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Hello all,

I'm loving the web site and the opportunity to do a blog on the restoration of my Packard. It has been sitting outside at our beach place under cover for the last several years. For a number of reasons, I had no place under cover to keep it. Drove it out to the beach, parked it, and haven't had it running since. I've had the engine and transmission rebuilt, brakes redone, exhaust replaced, etc. But, as you can see, the body really needs some major work, as well as the interior. I have since rented some garage space that is indoors, gotten myself an air compressor and variety of tools, and am ready to rock and roll.

I need to get it started again to ensure myself that it's still sound mechanically, then I'm hitting the bodywork, derusting, etc., big time to stop the disintegration. I'll post some pictures here from where I have been keeping it the last few months. I am hoping to show significant progress in the next couple of months toward making it worthy of driving and taking to shows again.

This first picture shows representative rustiness and the dent in the left rear roof where a tree fell on it. The silver lining, if there is one, is that I already had replacement windshields, front and rear. I was going to need to replace the front one before, now I need to do both. But at least I already have the part!

- Ted

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One more picture of the front of the car.

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And the engine compartment...

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Ted,

Welcome aboard. It is a GREAT site - I enjoy it immensely. And plenty of friendly, knowledgeable Packard people willing to help or give advice.

Your Clipper looks good, except for the tree branch dent, ouch! With what you've already done a great basis to bring it back to what it deserves.

Just another thing - Can you enter it into the Owner Registry together with it's history, if known?

Again

I would say that your car is a very good candidate for a convertible conversion!

BTW, I'm Eric, the resident modifier of Packards in general, and welcome to the forum!

Ted, welcome to the Packardinfo site. Glad to have a new member aboard. There are many knowledgable Packard people here who are glad to give advice. Does you Clipper have torsion-level suspension? Put your car in the owners registry and start your blog.

Eric/Randy,

Yes, it does have torsion bar suspension that actually works. It also has the pushbutton automatic transmission. Interesting comment on the convertible conversion. I have this and a 1982 Mercedes 300SD and thought both would be excellent as convertibles. The consensus on the Mercedes forum was that the conversion of the Mercedes to a convertible just isn't practical, but has it been done on the 50's Packards after the fact and, if so, how successful have these conversions been? I don't know that I've ever seen a 1956 convertible besides the Caribbean.

There was a '55 or '56 400 on ebay a couple of years ago that was a converted convertible, it looked really nice and professionally done. You sure would have something different in a Clipper convertible, that's for sure. Look for pre-'64 convertibles for the top mechanism, as the windows go straight up on most cars, and on the later ones, they curve in towards the top, which means you'd have to try and straighten the top, which is a PITA. If you have any questions, I've done quite a lot of research on HT to convertible conversions, and can try and help you, if you go that route.

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd give an update. I've been working on getting the engine bay ready for paint. The engine in the car (recently rebuilt) was a 352 CI out of a 1955 Clipper that the rebuilder painted green over the original red. Needless to say, the engine paint leaves something to be desired. So, I decided to start there and removed the front fenders and am proceeding to disassemble the front end down to chassis and engine. I've ordered the engine and chassis paint, and am partially through getting things out of there so I can really get going on the engine compartment.

I've also started working on removing the windshield. It's cracked and I have a replacement windshield (off of the same 55), as well as gasket. So, in the interest of making progress and getting some parts put back where they need to be, I'm focusing for now on the front so I can put my new RF fender on and the new windshield in. Here are a few pics -

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I discovered I created a blog for my 1956 Clipper a number of years ago when we moved down to Florida! The pictures here are from when I had it stored in a guy's back yard. I have since rented a 4 bay garage space and have significantly dismantled the car from these pictures. I'll post some pictures when I get back over there.

Basically, I've done the following -

1) Removed everything engine and body wise back to the firewall
2) Removed doors, hood, trunk and windshields
3) Removed the interior

I have gone back and forth on how extensive I should be on this. I've worked on my Mercedes cars for a number of years, so I have some car mechanical background. But some of the things I see on this site are beyond my skill level.

I see some of the people here pull the body off and take it down to frame. I don't know that I'm up for that level of work, but can certainly clean and paint exposed frame as I get to it.

Having said that, I have already had the engine and transmission rebuilt, the torsion level suspension works, and the car was driveable before starting the teardown. I'll review some of the other blogs and see what others are doing with these cars. I appreciate being able to look in on what others are doing and I'll post my progress here as I move forward.

Suggestions greatly appreciated on the extensiveness of what I should try to do. In the past, I've purchased a number of NOS parts for it and I'm looking forward to getting them out of the storage bins and onto the car again!