120 at an area airport where a couple friends flew everything from a '74 Cessna 180 Sky Wagon tail dragger, '56 Twin Beech, a pair of P-51s; one R-R Merlined and t'other Packard Merlined and no, they didn't "sound" different and there was no, repeat n o, difference 'twixt them series by series other than the Brit built version having nicer external hand finishing; and one of only 18 P-40s then flying in the world.

My Packard felt not a trace improved while i felt like a jerk adding that much more lead into the fragile environment we all share. So much for my One-Twenty's owner's manual suggesting other motorists look to Packard drivers as setting an example of responsible and safe driving.

Again, Big Kev, above, simply sums it.

Blake, see if there's an existing port/plug on your intake manifold. My '47 Super delivered w/ Electromatic which i had rebuilt and worked as intended, but i disliked the robotic aspect and that your clutch pedal depressed at long lights, doing your throw out bearing no favors, a concern far from Packard's mind as they were then, as Dutch Darrin observed in late '39/'40, "so afraid of GM they couldn't see straight," not just because of the racy new GM C body but HydraMatic. In fact, Packard even ran ads suggesting those in city traffic might all day long leave their car in second gear w/ OD engaged for a de facto automatic transmission, certainly no good for your pressure plate, especially in Pittsburgh or San Francisco.

But Packard was fast fading and got their second stay of execution thanks to fat war contracts (1935's 120 their first stay), the Merlin agreement rewritten by their legal counsel, Henry E. Bodman, the guide for government contracts for years to come, and here we are today w/ the $1.5 trillion w/ a T F-35 contractors' feeding frenzy, enough to erase a l l our nation's student loans.

So i removed it and plumbed my Ampco/Vaco top oiler into that existing vacuum orifice (pictured, previous post this thread). Adjust so you use a quart of Marvel every 1,000 to 1,200 miles and you'll be okay. As mentioned, a late friend, as a very young '37 Willys coupe- and occasionally supercharged '37 Cord Phaeton-driving wrench during War II --there was never a gas shortage, witness the PT boats gas-engined for simplified logistics, such gas hogs they oft had to be towed back to base by destroyers after sortees, the German Diesel Schnellboots superior and faster, fine as the PT's mahogany woodwork was -- at the Alameda Naval Air Station said Pan Am's chief of maintenance swore by Marvel, ordered it by the 55-gallon drum. Any trouble w/ those big 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney Wasps and Wright Cyclones meant a long, wet walk home.

So your missing plate nice, but mightn't be needed.

Big Kev is right as rain. And this topic is old news, "exhausted."

Tens of millions of cars in the eastern and midwestern US ran just fine hundreds of millions of miles for half a century on Amoco gasoline, which was always unleaded.

For belt and suspenders, use Red Line Lead Substitute, if concerned, which uses benign sodium as the dissimilar metal protecting from the nanosecond micro weld of valve upon seat. Potassium was tried in Europe, but leaves deposits, as did tetraethyl lead, vile ones, if you've ever examined the thick, deep, toxic goop on the bottom of the oilpan of an old original, never overhauled engine.

Lead causes brain damage in children, senility in adults. Children in schools near busy highways and streets tested lower academically than those afar. Someone adopting the appellation "Doc" might appreciate this.

Interesting priorities in some alleged "car guys." Sometimes it's good to venture out of the garage, see beyond our own hood ornaments.

Marvel Mystery Oil is a good product, protects valve stems and the upper wear zone of engines, including piston rings, but has no effect one way or the other on valve seats.

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