On the '55 Caribbean. If the engine is so good, how come there is a tow rope attached to the front of it, and to the back of a pickup? Bad transmission maybe?

Perhaps "Mr. Lucas" wanted to be sure that plastic coated wire was not a "flash in the pan"? Hence the delay into the mid 60's. Sort of like Rolls-Royce and the mechanical combined with hydraulic brake system being used for the rear brakes through the Silver Cloud III. In defense of RR, their main concern with Disc vs Drum brakes was that disk brakes didn't always match their demand for silent operation until RR "perfected disc brakes" which allowed them to be used on the Silver Shadow. What a combined Mechanical/Hydraulic brake system would look like and how it would work is a mystery to me. The emergency brake was a third and separate system and all mechanical. All the RR material is according to Anthony Bird & Ian Hallows in their book "The Rolls-Royce Motor Car.

Hi all,

A friend of mine sent me this article which appeared in the Los Angeles Jaguar Club paper. It offers an explanation of the why and where-fore of Positive Ground and does so in such a positive way (sorry, I couldn't resist) that I thought I'd share it.

It says that their images are copyright protected but doesn't say anything about content so hopefully they won't mind.

http://lajagclub.com/the-argument-for-positive-ground/

Quote:

It never ceases to amaze me the places that mice can and do find to nest in. One thing for sure, Mama Mouse didn't have to worry about cats!

Jim

Quote:

The one place I didn't look - and it makes sense it'd be there too!

My thanks to BdeB & O_D for the help and the pictures. The "blue" door panel that BdeB posted last is a duplicate of the best door panel on the car so that's excellent.

Hi all,

I've been trying to find something that will decode the trim codes for the '51 Packard in general and Patrician in particular. The soon to be mine Patrician has the remains of a dark blue and "Some lighter Color" wool (I presume). In the '51 Packard handouts show a Patrician with dark blue exterior and a blue & sort of a yellowish cream interior.

I've looked through the on site fabric samples but couldn't find anything familiar. I'm also having trouble reading the trim code on the door plate. If anyone can help me out as to what my interior was or where to look to decode them myself, I'd be very grateful. It looks like 1951 is one of the few years that we don't have the salesman fabric book for.

Here's the plate (hopefully).

Attach file:

---

  (40.41 KB)

I'll be happy to, Mal.

Jim

Yep, those were the ones.

It does sound like you have done your homework so - so be it.

Just for future reference:

One issue with the car that I have not mentioned is that it survived a fire in the storage building it was stored in. The fire toasted the wiring under the hood and on the engine, and blistered the paint off the grill, front fenders, hood, and roof of the car. All the glass shattered into spider-web cracks due to the heat and the water used to control the fire. I am not starting out with a pristine example of a 1939 Super Eight. I want to save it and use and enjoy it on a daily basis.

It might have been better if you had begun with the above.
As I, as I imagine everyone else saw in our mind's eye a "factory fresh original".

Good luck with your project. Please do post pictures of the completed product/project.

Jim

Hi all,

Just a quick note to announce that Markincoosbay and I have been working a deal where by his 1951 Packard Patrician will become MY 1951 Packard Patrician. As it stands now, He will bring the Packard up to Portland using a friends car trailer on Sunday, October 12th.

My plans so far are to drop the pan, then clean check & reassemble the engine; cleaning it and the engine compartment after it then moving on to the Ultramatic which I hope is willing to move on correctly as well,

I'll be then working on the seats and door panels but will take the interior out of the Parts Car and installing them in the Patrician so I can driver her from time to time just to keep everything that is supposed to move, moving.

Long term is at this point a "long term restoration" but I feel the Packard Gods are smiling as I picked up a set of very nice Cloisonne "Wheel Shells" today on eBay at the opening bid. Surprisingly to me, there were no other bidders.

Anyway that's the news from here and it means that I need to get cracking on finishing my 200 Deluxe's engine project so that it's finished by the 12th

Jim.