Thanks, will try that. I will say, the service manuals for these cars is nearly useless except for engine rebuilding specs and tips. On just about everything else, no matter what it is, it's not very helpful.

Example, adjusting the shocks (turns out mine are frozen and dead anyway). Simply says, "adjust shocks". And it's like that all over the place. How to remove the generator? "Remove generator." It's as big as a phone book and if you don't know how to do the job already, it's really not much use at all! Thanks again - been quite a while since I messed about with these things and a lot of stuff I never messed with. So, learning and relearning curve underway - appreciate the patience!

Okay, got the dash lights working in the '29, the switch was bad. Dome light still doesn't work, car had been completely rewired, can't imagine they overlooked it. Switch on the pillar is getting juice, not lighting up, so I assume the bulb is blown.

I don't want to break the cover or glass, so how does this seemingly simple thing come off? Thanks guys!

Insides of the hood were generally painted body colors on the 1920s cars. I've seen some painted black but I don't think that's kosher as it wouldn't make sense to paint the inside one color and the outside another. That said, I've seen a LOT of 1920's firewalls painted black regardless of what color the car was, so, I tend to think that's probably correct, although I've not seen it addressed specifically in any Packard literature. Have seen original unrestored cars where this was the case tho, so, I tend to think it was their normal practice, but from the body down, and everything below, black was the norm.

Another vote for a fuel spill from the carb and a small engine fire at one time, nothing to do with the engine having gotten too hot. Basically, it's a six-cylinder tractor motor. They're easy to work on, reasonably easy to find parts for (depending on what you're looking for) and that's a good one to start off with. Usually quite a reliable car. Good luck!

Karl, as a general rule, yes. Everything from the body down was painted "chassis black" - it standardized production and didn't show dirt or oil, so, it was used in all the places likely to show dirt and oil! Packard followed this rule for quite a while.

Just spoke with Lazaar (I believe that was his name) at Apple about my shocks - super nice and took the time to analyze my problem over the phone. My car's rump is in the air because the shocks are simply frozen and locked in position. It did sit on jackstands for a good many years in the last decade and that, he correctly surmised based on the fact that the shock arms do not move at all, caused the shocks to lock into place with the axle hanging down, and thus, my car sits like it has air shocks on it.

He told me to take the connecting arms off, let the car sit down on its springs, then I could put the arms back on just for appearance sake but they're not going to do much until they are rebuilt, but, at least my ride will greatly improve and perhaps it may even free them up - if not, they'll go off to him this winter for rebuilding.

I asked him if there were any torque specs for any parts of the rear shocks on these cars (mine is a '29), and he said as far as he knew, there weren't. So, hopefully that helps the OP as well.

I would think that sounds reasonable. I don't think Packard had any torque specs on the shock bolts or linkage. How did Apple do? Having shock problems myself!

Another dumb question. Still messing about as time allows with the newly arrived '29. None of the instrument panel lights work and the dome light is dead. I am assuming as harsh as the car rides (I'll be adjusting shocks this weekend and hoping that helps) that the bulbs are broken.

Have a photo album of the car's resto, guy in Minnesota who smokes a pipe (if anyone knows who he is I'd love to know) did a ground-up on the car either 18 or 20 years ago, it was completely apart, cannot imagine they didn't rewire and redo all that, as the cigar lighter even works, but, it's very dark in that car once the sun starts going down! So, where does one go to find instrument panel bulbs and the dome light bulb?

Sorry to be a pest, and thanks very much!

Another vote for the Optima 6 volt dry cell battery here. I'm about to replace the battery in mine and that's what I'm going with. Have used them in several muscle cars before, fantastic batteries, and again, as stated, since they're dry-cell batteries, no corrosion issues, ever.

Also, on all my old cars I put a kill switch somewhere inline so that you can shut off the battery when they car's going to be parked for a few days. This will greatly extend the life of the battery and buy you a lot of peace of mind that you're not going to have an electrical meltdown due to something shorting out in the middle of the night. I had a 440 Six Pack Challenger convertible years ago, and hadn't driven it in days, got home one day decided to take it for a drive and everything was dead - all the wiring around the alternator going back to the firewall was fried - miracle the car hadn't caught fire. I've used those switches ever since!

Thanks a million. That does seem to work. I saw the gauge next to the engine, wasn't sure if that was the only way or how accurate it would be. Thanks guys!