JIm

I recently took a long (400 mile) drive with my car ( 1950 Eight w/ R11). After about 100 miles, my generator quit charging so I was running on the battery. I continued until about a half hour after dark when I REALLY ran the battery down. The car ran fine, but after about 2 hours it started jumping in and out of overdrive, with no apparent pattern . If I slowed down about 15 mph it would re-engage.

This has not happened since I had the charging system fixed. The OD seems to to take a lot of juice. Check the voltage of your battery and the output of your generator

Regards


John Harley

Clarification

When the car does have to crank, as when it's been sitting and the gas is drained out, the starter spins it over pretty quickly. The 356 engines with the gear reduction are very deliberate


Regards

John Harley

Guys

Just got home from work, paying my taxes so Owen can collect his social security......

I have known his 34 for over 12 years and don't know what the starter sounds like. I have ridden in it and even driven it and it must start before the engine makes a complete revolution, hot or cold. I've heard other prewar Packards start the same way.

My car, (2301) when it's in tune with gas in the carb, will snort to life, (no other word for it) on about 2 revolutions, If it takes longer something is wrong. I had a bunch of BMW's and they never started as quickly as my Packard

A 6 volt Packard that doesn;t start right away is out of tune or has something else wrong with it. Make sure the battery cables are large enough (OOO and OO for the ground)_ and that the engine is grounded to the frame. Modern 6 volt batteries are wonderful.

I've gotten a lot of advice to the contrary. It never impresses me with mechanical experience of the giver

Regards


John Harley

John

If I had painted that car it probably would have been Navy blue...

Dave, the car is definitely a convertible sedan. In the Fenster book there is a period photo of one with the top down. It is some sort of very light California color scheme

Regards


John Harley

John

Posting a photo of that car shows good taste. For those that are interested in it, more photos and information may be found in Julie Fenster's book, Packard The Pride.

One of the highlights of my career as a car nut was hosting Phil Hill's talk at the Packard Centennial.

Regards


John Harley

Dan

There was a discussion in an old Packard Cormorant about this, and I'm sure it is in the KImes book. All early eight cylinder engines had a vibration problem due to their single plane crankshaft and resultant firing order. This is the reason that Rolls Royce bought back all their "Legal Limit" V8's in 1906 and went to the 6 Cylinder Silver Ghost.

Vibration was an anathema to Jesse Vincent was and preferred the smoothness of a Twin Six over what he called a "Twin Four". There were also servicing and packaging considerations since and 60 degree engine is narrower than a 90 degree one . These points were covered in a paper presented by him to the Packard board and published by PMCC during the introduction of the Twin Six.

The early Cadillac V8 had a vibration period at about 40 mph. When Packard went to an eight, it chose the hot performance straight eight configuration used by Miller, Dusenberg,and Bugatti. They also figured out that a two plane crankshaft would eliminate the vibration. The difference can be plainly heard if you ever have the pleasure of a Bugatti running. Cadillac, sheepishly one might imagine, adopted the two plane crankshaft about 18 months later.

No doubt the 12 was still a better engine in Jesse Vincent's mind in the early 30's

Regards

John Harley

Greetings


There will be another co -conspirator from Jersey Nouvelle. I just made my hotel reservations tonight. I had a lot of work done on the Packard this spring and was waiting for it to sort itself out. Which it did this weekend-a new voltage regulator is on its way.

Will be good to meet some of you in person. I'll be there from Tuesday to Sunday morning.

Third trip to Warren for my car and myself !!!

Regards


John Harley

Dan

The wagon in the link belonged for many years to Neils Skog, founder (or one of the founders) of the Eastern Packard Club. The body was built by the New Haven Body Company for the original owner. He was a salesman for Harmon Kardon electronics. The body has many compartments for samples.
The car is easily identified as the door handles are vertically mounted.

Neils sold it to a prominent rock guitarist in Westchester County about 15 years ago. I suspect it has changed hands since.

Regards


John Harley

Phil

Remember the Indian tribe in the old "Tumbleweeds" comic strip? They had a tribe motto

"Stealth is Wealth"

Regards


John Harley

Paul

I bought my current Packard in 1997, with plans to take it to the Centennial. In 1998, the water pump failed. Considerable effort and time was expended in getting it off. The engine mounts had softened and the engine had settled.

The previous owner had novel ideas about auto repair. The water pump rattled and we took it apart. The impeller vanes were brazed together....


Regards


John Harley