West - thanks for the lead. I sent Bill a note and will see if he still has them. I'm hoping to find used ones so they'll match everything else on the car. If they're too perfect and shiny it'll look like a 95-year old woman with a botoxed face...'ya know it just doesn't match the rest...

I got a set of used hubcaps, 180 cloisonne and the outer trim rings from Max Merritt. We put the more worn and chipped ones on the passenger side so it looks like Mrs. McCormick's chauffer may have kissed the curb a few times.

Also worth checking out - John Ulrich gave me a tip to check out Bob Drake's Ford Parts. He has brand new inner chrome rings for 16" rims at $60 each.

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Sean:

A few months ago I was exactly where you are now. My 1941 180 limo was getting ready to roll and it needed new tires. I read all the opinions, asked everyone I could and it was just about 50-50. I do have radials on my MGA 1600 and Morris Minor woodie and love the way they handle. Driving my friend's MGA with bias-ply I do notice the road "pull" at times which I don't experience with the radials.

But in the end I went with Firestone 700-16 bias-ply with the 4" whitewall from Coker.

A few weeks back I went to the restoration shop for a test drive. The car handled perfectly. I drove it for over three hours - in town, along the highway, up hills, down hills, around curves etc. I never even gave a thought to the fact that I was on bias-ply tires. They look great, they felt great, I had no mis-givings about my selection.

Hope this helps,

Neal

Help!

My 1941 Packard 180 Limo is just about finished but I'm missing the 4 inner trim rings for the wheels.

Here's a picture of one. It fits just under the hubcap.

If you don't have all four, I'll take whatever you have.

(Note that Bill Hirsch only has the hubcaps and outer trim rings, not the inner trim rings.)

Meanwhile...the wife and I went up to Post Falls, Idaho to check out the car and DRIVE it. This is the first time it's been on the road since the 1960s! It's got the original paint and interior and the engine and transmission have not been touched. After forty plus years of sitting in an old garage it's been going through a "mechanical restoration" to make it roadworthy.

Here's a very short video of the car that my wife shot with her phone as we cruised around Coeur d'Alene. The car ran and handled beautifully thanks to Glenn Vaughn and his crew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUxt444IUMQ

(Forgive the sound - I was enjoying the wonderful whisper quiet of the car, but my wife being a videographer, musician etc, couldn't take the silence and added the music)

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Copied the "black pics" into photoshop. Did nothing to them, but saved them under the same name and presto! Now they appear.

What to do with that 4198! Can't bear to part it out, way too rare. So it just patiently waits for something to happen...

Do Henneys count? The top of the line 1941 Henney Model 4198 Landaulet was wood framed.

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BigKev:

The hearse is still waiting patiently for the resurrection.

I cleaned it up and did a little buffing and polishing. The doors came out great, but every horizontal panel has more rust than paint. It had been stripped of the Packard and Henney ID plates, the Henney door sill plates, all the chrome and lenses, the front seat (just the shell remains) and the oil pan. Between John Ulrich, Max Merritt and eBay I was able to get all the chrome, lenses and door sill plates. The seat and oil pan I'll get eventually. The engine is also frozen solid.

Project #1 is a '41 limo that is very close to getting back on the road. I also have another '41 Henney that I bought for parts (on eBay) but it turns out to be a very rare Henney so I can't bear to part it out (see the Owner Registry for '41 Packard 4198, 4195 and 4150 for the stories of each).

I do have the best of intentions of getting something going on the hearse when the limo is done. The road to hell is of course paved with good intentions and if I get the Henney going at least I'll have the perfect vehicle to take me there!

- Neal

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Hi Big Kev:

Stumbled across your forum topic today and I can't tell you how glad I am to see what you've done to that car.

I was the original buyer for that car on eBay back in December 2004. It was offered as a package deal along with the 1941 Packard Henney Service Car (barely showing in your first photo). It was the '41 I was after and I probably bid way too much (the last minute competing bidder told me later he wanted to make a hot rod out of the Henney, so it was probably a good thing I got it after all).

When I met the seller in San Bernardino a few weeks later I decided there was just no way I could deal with the '54. I barely have room for the cars I already have, I didn't want to pay to have it towed back home to Santa Barbara and then pay to store it while I try to sell it and I didn't want to leave it down there, pay for storage (though it is a LOT cheaper than here) try to sell it and drive down again for each potential buyer, so I told the seller she could have it back.

I haven't read all 40 pages of your adventures yet, but thank you for turning that poor car around and making it a proud Packard again!

Best Regards,

Neal

P.S. Here's a shot of your car during the few minutes I owned it. The Henney by the way was crammed full of trash. Apparently a few renters in the nearby storage building just dumped all their trash in the Henney when they cleaned out their units. We also found several black widows including the largest one I've ever seen. No rat poop though, I guess they preferred your car. :)

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The VIN# would be found on the Packard Motor Car Company plate on the cowl and should be something like 2001A-nnnn (where 'n' is a 4 digit sequential# for the 2001A Packard line).

The Henney Company also had a plate about 2 1/4" by 2 3/4" usually found under the rug in the right front (or almost usually because it usually seems to be missing). This has the Engine#, the Serial# (being the "A" plus the 4 digit# from the Packard plate), the Henney Body# (which seems to be a sequential# for Henney, should be around 13372 for 1942) and the 4 digit Henney Model#. Should be 4291 for an ambulance.

If none of those are found I would use the the 6 digit number pressed into the firewall. The engine# is not unique to the car as it can be changed by merely swapping engines.