Here is one off the Hemmings site, found at the Hershey Meet in 2007. I actually like this one! (bad tailgate though).

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Wow. Just.....Wow.

Guscha-

Thats a great story. I respected Ford for alot that he did. I would love to have been on some of the camping trips with Henry, Thomas Edison, & Harvey Firestone. Also, I understand President Warren Harding would accompany them sometimes. Could you imagine some of those conversations?

Here is a story from Time magazine Apr. 21, 1947 talking about him riding in the Packard Hearse:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853084-1,00.html

"All day, the day before, the body of Henry Ford had lain in state in the lobby of the recreation building at Greenfield Village, while 105,000 people had filed past. Now, inside St. Paul's, the Very Reverend Kirk B. O'Ferrall read the service. The crowd filed out and a Packard hearse carried the body of Henry Ford out along Joy Road to the small family cemetery beside a four-lane highway. Henry Ford had never ridden comfortably in any car but one of his own make; he wouldn't have liked it."

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I recently received my Hemmings Classic Car magazine(my favorite), and read an interesting bit of trivia. Henry Ford,Harvey Firestone & Thomas Edison used to go on camping trips. Some of those trips were taken in a Packard. They had a photo of them sitting in it.

Also, The last car Henry Ford ever rode in was a Packard....Hearse. Henry's last ride was in his funeral procession in a Packard.

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I now have both front & back seats out. I also have been tearing into the engine. I have been dismantling the old engine, stripping it down to a bare block w/crank & pistons inplace. I'm dropping the intake,heads,& water pump housing off to be tanked & magnifluxed sometime this week. Also am trying to figure out what I am going to do with the exhaust manifolds. Nothing looks worse than a freshly painted engine and corroded exhaust manifolds. What kind of finish lasts the longest on them that doesn't burn off or change color from the heat? Also I glass beaded & painted the air cleaner cover & valve covers.

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Packardv8- Those are the phillip head screws that hold the top trim piece that goes over the door panel. I ran out of baggies to bag & tag hardware on that door so I just put everything back into the holes they came out of.

That is so hillarious! Last night, I was ripping the back seat out of my '55 400 out and after doing so, I started taking the door panels off. When I did, on the driver side door I see the name "Jesse" and a "$" sign hand written in yellow wax pen! I was wondering about that. Here is a pic of my door.

It was only found on the driver door. Could it be that "Jesse" only worked on the driver side of the assembly line? My vin # is 5587-4766. Is this close to your vin?

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Isn't that the Manual Ride control? The more you twist it to the left, the softer the ride, and the more you turn it to the right the firmer the ride. Or maybe its the ebrake lever? Or, maybe it was a mobster car, and once you pull the lever it drops an oil slick, or a box of nails for the people following you!

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I recently read an article online about a guy who bought a former 2001 crown vic police car at auction. While cleaning it out, he saw a small crack in the backseat side panel and pulled it off to replace it. Inside the crack he found a baggy with cocaine in it! He called the cops and the confirmed that yes, sometimes while suspects are in custody they ditch small stuff in the back of the cruisers before they get back to the station for booking. The article says that is mild compared to some of the stuff they find in former squad cars. Remind me never to buy a former police car.

Well, I got the Power front seat removed. What a heavy beast that thing is! I didn't have anybody around to help so I took a piece of plywood, set the seat studs on it on the drivers door jamb and pushed the seat out from the passenger side. Atleast its out, and I didn't break anything. I am amazed at how clean the floors are. They are solid, except for the hole I talked about in an earlier post. I was hoping to find atleast some treasure from the former owner. Change, paperwork, garbage, toys, lighter. Nothing These people must have been very clean. Maybe I might strike gold in the backseat. The best thing I ever found in a car was in a '66 Fairlane convert I was restoring. A pack of cigarettes with 15 dollars tucked inside with a business card for a "Va Va Voom Room" girlie show. The money was all dated pre 1964 so it must have been down there for awhile.

The strangest thing I found in a car was a maniquin hand in the trunk of a '64 T-bird. That one made me jump a little!