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Yes that's what I said last October when I bought this car.

"Who could resist this beautiful 1954 Packard Patrician?"

I had purchased a really decent '54 Patrician just a month prior in September. My first Packard. I'd wanted one since junior high school. That means like 1965.

Then I saw this other car and decided I couldn't pass it up --same year and same model -- as a source for parts. See the 19 July 13 post on Packards For Sale featuring this car.

So I bought it sight unseen. A really unwise way to proceed.

The fact is I should not have purchased either of these cars. I already have too many projects going on.

I put off having it delivered as long as possible. Which means all winter. The day of reckoning finally arrived however and I had it shipped 10 days ago from Blake Young's Winding Road Classics in Willis Texas.

And ... I am more than pleased! The car is just as good as I had dared hope. It appears to be original and basically solid. An authentic eminently restorable '54 Patrician. Too good for a parts car in my view.

Even has the aluminum head.

Of course -- I haven't had it running yet! Blake said he had it running. But it needs a water pump gas pump and brake work including the Easmatic master cylinder. I have already removed these and plan shipping them off soon for rebuilt units.

This isn't a project blog I'll be contributing to daily. And I hope to avoid infinitely detailed and complex tasks.

But questions are bound to arise. Moreover I need to keep up my motivation.

Here are two initial issues.

I'm wondering whether I want to embark on a total frame off or a less perfectionist restoration. I know this is my own choice but I wouldn't mind some input. Some for example might say this model is not worth the trouble.

Then right away here is a much more specific question. Which partly relates to the one just prior. While I'm waiting for the rebuilt parts I want to clean and paint some of the black parts under the hood. The air cleaner heater blower oil cap and so forth. I might have them sand blasted (but not the blower motor). As a simple solution would it be OK to repaint these using RustOleum spray products? Red primer then gloss black cover?

I'm not a total originality/authenticity obsessionist. I do however consider preservation a priority.

Someone once loved this car. It came with old volumes of Packard Cormorant magazine from the 1970s. This was probably once someone's prize Packard.

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Looks like a nice start so congratulations. I can't offer much of an opinion on the completeness of restoration. IMO it would be completely dependent on how much you like the car, can do yourself, or can afford to spend on things you cannot do. For myself, I did one body off on a 56 Caribbean HT and that was a project and a half. Didn't want to do that again so left the body on another project, a 54 Pacific. I did strip almost every thing else out or off the car and am doing that again on my latest ongoing 47 project.

On the current 47 I do believe the Rustoleum Professional paint is a nice product. I am using that almost exclusively for the body parts -- both in quart for large areas or rattle cans for smaller. Used the self etching primer for the most part. I would not have any of the air or oil filters sandblasted though. Too easy for the grit to get into the item and almost impossible to get back out. Not sure about the gloss black. I think some of the items you mention are semi gloss. Others with the PI judging book can give a definitive answer.

+2 on Rustoleum. I used it on my '51 in semi gloss and it looks great. On my air cleaner I used a wire cup in my grinder instead of sandblasting.