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I wanted a Packard and I wanted to build a large speedster and decided to combine the two. Looking around the right car showed up at the same time I had money and the deal was done April 2008. A 1928 Packard 526 sedan that had it's restoration interrupted by the death of its owner/restorer in 1968, and had basically sat since, was purchased. Rougher than something I would want to do a full resto on, it was something I wouldn't feel guilty modifying. The idea was to build a speedster as someone may have done in the late 20s early 30s out of a damaged Packard. It is to use all Packard and custom made parts to retain the feel and pleasure of a Packard in a more sporty mode. This concept included keeping the original 126 inch WB chassis and components and the mechanical brakes and finding a Packard straight 8 to replace the original 6. The components would be moved around to better fit the speedster requirements and a custom boattail body built. I should say now that although I have restored originals and built a few ground up hot rods this is being built in a hobby shop(although well equipt) by me and my friends and the body was something we have never attempted before. This is going to be fun. When you are used to working on mostly old Fords the Packard is huge and imposing, and the engineering, size and heft of the parts amazing. After purchasing it in April it basically sat in the shop while we inspected it and determined our course of action. By September we were chomping at the bit to start!

G'day Ron,

It'll sure be interesting following your progress on the Speedster.

Make certain to take plenty of pic's along the way and post them here with your updates.
Looking forward to seeing it progress.

4/2008 Photo

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4/2008 photo

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4/2008 photo

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9/2008
By September '08 we figured we had looked at enough that we could take it apart and maybe know what we were doing. Worth a try! Of course a bunch of my car buddies showed up with enough beer to float a battleship and we had at it! Over the course of the month we disassembled the complete car down to the bare frame and front and rear axles. Not as big a deal as it could have been as the body was loosely assembled on the chassis and far from complete. Luckily we found just what I had hoped for. What looked like a chassis and engine with a 40 year old restoration that was never driven in well preserved shape. The only modifications made in September were adding the temporary lowering blocks (to roughly determine ride height, the suspension will be properly modified for height later) and the removal of some of the crossmembers in preparation of relocating the engine/trans.

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9/2008 photo

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10/2008
October '08 was a good month. We moved the engine/trans back and down by relocating the stock engine/trans mounts. This was done to produce a more speedster like profile and "improve" handling (a front mid-engine Packard?). The radiator was also moved back and down behind the front crossmember to the proper height to clear the engine. Moving the engine also necessitated moving back the crossmember that provides a mount for the mechanical brakes that we plan on retaining.
All this relocating put everything in the proper location to determine hood length, seat and steering position, and ultimately the basic body design. Being a 2 seater boattail design was pre-determined, having the mocked-up chassis in front of you confirms the basic measurements.
We also fired the original 6 cyl engine for the first time, which although would require further "tweaking" to run correctly, required only 3 cases of beer and 15 buddies 3 hours on a Saturday to get it to consistently start and run!

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10/2008 Drawing

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11/2008
November '08 was interesting, but it seemed to be a series of false starts.
You see, when this project was in the BS and cocktail napkin stage I had assumed we would do all the mechanicals and turn it over to one of the local panel beaters to make the basic body. The proposed design was fairly simple requiring no doors or trunk lid and I figured we would do the hood and possibly the cowl ourselves. Then my friend Dion, who I work with a lot and who is a fabricator extrordenar, expert painter, and mechanical genius insisted we build the body ourselves. Insisted! Having studied his work for years, and had his help on many other projects there was no doubt that even though he had never built a body before he could do it! And I could help, I think.
At first everything we did we did 2 or 3 times, sometimes more! Or maybe he was just re-doing my work? It really shouldn't be surprising as we were starting to build the body bucks, or templates. Something we had never done before. But after a little practice things started to fall into place.