I'm implying that making her went correct in one shot (literally and figuratively i'd guess :) ) but when i put a ton of work into a car, i always miss something and it ends up biting me in the ass.

Like having a daughter might! Trials and tribulations and highs and lows with both i guess!


I am hoping that, once she gets to where she can ride in the front seat, she has fond memories of weekend drives with us and to car shows with her grandparents who spoil her, and carries our automotive legacy forward.

OR she could end up "i don't WANT your pontiac for my first car! I don't want to packard for prom! They're SO OLD! They use GASOLINE! They don't even HOVER!!!!"

After 17 months, i was going through old posts and found this. She is QUITE the go getter and was VERY excited when i moved the packard from the front garage to the back. She ran back to the garage and as soon as i opened the door she was climbing in. She likes to sit in the seat and turn the wheel left and right real fast and go "driva driva driva" or "rida rida rida"...she loves running her hands along the car and riding around on the creeper on the floor.

We may have a new packard generation just yet!

Attach file:

---

  (72.08 KB)

"I would think that with young folks, affordability would be the biggest driver in these economically-challenged times."


That's it for sure. However, "normal" cars like camaros, GTOs, chevelles, etc are all getting cheaper or as cheap as nice packards go for. 15k will get you a hell of a nice A body right now, when it used to be 25-30.

5K will get you a nice driver of almost any era.



About not touching the cars, someone here told a story somewhat like below (don't remember who, sorry):

"So i asked the kid and his mom if he'd like a picture behind the wheel. She was shocked and the kid was so excited and climbed in and played like he was driving and got some photos, hands on all the dash controls, etc.

She looked back and said thank you so much, the kid was smiling from ear to ear. I said no problem, i don't care, it's not my car.

The look on her face was priceless! But i assured her it was, and i'm sure they'll both remember that day."


I can't resist using that line when i let people in my cars now.

They say you don't find cars, they find you. I was into cars in general and a Packard collector (with a couple shovelnoses...one convertible and one hardtop, amongst other cars) was a friend of my father in laws. We were looking at his collection and he mentioned he'd sell the '50...too new for him.

The rest is, as they say, history.

1) don't use solid core wires with pertronix or e-ign
2) there is no ignitor for the one where the whole breaker plate rides on ball bearings inside the distributor, like came on my 50 288
3) i used a 51 327 dist where the whole dist body moves to advance, and you can see it jump around when reving the engine. They make a kit for that one.

Not that uncommon in the automotive world, there are some edelbrock q-jets out there still even though they make carter clone carbs (q-jet rpms) that they did for a bit (remans i think, but solid carbs from reports).

and then carter actually cast some q-jets for rochester, despite being a competitor. Rather than some kind of reman job, they actually made them for them to legit q-jet specs, no special parts or differences:

"Q. Why Does my Rochester Quadrajet say Carter on It ?
A. Carter Manufactured a few Quadrajets over the years for Rochester they are
still Rochester carbs and for getting parts you should look them up as Rochesters"

I think my 288 had about 85-95 across all cylinders and ran like a swiss watch.

Also, just because you have spark doesn't mean it will run, and that it's GOOD spark. Try getting a spark tester from the parts store, it adjusts out and lets you know how powerful your spark is. You might have weak spark and it won't fire once fuel gets on the plugs.

For a quick test, put a jumper lead from the battery power (ground i think on this car) to the power lead on the coil going to the points. Should give them full voltage while cranking over. If it fires, might be having a wore condensor/coiling and wiring/connector/resistance issue. We used to do this when our old ford 9n tractor was being a pain, and it would help. Don't leave it on there, take it back off, nut sure if points get full voltage on 6v cars (i think they do, been about 2 years since i went through my ignition) but you don't want the ignition getting power when the car is off.

The VERY first thing i would make sure of (i'm sure it was mentioned) is that you have the long reach radiator cap. If you do not, this project is doomed to fail as it takes very little for it to start dumping out.

A temp gauge on the head itself (or IR laser one, whatever) would be a quick indicator how hot the metal of the head is when it's boiling. If it's a fairly low temp, i'd start looking at that cap.

I made the same mistake, the short reach cap is very close looking and fits ok on the radiator neck even when it shouldn't be used. Mine would overflow driving in about 10 min if that with the wrong cap.

If it pegged, you should have been dumping some coolant out on the ground. Any boiling over?

Also, if you use too much thread sealant on the sending unit, i've been told that can be an issue if it's not getting a good ground. Usually not a problem, but something to think about.

And of course, if you have multiple sending units around, be sure and use the right year. 51 and later is different.

Am very happy with the diamondbacks on my 50, don't recall the size but look great and ride/handle great.