I wish I could go, and I just sent our some feelers to my sales staff here at work to see if there are and dealers or customers in the area that need trainings or anything.

But so far no response. But I will keep trying!

yes they still have the button on the ends. The new leaf was the longest leaf that was replace and doesn't have the button. But I am going to start looking now for the rubber bumper that you talk about first. then I will go back to the spring guy

In 1978 Budd Bayliff introduced a line of Packard Bayliff sedans and coupes based on the then-current GM cars. He says a couple of hundred were built and as far as I know they were titled based on the underlying GM chassis. Bayliff then (1992) sold out his enterprise to Gullickson but retained the right to continue manufacturing his 1934 look-alike cars which at least are close-enough copies that some of the fiberglass panels interchange with the real thing.

For those with further interest, the latest issue of The Packard Cormorant (Summer 2008, #131) has an article on all the modern attempts to reintroduce a Packard-named vehicle.

Beauty is in the beholder's eye, but I'll add my vote to those that say the 80's GM-based Bayliff Packards's are butt-ugly.

Oldsmobile and Cadillac OHV8 - 1949
Studebaker and Chrysler OHV8s - 1951
Buick OHV8 - 1953
Ford OHV8 - 1954
Chevrolet, Pontiac and Packard OHV8s -1955

Yes, Packard V8s had design compromises which were weaknesses for high-performance and long life - oiling system problems, weak main bearing bulkheads and weak lifter bores. However, eleven years after the Packard, Buick's big block V8, one of the last classic GM OHV8 designs, debuted in 1966 with exactly the same design compromises. It was aimed at the same market as was the Packard V8 and never designed to make big horsepower or withstand high revs. Today's Buick racers have to add a main bearing girdle, epoxy between the lifter bores and reroute the oil system.

thnx, jack vines

There should be a rubber rebound bumper mounted probably to the frame above the axle and that might make things quieter when it bottoms out, but it still shouldn't bottom out with 4 passengers. My old 48 Custom 8 sat a bit low at the rear even with no passengers, but it didn't bottom out out with 4 passengers except on the most outrageous bumps.

Sounds like your springs were weak to start with and your guy just replaced a broken leaf but didn't restore the arc to the springs. Can I assume the springs that were in there had the antimony/lead buttons on the end end of each leaf? What did he do with the new leaf (add a plastic interleaf)?

Wow. An '83 Buick Riviera with crap hung on it, kind of like "Lipstick on a pig"(this is not a political reference). Its a shame the Packard name was evenly affiliated with it.

what is the location of the packard tent

The PAC hospitality tent will be at GAD23-28 and GAE24-28.

dead grandfather is my motivation.....nothing else is needed. not a concours de elegance snob fest etc..... it is between me and my grandfather. it doesn't matter to me what it cost vs. what i could sell it for...i am not in it for profit because i will never sell them.....ever.....and i mean it.

everyone has to start somewhere....some are better at it than others....this is my first car to restore and so far i think i am catching on very fast....so i am not afraid of and old beater.....anything is possible through God who strengthens me. all you have to have is the right heart and motivation to see what something could and will look like when you are done, even the worst of cars....and even if it takes 10 years or more. who cares...it is fun....and it makes me feel close to my grandfather who i miss dearly.

He had a 37 138CD on a 120 Chassis.......the last memory i had in it was driving to his funeral in the back seat.....i have never seen the car since.....it is time for new, more pleasant memories for me and Packard....

enough said......

Hank

what I did was take the old springs to a spring shop; and they took out the broken one and replace it and did the same on the other side also. So it has the original smaller ones and one new one added. So they are all the same size. But could it be a rubber stop that the car is missing?

strongly recommend you sit down with yourself and discuss with yourself PRECISELY WHAT you want an old Packard (or any old car, for that matter) for.

Here's the problem. Buying what someone else abused into an unserviceable condition, and then trying to "restore" it, typically costs MANY MANY times what the identical car would cost, in serviceable condition. Find out what it costs these days for a passable upholstery job. Find out what it costs these days to re-chrome. Can you do your own body and paint work ? If so, find out what a gallon of paint costs ! You own or have access to a well-equipped shop?

Driving around in old cars is fun. Driving around in old cars to car shows, where you can meet other old car nuts, is double fun (just got back from the NEWPORT CONCOURSE D' ELGANCE - now that was REALLY fun) (sorry, that was a "super-snob" event on the private golf course of the St. Regis Hotel in Dana Point, where the hotel rooms START at $600 a night, so no "junior" series Packards need apply...!).

Think about this - you could probably buy a nice SENIOR Packard in serviceable condition, for MUCH less than you would put into trying to bring a dead "junior" Packard back to life.

Now - don't get me wrong - I was BORN (seriously !) in a '38 Packard "120". I will match a Packard - ANY price-range Packard, against ANY car in that particular price class.

So, if you just happen to like Packard 120 series cars, by all means, GO FOR IT ! But please, save yourself a lot of heartache and wasted time, by making whatever financial sacrifice it takes, to get a good one you can USE.