Hi everyone,
I haven't been looking at Packardinfo for ages as I have a new craze, "Family History research' and it too becomes obsessive.

We have a 1929 626 Packard truck that had been a sedan and was owned by the local car dealer and garage in our town.It was bought brand new in 1929.
When the war broke out the dealers tow truck was confiscated for the war effort which left the two sons who owned the business no option but to cut their Mothers sedan down to make a tow truck. The car would have only been 11-12 years old at that time.
In the early 50s my Father bought this car/truck and made a wooden tray back for it which was then used for shopping and as we had a fruit and grape orchard it was used up and down the rows of fruit trees collecting picked fruit and also carting it to the local town 20 miles away. (dirt roads back then.)
It has 1930 parking lights on the guards, I think you say fenders? But that happened a lot in the Packards that came to Australia, nearly every one we own has something left over from the year before or the following year.
I have a few photos of it and will send one now and have to look up the most recent ones tomorrow.

My brother owns it now and has been collecting everything it needs to make it back to the original sedan. I like it the way it is.
This photo would be early 50s as Mum is holding me and John is in the truck. I'll try sending another of me and the dog beside the truck. Pity the photos don't show the back.
Heather

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Hi Joenasta,
I have the same model car.
model 1703, 1939 Packard Super 8.
VIN or body type 1272 - 2172, mine was #172 car built as the number system started at 2000.
It's a 4- door Touring sedan.
My car has side-mounts, but another members car on this website doesn't have them and it's the same model.
In Australia we tend to travel long distances to attend a rally. The first rally I attended was at least 1000 miles, one-way. It has been a reliable car.
Heather

This is a 53 Clipper that was sold new through Kellow-Faulkner in Melbourne Australia.
It had only one owner until I saw it advertised in a Melbourne newspaper in 1974. It came with all the service records etc.. so I would think it's original.
Although we have noted many differences in Packard models that were exported to Australia.

I decided to send this picture in because it still had the hood ornament in place.

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Hi Jim, What a Beauty!!
How on earth do you find a car like that? Is that the original leather and paint?
The best advise I was given when I inherited my Dads car was to leave it as it was. I hope you will be able to do the same as it looks magnificent in the photo.
Heather

West, I showed this post to my brother John, he said it is a 1922 or 23 model 4 passenger coupe and not modified but missing all the top frame and windows.
That headlamp style came in in 1922, it has a back seat and two windows along the side, much like "Grandma ducks car".
I looked up a picture of it in this websites Photo Archive.
If you click on the year 1922, its the first photo.
Heather

This is my kinda conversation. Thanks to kacarlson for starting it.
I can see that I'm the odd one out on here.
This is the way I was nurtured.

I grew up in a family of motoring enthusiast's, mainly Packard's and British and American motor cycles. So, you could say it was in the blood.
I think my interest developed as a teenager, when we were all still living at home. My brothers were always working on bikes and cars and when they would get something "going" they would always include me in their fun and give me a ride or make me drive. We were on a farm so that made things easier, no registration or license needed.
I got my bike license on a 53 Norton Dominator, 500cc.
I have never owned a "new" modern car, and never wanted to. I would much rather drive more interesting vehicles and over the years my" drivers" have been... 53 Anniversary Ford, Kombi van, 61 Mercedes Benz Finny, and then a couple of Saab 900's.


My husband of 30 years has no real interest in my car passion, and doesn't come with me on the rallies, and we don't talk "cars" at home either. But that doesn't bother me at all because I always find people willing to discuss cars wherever I go, admittedly they are mostly men.

Three years ago when I first joined the Club and registered the Packard, I made some contacts in America who answered my questions on the forum. I was so enthusiastic about Packard's
I also met Jim (39super8, his car was the same model as mine and the only other one I'd ever seen.. So the internet and these forums have been " awesome" for me.
I think your wives would develop more of an interest if you could get them to drive the cars and participate in your shows/runs. But having said that....I also know that most of the wives in our club are not that "into" cars, but love going on the rallies and meeting up with other members again.
Who knows, I might even get my husband to drive me to a rally one day?

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Kacarlson, sorry for taking over your thread.
I never felt confident about making comments around all you blokes". But this topic I'd had some experience with.

The car was built in Detroit, and the only history we know is that it came to Canberra for the American Embassy and maybe later was used for by the navy?
Sometime later it made its way down to Melbourne and was registered for the first time by a private owner in 1952.
My dad bought it from this man who owned a Motor Gararge in the city of Melbourne. I have the newspaper advert for the sale of the car that dad cut out at that time.

When my brother John and I were getting the car ready for the 2007 National Rally I decided to investigate whether these leather seats were in fact covering up original wool.
After having the seat scwabb out upside down on a table and undoing heaps of clips I discovered the same wool as the rest of car. I couldn't peel the whole cover off because it's made with very thick leather and is such a perfect fit, but I could feel it has the same original pleating as the 39 should.
I was able to cut a section from the front skirt part to replace the top panel of one of the armrests which was too threadbare and dirty. Was able to hand sew it in place without removing it from the car.
Car must have been professionally recovered in oz, maybe after excessive use? The arm rest on front door and the swinging hand support are all done in leather to match.

I received samples from Kanter, Hirsch and sms.
Sms samples came a bit late for me as we were almost ready for the Rally. They had the closest matching colours , but not the fleck/tweed style, they were plain.
The other odd thing about this car is the headliner has piping at every seam. The American ones don't.
Maybe this is leftover lining from a different model. Does anyone know if the 38's had piping?

Thanks Randy,
I had first thought that I would make a new headliner and replace the wrecked panels in the upholstery, arm rests and back of front seat.
I had read that the correct materials were being re-made and were available in America.
So I sent off some samples to a couple of people and expected to be able to buy enough of the beige fleck wool that was the seat material.
But no, it wasn't to be, as I was told that 39 super 8's came in a number of fabric's but no one had seen my sample before. It must have only been on export models.
I had trouble finding anything to match as I hunted through fabric shops.
I eventually settled on a piece of wool and patched the top of the front seat. Also new carpet from Hirsch.
more photos, Wow!! I am getting confident with this.

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This has been my experience.
My car had been sitting in a shed unregistered for 18 years and one year we had an infestation of rats. By the time we discovered they were living in the car, they had made a mess.
Luckily the seats have leather covers so that wasn't a problem, but they had chewed holes in the headliner and stained it, they also made a mess on the back armrests.
Early in 2007 I wanted to clean this car up and register it again, my father had bought it in 1957 and it's a 39 Super 8 sedan.
The material was all the original wool and I really had no choice but to try and clean the rat piddle out of it by shampooing as I didn't want to drive it the way it was. The car wasn't registered at the time otherwise I would have driven it to town and had a professional carpet / upholstery cleaner do it for me.
I hired a small portable carpet shampoo machine from our local drycleaner; I put warm water in the tank and a liquid soap (wool mix). It worked brilliantly and didn't harm the wool.
I cleaned all the wool upholstery as well as the headliner.
Some stain's remained but at least it smelt fresh.

The cleaning head had a row of holes that squirted the soapy water out under pressure but then sucked it straight back in a vent directly behind the holes..
It didn't squirt the water through the wool and up onto the metal which I was afraid of when working on the roof. It seemed to draw all the moisture back immediately leaving the wool only slightly damp.
However , I don't know about rust, and if your material is darker it might end up looking patchy? Other people's suggestions might be better. I had no choice except to make a new headliner and I didn't have time for that. I don't worry about the rat holes anymore

I will try to include some photos taken before anything was cleaned on the car,

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Thanks for the compliments.
It was fun dressing up that day.
I have many car photos, but was never sure if other people would be interested. Also I haven't tried to set up a web album like Mal has.