Packard Forum Index » Modification Discussion

Since many of you know me on this forum and have followed some of my posts and my Packard Panther website, I thought I would update you on a "minor setback" I just learned about.

Over 1-1/2 years ago, an unknown (to me) 1st cousin passed away (RIP Sally Ann Rutledge). She died without a will, without have ever been married, without any children and without any sibling or parental living relatives. But, she did have some assets. This meant that her estate fell to the state of Washington probate court to settle. Since I am one of two living 1st cousins (my sister being the other), we were first in line for a distribution of the assets. It's a small estate, but it is "discovered money" to me that I planned to use to not only finish Panther, but do it in a really first class way. I don't need the $ otherwise.

However, some of you may know that probate courts move glacially, i.e., extremely slowly. Just last week I called my attorney representing me in this matter and learned that it could another 6 months or more (2 years after her estate hit probate) before there is any asset distribution. OK, like I said I don't need the money and I don't "count my chickens before they hatch", but I had come up with a tentative schedule for finishing Panther based on prior information from the court which appeared that the distribution was imminent. Now I have to go to "Plan B", which I am doing, to wit:

Figure out what I MUST have to finish Panther by early next year (2017) and what I can put off and retrofit later. Some things are easy to put off, like fancy wheels and tires and others are quit difficult to put off like A/C which is much easier to do with the car apart, as it is now. I have a "hard deadline" of October 2017, which is my 50th Reunion at the USAF Academy for my class of 1967. I will need time for many "shakedown" drives to make sure Panther is fit to make the trip from Pahrump, NV to Colorado Springs, CO without incident. If Panther is not finished, then I have to do the normal thing and fly there and rent a car. BLECH.

Fortunately, I previously purchased a lot of things for Panther and there is a fair amount of manual labor to do on it for which the parts are already in place. The "super killer" paint job will be deferred, so I will do like I did on 6 other restorations I did and paint it myself (temporarily). It will probably be 5-10ft paint job, but so be it.

As many of you know, sometimes events get in the way of the best laid plans.

Craig