That really is beyond cool that John Z had a last chance to check out those Packards.

Once of those Delorean shops is near me (Bellevue, near Seattle), should anyone need some local eyes let me know.

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Very good point, 50 plus years later and standard bushings and seals may no longer be enough!

Maybe it was some mental defective mechanic's idea of helping the car's owner should he ever need to bust out of jail.

First off I'd like to thank mseanowen for his service to our country.

On a somewhat related note, I recall seeing at the NY Checker dealer in the late 70's a dark blue sedan that specially built for a Kuwaiti prince...I wonder if it still exists. There probably aren't too many people who knew of this car or, for that matter, care!

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That is SO true. Chrysler made a point about this very thing. I have all(?) the Mopar torsion bar tools and the critical ones are designed to prevent gouging.

I remember being in a Cadillac dealer in the early 70's (the Potamkin dealer on 11th Ave and 55th? st which I believe was once the Packard dealership building) and while in the parts dept one of the mechanics came in with a broken torsion bar. I asked him what that was for as I was only familiar with Mopar and Packard using torsion bars...he replied it was for an Eldorado and it was the second one he was replacing on the same car.

I asked him why twice, he told me the first one broke from the terrible streets and the second from one of the brain sturgeon mechanics having placed a pair of Vice Grip pliers on it and scoring it up sumpthin fierce!

I dunno if it's already been mentioned, but a critical tool would be the test oil pan that had external pressure taps. There was a rig with multiple gauges hung on the driver's window so the pressures could be checked during an actual road test (and later adjusted accordingly).

I'm no expert by any means but besides correct standard shop techniques, these trannys require close attention to the bushings and proper pressure more than most other units...of course a myriad of updates should be done per the TSB's

There was to be at least a Studebaker (if not also a Clipper) El Camino for the aborted 1957 model year.

Firstly, one of my patented snide remarks...who needs airbags when she has silicone bags?

Secondly, there are various lap/shoulder inertia belt configurations...some are anchored at the floor with the reel up high (kinda cumbersome for aftermarket installation on older cars), for our porpoises one which has the reel on the floor would be best---the shoulder level anchor is just along for the ride and allows the belt to freely pass thru it (and actually back down to the reel on the floor).

This style was used in Checkers and many other mid to later 70's American cars.

Major thing to consider is that the point of attachment will in all likelyhood need to be reinforced as sheet metal mounts will fail in an accident. You can use large diameter fender washers (hardened steel or doubled up) or if you want to really go to town, a small piece of flat stock with a nutsert (or welded nut).

Just remember the weak link rule applies: your reinforced mount is only as strong as whatever you've attached it to!

I have my doubts if Detroit can ever rise again. There's talk of actually destroying remnants of smaller nearly abandoned towns to get them off the books as the cost of maintaining a city government when there's nearly no population (tax base) is unsustainable...the same thing could be said about Detroit, it's just a monetary sinkhole and all attempts to rebuild it have so far failed miserably.

The NY Times had an article about the demolition of Pennsylvania Station many years ago and made a most appropriate remark to the effect that future generations will not judge us for what we've built but for what we've destroyed.

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Yup, I always figured a good starting point for a truck/El Camino-ish conversion would be a flower car as it already has a truncated passenger compartment and an open bed of sorts. I wonder if anyone still makes that type of professional car any more.