I need a new license plate for this packard, and dont have any great ideas yet. It has to be HN xx 123 H.
The two Letters and 3 numerical digits xx and 123 are free for me to choose.
Any suggestions? Is there a way to estimate the build month of my car? I remember the back of the clock had a june 53 stamp on it.
MI for Michigan, 327 for engine size, 653 for june 1953.... what else would fit?

I got everything back together again. I used blue loctite on the fasteners that go into the grill, since I didnt want to apply too much torque to them. I feared stripping the threads in the casting. Anyway, about 2 hrs to get all the bolts back in. Getting the bumper back on alone was some trouble, but a hydraulic Jack helped.

The instructions in the Shop manual were Spot on. Took me about 45 min to get the grill out. I will clean everything up a little bit, and use some loctite, lockwashers, and maybe some nylon insert nuts this time around.
Luckily, nothing is broken on the grill!

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Thanks guys, I'll check out the sheetmetal and body section of the shop manual and dig in to get to that one screw/nut on the backside of that part of the grill. Looks like it will include removing a bunch of bolts, but since this was put together some 7, and not 70 years ago everything should come apart easily.

Man, only about 5000 miles since putting this car together, and the grill is getting loose.
Well, this screw is loose. Has anybody taken apart a grill recently? I guess I should take off the radiator splasher where the hood latch goes, then go around the bottom of the grill to remove it from the car before I can get to the screw I need to tighten.

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This past summer, I drove through a full tank of fuel cruising on highways and country roads in my 53 carib. 359 9 main, 4bbl carb, overdrive and 4.10 :1 rear axle and was pleased to calculate 16 mpg. Cruising speed around 60 on the speedo, 55 with GPS. Short Trips eat gas.

No work on the carib, but I did install an oxygen sensor in the down pipe of the clipper so I can fiddle with the carb if the weather allows it anytime....
Here is a pic of me and the carib when I had hair around 1992 or so. This is when the car belonged to my uncles Mickey and Danny. Geez, that was a long time ago!

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Madelyn is home again after being at my brother inlaws for two years!
I picked her up on saturday and gave her a season (near) end oil change.
I have a new favorite tool! I bought this cheap oil pump, and used it to suck the oil out of the filter canister!!! It worked very well, and was much easier than a Turkey baster, or the Hand pump that I had.
Since I have 3 cars with bypass filters, this will get used a lot.
In other news, I drove some more with the wideband O2 sensor, and think I will try fiddling with the carb. As it is, it seems a little fat at idle and low load, but leans out when I really get on it.
My plan is to lean the idle screws a little as a First step, then see if I can get Main jets that are 1 or 2 sizes up from the .089 inch jets that are Stock.

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I've rented a parking spot in a building 2 miles from home to store one packard, and my plan is to rotate every month or so with one packard in our garage at home, and one packard off-site. After two years, my brother in-law and sister in-law decided they are not really classic car people. The green clipper I restored will be comming home to roost! The carib will stay in the big parking garage while I do an oil change and get the clipper ready to park for the winter. Then I'll bring the carib back for some winter projects.

I feel like the guy addicted to brake fluid, "I can stop anytime" haha.

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Very pretty looking parts! Head and intake look great.
When setting up dual carbs on my porsche, I had to sync the carbs with a vacuum or airflow gauge and also used a wideband 02 sensor to make sure the AFR was right.
Those are two things to consider after you have everything installed and are tuning.
Cool project!!