I will start a blog but bing as I dislike writting reports goes back to work before I retired. Back to the project always liked the 57 Packards as a older couple near where I grew up had a black 57 packard and the older lady who drove it had a heavy foot. Back then I was a13 year old car nut. Being the son and uncle of a Studebaker family I liked the looks of those cars. Aftyer retiring found this 57 Packard about nine miles from home it is a two owner car me being the third owner the first and second owner lived a few houses apart. Recived all the original paper work with the car when I bought it.
The second owner had a lot of NOS parts which I recieved with the car.
Had not been run in a few years and has 30000 orignal miles. After hauling it home with help of my son and brothers decided to fix it up as it had oil leaks no doubt to its old age it shares the results of time as I do.

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Mal and Gerd suggested I post a few pics of my engine work for my 57 getting ready to install engine and trans back into chassis. The pics are close to the way it looked when new

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I also miss reading their posts as they both always provided a great number of pictures which add to my enjoyment of a subject. Picture worth a thousand words as they say .

The base holding the dial indicator is called a surface gauge should not be magnetic the indicator appears to be a Starrett last word indicator which would be on the face of the indicator should have about .030 total indicator travel. Just as a note when I was a machinist apprentice 40 plus years ago we were required to buy are own personal tools and they were required to be Starrett , Lufkin or Brown and Sharp no other brands were allowed.http://www.mcmaster.com/#surface-gauges/=24lko2 (page 2243)
Also noticed that a lot of the hand measuring tools have little paper stickers on them which I assume are calibration stickers required periodically by most large companies to insure the tools are reading correct values. Just a little added useless information

The entire drive train of 57 and 58 Packards is Studebaker. a lot of parts are still available NOS from SASCO. Some body trim parts are still available go to the parts section of the Body manual on this site and then go to SASCO site and look up by part number to see if they have it listed and the price will come up.The chassis parts book here only covers 57 although some parts are the same as 57 better to have the manual to verify that they are the same.
The drive shaft from 58 and up Studebakers is one piece prior to that the drive shaft is two piece with the sliding spline located between the two pieces of the drive shaft in approximately the middle

From Studebaker Turning Wheels January 1988 there were 2377 58 Packards built total 1027 4dr sedans ,645 2dr hardtops 546 Hawks 159 station wagons for US. Export was 73 4dr sedans 42 Hawks and 30 2dr hardtops all 58 Packards were assembled in South Bend.
SASCO in South Bend has quite a few NOS parts for these cars
Serial number on door jamb old start 58L-6101
The body number on firewall near top passenger side under hood should read 58L.

After some thought I think I know why Wade has his hands in his pockets in his fashionable attire of suit and watch chain which I also like. My answer is that as a real hands on leader type of car guy he has the ever present dirty finger nail look associated with people who work on old cars. Its a badge of honor only given to hands on workers.

On every car I have owned if the power brakes do not have a vacuum source such as engine not running or broken hose the brakes action is greatly reduced but I have been always able to stop the car at a greatly increased effort. The same effect as the engine not turning the power steering pump. I do not consider myself a super man but have been always able to stop car as long as hydraulic system is operational system. The manuals usually state that the brake effort will increase when the vacuum reserve is depleted

The hydrovac was also used on 53-55 and 57 Cadillac and 57 Chevy they both had 1 1/8 and 1 wheel cylinders. My understanding was the use of this system was that it was easy to add to a system that did not have power brakes a "easy" add on.All 57 Cad had the hydrovac as standard equipment
Quite a few trucks also used a version of the hydrovac

I have one of these in my garage or is it book case thanks to my daughter now if I could get her to buy me the full size one it would be better. Its the thought that counts. The model does have great detail even down to the return spring for the parking brake.

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