Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

When parking my 1940 160 in my garage, I used to put the car in neutral and put on the parking brake. My mechanic advised me against leaving the parking brake on, especially for longer periods such as in the winter, and advised me to put the car into first gear with the parking brake off. The garage is level and I can use chocks if necessary. What is the better recommendation - first gear and no parking brake or neutral and parking brake?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

I would never leave the parking brake on with a car in storage. I learned my lesson when moving and found a couple had seized to the drums which make it very difficult to get the out of the garage! If not on any kind of slope, though, I see no reason to leave them in Park but rather in neutral with wheel chocks.

Don is correct. You should not leave it on for long periods and there's also no point at all to doing it when you are on level ground. Just put it in first and it won't go anywhere. Use wheel chocks if you are still nervous about it 😀