My wife and I went out for a sunset cruise this evening and passed a boat with the Packard scrip on the hull. It was a very attractive hull design, looked a lot like a Donzi but with multiple cockpits. I knew it was too new to ever be associated with the actual company but had never heard of or seen one like it. We were both moving too fast in opposite directions for me to flag him down. I figured if we crossed paths on my way home but, did not. Looks like these were made for a dozen or so years, look pretty rare too. There isn't much online about them. Probably would pair nice with a PT boat motor. Curious if anyone knows anything about them..
Mike

Guessing the Briggs body tag is probably still in place.

I love a good excuse to buy a new tool and then tell my wife all the money I just saved us. I would buy the puller too. Don't try this at home: Years ago I was in a You Pull It salvage yard with a friend helping him get trim off a '55 Merc when he noticed the steering wheel was better than his. I remembered reading a technique that could remove wheels with a hammer. I doubted how well it would work but neither if us had a puller. One person sits in the driver's seat pulling on the wheel while the second smacks the shaft with a hammer. It amazed me how quick it popped off the splines. Prior to we did a few rounds of rock paper scissors to determine who would have a hammer swinging near their face. I would not do this with your car but for a salvage yard wheel works great. Even though I didn't care about the car in this case I used my trusty brass hammer that was made from a boat inboard prop shaft.
Mike

I think you'll be happy with the outcome. If you search online for tips on how to use it you will come across some YouTube videos showing 3M Scotchbrite pads as a way to get back to shiny metal. It's in my regular rotation of restoring metal. Read the MSDS or at minimum the bottle. You are cognizant of your health... so do it outdoors, lots of fresh air. It has a strong odor. I would take the family out of the family project for this part if I were you. To my recollection the metal prep for POR 15 only gets rid of surface contamination / residue, but look it up yourself. I made the huge mistake of employing leather gloves when I did the inside of my doors on my Olds back in HS. My hands were stained black for at least one week. As a sixteen year-old it had some temporary effects on my dating... do not get POR 15 on your skin you will regret it.
Mike

One thing you may want to consider Kevin is how the windshield cracked. Is the root cause apparent? It ominously coincides with the very rotted center section of the header. If you don't repair that area properly you may just end up throwing good money after bad. The windshield frame needs to be sound as to not stress the glass.
Mike

Doing those areas described does seem fair at $350. Soda blasting does have a number of advantages over sandblasting however, one of them is not superior removal of rust. Not sure the rig the gentleman is coming with but soda blasting generally has a tough time cutting through deeply rusted areas. Hopefully, you described the deep rust you have or took a picture and sent so there isn't a misalignment regarding expected results. You also have some blind spots that probably can't get hit with that header in the way.. may want to cut out the affected areas first or have your welder friend advise what needs cleaned and to what extent.
Mike

A product you may want to try on the rust is Ospho. Three years ago I had to paint the metal frame for my dock that had been painted once in 30 years.. very rusty. I couldn't blast or pressure wash it but was only able to wire brush by hand. A SW paint store manager told me to try it along with a oil based primer and industrial topcoat. Knock on wood no bleed through, it is all in the elements. I did remove all scaling though.. a tedious task by hand. What you might like better with this product is you can get a cheap plastic spray bottle and spray it vs the jelly like converters that would work well too but, I see it running down your glove and arm.
Mike

Unless you are at a far distance to the shop in question it may be best to meet face to face with the proprietor. For phase A you are only looking for media blasting and probably aren't too many unknowns there. Once you get involved in body work I would be particularly concerned with how the shop quotes the work. There is a big difference with T&M, T&M - Not to Exceed and Fixed Price estimates. Be concerned with anyone who quotes you a lumpsum or fixed price for bodywork and paint. There is a reason many contractors name their boat "Change Order" and their life raft "Original Contract" (Google it). The devil is in the details or in this case only as good as the scope of work. Get a very detailed line by line breakout of estimated materials and labor. Trust me when I say most times you can't get detailed enough. For the inside, I think you are missing a lot of original patterns (I am too), you'll need some help there if you want it done right. It will probably be one of the only things I farm out as I can't sew to save my life but I have no visions of grandeur and will be rubbing extra saddle soap in my wallet prior too, I'm thinking a lot more than what you had estimated for yours. I agree to with farming out the media blasting, I did my Cadillac and it was not fun. I may try Dustless Blasting with the Packard. Not sure if you considered them but they come to you, I like that model.

I agree, I definitely would have involved my insurance carrier. In fact, you probably should have filed a police report since another car was involved. Unless you have "Srg Slaughter" insurance or something.. any legit company would have advised on a path forward, most likely paid and then went after the mechanic themselves. Been eight months but I'd get them involved and state you weren't sure of the process or something. A mechanic jockeying your car around a lot is a legit claim.

It would be really neat to watch that come back to life..can't be many of them rolling around.