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In my guise as Secretary of PACA(No! That role doesn't require me to wear my underpants on the outside!) and in DavidM's absence trekking across Australia in "Maxi" I was deputised to follow-up with PACA members who hadn't renewed their membership yet, most by email. One of these was WarrenJ, who I subsequently realised is Packard Downunder here on PackardInfo. Here's part of Warren's reply

"...I am sure I have a form at home so must dig it up, complete and return...I read your blog on the Packard Forum from time to time... You may like to see a few photo's of my current project - 56 400 H/T... Engine and Trans rebuilt, currently getting a lot of chroming done... Getting ready to have a concerted effort to get it finished over winter... Currently working on interior (doing trimming at night school...) find a few photo's attached... thanks for the reminder..."

To which I responded "...am I able to use your photo's in the Blog and the words relating to your 400? Always looking to add info on any Packards I come across as you might have noticed. Your 400 is looking good and seeing you're planning on finishing it this year I imagine you'll have it at next years Packard Rally at Philip Island. If so I'll see you there and be able to say "G'day"!

Back to the pic's, there's an engine shot with a reddish Coupe behind it. What is the Coupe? Your engine, as well as the 400, looks great. Would give Hank (Cli55er) a run for his money! Another engine question, what is the coating on the exhaust manifolds?..."

Warren replied "...I was reading with interest last night the recent issues encountered by those on tour. I am keen to follow up what happened to Peter Toet's Twin Ultra... I have had the TU for my 400 rebuilt locally by a company recommended by Fred Pepepackard who have done quite a few Ultra's and Twin Ultra's here in Melbourne. The proof will be in the pudding... I am following with interest the threads on installing a 700R in lieu of a TU and if proven an effective swap, will in due course install one in my 56 Clipper (photo attached).

The coupe in the background belongs to a mate of mine and is a 37 Ford - Standard. It has been rodded many years ago and sits on a shortened Customline chassis - 351W, C6 etc... I rewired the whole car for him as I owed him a few favours... he recently bought a very interesting Packard... a 38 extended wheelbase hearse. Car is a 110 but is very unusual in that it is effectively a roadster hearse... you may have seen it before... was ex Kinsela hearse from Sydney...

I have no problem putting photo's of my engine in the Blog... I have attached a few other shots of it during assembly and a list below of what I did to the engine if you're interested... I should take a better quality photo of it sometime... I am yet to do the rocker covers as I am still undecided re 2 pack paint vs powder coating... also still considering what the best method of having the 'Packard' writing on top painted red...

Manifolds have been Jet Hot Coated - ceramic coating done by 'Jet Hot Coatings' in Castlemaine in Victoria. I generally do this with all of my engines as the finish is great and it lasts... it also keeps the heat in the exhausts so it goes out the back instead of the engine bay... from memory it costs me about $250 for the inlet manifold and same for the pair of exhaust...

Great to chat... Would like to catch up at Phillip Island... assuming I pull my finger out and get it completed by then..."

Engine is 374 cu ins - stock size - rated at 290 HP
Bored .40"
Big Ends and mains .10"
Cam bearings stock
All new bearings including conrod top bushes
Crank rehardened
Cam Ground
New cam thrust plate - Jack Vines
New valves, guides & springs
New timing gears and chain
New Oldsmobile Oil pump and new distributor drive shaft to match - Jack Vines
Rods & pistons balanced
Chrome moly rings
Cyl Head machined - incl skim on exh surface
Block decked
Ports relieved
Combustion chambers worked to unshroud the valves.
Inlet and exhaust manifolds 'Jet Hot' coated (ceramic type silver coating)
Engine Block original colour is bronze - rocker covers to be silver with 'Packard' in red

Leading me to respond"...Concerning the '38 Hearse, I had heard about it and would have loved to have seen it in the metal but never got to see it before it went south to your mate. It was owned by Neville(deceased) and LesF who are good friends of Noel. In fact Les is doing all the mechanicals on the resto of Noel's '41 160 Club Coupe. I'll see Noel's Coupe, and whatever else Les has at his place(know he has RobertS's '36 Convertible Coupe there at the moment and I think RichardS's '39 Convertible Coupe is still there getting the left door repaired), on Sunday after our PACA run because Noel wants to use my Coupe for some reference points for his resto. As is my habit I'll take LOTS of pic's and send you a link to the PICASA album I put them in.

Peter Toet is doing the T/U strip down, inspection and diagnosis on the Easter Week End and has said he'll keep us informed...

I'd sure like to see you and the Four Hundred Coupe at Philip Island.

And another thing. I see in rereading the Owner Registry entry for your Four Hundred you also have a 51 200 sedan. I'm going to make a real nuisance of myself over this 1) Not so important, but could you include it in the Owner Registry?(In my role as Owner Registry Czar I would be remiss if I didn't ask!)& 2) Much more important, Robert Neal is writing a book about 51-54 Packards and is seeking pictures of the dashboards of RHD 51-54's - See Post #21 in this link from the AACA Website -http://forums.aaca.org/f134/right-hand-drive-packards-214309.html Fred is providing some of his '54 Clippers dash and I will be taking some of JeffM's '52 200 on Sunday. I'm also chasing a few other 51-54 owners here in Sydney/NSW. If you know of any RHD 51-54's in your neck of the woods dashboard pic's would be appreciated...."

And this from Warren "...I started my 51 many years ago and did all of the rust replacement and chassis work and then got wound up in (many) other projects... The dash is unfortunately dismantled and I don't have any electronic photo's of it. I will finish it one day... After I finish the 400, then after I repaint the Clipper etc etc... I'm sure you know the feeling.

A good reference would be JackM in Swan Hill. Jack has a really nice original 53 that definitely has a good dash in it. Jack is getting on a bit now so would be best to go thru JohnM, brother of HeatherM here on PackardInfo, who I am sure would procure the required photo's...

I will put the 51 in the register in due course. I am more than happy to chat re the engine etc... I cruise the forum quite often...but seldom actually take an active part. Not for any real reason - just have too many irons in the fire... I fear that once I got involved I'd spend too much time there..."

Pheeew.... what a correspondence.
Warren for allowing me to broadcast our exchanges.

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See this link for a mainstream media write up, Sydney Morning Herald, of the 2012 Expedition Across Australia. But still no pic's of "Maxi"!

And the usual link to the VVCA Site.

More correspondence from/to Packard Downunder.

From "...photo of my mate's 38 Hearse. This is a copy of the original photo that features in the Packard Book (name escapes me but is a blue thick book - I'll have to check the name at home... maybe 'Packard - A History of the Car and the Company' or similar...) which is incorrectly captioned. The photo in the book states that it is in 'something or other' lawn cemetery in (maybe) California, however is definitely the Kinsela Packard - built in Australia.

My friend's name is GraemeL who is actually a member of the forum. If you ever saw the show 'Cruisin' on TV, he was one of the regular hosts. Very knowledgeable guy - especially on Fords and hearses of all persuasions...Graeme is going to dig up a few other photo's which I'll send thru also..."

To "...Found the pic on Page 706 of the "Kimes Book". As you say, it's definitely the Kinsela Hearse. Could you ask Graeme who built the body? As I'm sure that will be a point of interest. Please thank Graeme in advance for any additional photos. And speaking of Graeme and the Hearse, and especially seeing he is a PackardInfo member, could he include it in the Owner Registry?..."

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More on the Kinsela Hearse courtesy of owner GraemeL

"...The body was build by Oldings in Glebe. My 39 Dodge hearse also has an Oldings body, as does my mate Stu's 37 La Salle. The 'newest' Oldings hearse I've ever seen was a 53 Ford. Not sure if they continued building hearses after that or not...."

And a little googling found this and this. The first link is interesting in the info it provides about the actual body building process.

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See the 2012 Expedition Across Australia Site has been updated up to and including 1st April. And there's a pic of "Maxi"! Now, is that David or Don in the red fluoro vest?

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See there have been more pic's loaded up on the VVCA Daily Updates link, including this one.

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Tomorrow the VVCA 2012 Expedition Across Australia ends at Martin Place, Sydney outside the G.P.O. at Noon. I'll be there with camera!


Don't know if Veronique took the '29 Roadster and met David and Don at Bathurst but, last Sunday, John(Appin) and Annet were talking of doing the same thing, albeit without Packard - Junior still didn't have spark. EdK also said he'd join the welcoming crowd so there'll be Packard people present to welcome David and Don home.

During the course of the Expedition I was starting to think 'Maxi' might be invisible. Reason being there were no pic's of him on the official website. That was rectified a couple of days ago when one blurry one appeared. Then another pic today. But now I'm overwhelmed with them, because early in the piece David had sent me an email whose subject was "Access to 1912 Centenary Expedition 2012 Dropbox for entrants - please advise all your friends - and the Media". I subscribed, but early on there weren't any pic's because there's no internet access in the Australian Outback. Now, with plenty of access, there are plenty of pic's. Some below of 'Maxi', and a few others. If you'd like to gain access to all the pic's in the Dropbox please send me an email at ozstatmanATgmail.com and I'll forward you the email I received. There are plenty of motorcycle pic's, they outnumbered the cars on the run.

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Seen at a local shopping centre and probably the only one in the world, but I could be wrong. Guy is trying to muscle in on the Stretch Hummer action.

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concerning the V8 car above, i would be interested to know what valve springs he used with his cam regrind. i had to source my own to match the new grind as Jack said they were all gone for the ones he used.

also the upper timing chain gear....doesn't look stock.

Thanks Mal for the great pictures. It is really good to see the vehicles out touring rather than just being trucked to a show. A tip of the hat to all participants.

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