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Wednesday 26th June 2013

Late this afternoon dropped into the workshop to drop off a couple of things for Ross,give Misty a bone and who should be there, Wade! Wade is now returning North tomorrow after Fleurette is finished. Yes, finished! Apparently on Tuesday the starter motor had been replaced with PeterL's and it works well, but that's temporary until Fleurette's starter is repaired. The temp gauge sending unit leak problem has also been fixed, the sending unit was bottoming out against the inside of the head and rectified with an O ring to space it out. Notice the heater tube is still off but forgot to ask Wade what was happening there. Wade started the rebuilt engine up and, in the modern vernacular, it's "sweeeet"! Although there is a squeak! Yes a squeak, seems to be coming from the horn mounts! Wade had fixed it, but it came back after re-torquing the head.

Last post I promised pic's of yesterdays activities, these are below as well as one of Fleurette from today.

And yes Saffron, unfortunately we have E10 here.

Lyndon, Wades Workshop will continue for a little while yet, but it is drawing to a close. Then I'm thinking of creating another Blog, maybe Mal's Meanderings?

For a brief outline of the Eden run, see this thread on the PACA Websites Forums. They include links to the 5 albums I took over the course of the event.

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Hi, great site, does anyone have a set of the running board delete panels, really would love to have them for the 42 convertible I'm working on, I would trade my running boards plus cash if anyone has any interest

G'day Mike,
Although you're a loooooong time PackardInfo member see it's your first post so

Can't help with your request but would advise to post it in the For Sale, Wanted, Trade Forum where it would be better placed.

And seeing you've raised your head, I invite you to include your '42 Convertible in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo!

Monday 1st July 2013

Just a quick update. Dropped into the workshop to drop off a starter motor for Fleurette. The starter came from Peter Packard who brought it to Sydney from Canberra, about 260kms on Saturday for Noel. It's an AUTO-LITE MAX 4006, more powerful than the MAW 4018(I think that's what Noel said) it was replacing. Peter, and Ann, had come up in the "Hot Rod", a '38 Eight Sedan equipped with a 4 bbl 327 and OD. This car holds a special place with one DAF but at present it is suffering. After arriving at Noel's warehouse the diff decided it wouldn't cooperate and the "Hot Rod" ending up returning to Canberra by car trailer about 3am early Sunday morning. Peter and Ann we missed you at our meeting yesterday, but carried on regardless! Noel had picked up Fleurette on Friday from the workshop and taken it home. However he didn't have a chance over the weekend to put some miles on the rebuilt engine which he's very pleased with. However today it's a nice blue sky winter day here in Sydney, after about 2 weeks of very solid rain, and the forecast is for more clear skies through the week. So Noel, get out and drive the girl! Once Fleurette has sufficient miles on the rebuilt engine she'll go back for a re-torquing of the head nuts as well as a starter motor swap.

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Running board delete panels are reproduced by Gary Osko. Pm me for contact info.

Hi all, especially Mal, Well the 38 - 120 ( fitted with souped up 53 - 327 and R6 OD) was brought up to Sydney to help celebrate Noel's 75th Birthday on the 23rd June. Everything was going fine...nice drive up sitting on around 110 kph. At Noel's we all piled into the 38 to headed over to the other side of town. Noel wanted us to turn across 6 lanes of traffic and said GO!!! after spotting a 75 metre break in the two way traffic. I gunned the engine and tried for a jack-rabbit start. I made it across three lanes and the terrible clanging and chrunching started. I had sheared the welds holding the diff banjo onto the spring saddles. The diff had rotated and pulled the tailshaft out of the gearbox uni spline. I shall spare the gory details of removing the tailshaft, C/w both universals in the traffic, in the rain. Dressing up the mutilated ends of the slip yoke and tailshaft spines with a Leatherman file, putting it all back together after rotating the diff back into line, and really tightening up the U bolts, hoping this would temporarily stop the rotation. It drove backwards and forwards ok but as soon as we tried to put any power on at all it rotated the diff again, this time shattering the diff uni joint. so it's all Noel's fault, although not really. I inspected another banjo and there appear to be only 4 spot welds and a few dabs of weld on the saddle ends. This arrangement has worked for 75 years but there would be some corrosion involved over this time and I intend to really put some weld into it this repair. I shall also check my other Packards for sufficient welds in this oft neglected area.

Peter for the detailed explanation as to the cause of the Hot Rod's problem.

Wednesday 3rd July 2013

Not really Wade's Workshop although I did touch base there three times today. Firstly in the morning, after clearing our Packard Club's PO Box which is close by, dropped in and gave Misty a bone. Next, early afternoon met Noel there, after he co-opted me to accompany him to pick up a small shipment of Optima 6V batteries for PACA members. He was also expecting the new WWW tyres for his '41 Coupe in place of those which arrived months back which were the wrong size! Batteries and a mailing tube, the contents of which he wasn't aware of, did arrive but no tyres. Back at the workshop, the third instance, on opening the mailing tube found it contained window channels Noel had ordered, my guesses were, long trim pieces or door sealing rubbers. While picking up the batteries and mailing tube saw a guy there I thought I recognized from my misspent youth of hot rods and dragsters over 40 years ago. Asked him "Is your Name John?" Answer "Yes". Q - "JohnF?" A - "Yes". A hot rodders reunion ensued where he advised he was still drag racing with a 225ci Chev doing 7.2 in the quarter at a best of 195mph and, if he reaches 200mph will retire! Missed seeing the 1912 Cadillac which had been imported, it had left yesterday for it's new home. There was also a rough '46-'48 Mercury Sedan besides the front gate, one of three imported. But very interesting were the three partially disassembled light planes being picked up. Then, on the way home from the workshop, saw RichardW was in his driveway with his Bentley. It's a '51 Mark V1 bought by his Dad about 40 years ago. Richard had been for a run today with his car club to Pie in the Sky, which trulocal.com.au describes as "Great value, tasty pies are available at this pit stop cafe on the Pacific Highway. Serving both savoury and sweet flavours, you can get everything from the traditional Steak & Kidney pie to delicious desserts like warm blueberry pie. There's also a selection of meals, sausage rolls and teas on offer." Some images of Pie in the Sky can be found here! Pie in the Sky a popular destination for car club runs or makes a good pit stop on longer runs.

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Sunday 7th July 2013

Took a trip today with Noel in Fleurette. The trip had a double barreled purpose, helping to run-in Fleurette's rebuilt engine and provide advice to a PACA member entering his cars in a Concours at this display day. Picked up by Noel we enjoyed a pleasant trip on a beautiful blue sky Winters day, max temp 19C, to Gosford on the New South Wales Central Coast. There we met up with PACA member BruceG and his restorer Rob of Central Auto Restorations. Bruce is bringing his '55 Four Hundred Hardtop and '58 Facel Vega to the display day and had entered both in the Concours. Noel was casting a very beady judges eye over both cars with a view to advising Bruce and Rob the areas and features needing attention before being presented at the Concours. The Facel Vega had spent most of it's life in the New York to Virginia area before Bruce found it in a dilapidated state in a barn in the Australian southern state of Victoria. It's a very interesting vehicle and has been fully rebuilt by Rob making and replacing panels and other parts as required, including the large stainless steel lower body side trim! Noel looked over, looked under, looked under bonnet(hood) and looked inside the Facel Vega all the while pointing out matters requiring attention. Nothing major, just little things which would incur point deductions. In the end Bruce had two pages of notes on the things requiring attention. Noel was also able to provide some handy hints and tips to aid in it's presentation on the day. In Noel's opinion it'll be a contender on the day subject, of course, to the level of the competition present. But, because Noel has advised Bruce he automatically rules himself out of being able to judge it on the day. Then turned to the Four Hundred, which Bruce has owned for about 15 years having bought it too from Victoria. It's a very, very nice driver but Noel advised against it's being entered in the Concours. Instead it'll be shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the Packards in our club display area. That done, then had a pleasant lunch at the Terrigal Hotel before returning home. On the way to Terrigal Noel rode shotgun with Bruce in the Facel Vega while I was privileged to drive Fleurette. The roles were reversed on the return trip to Gosford, that'll likely be the only time I ever have a Facel Vega Experience. I also drove Fleurette back to Sydney and on the day Fleurette performed well with about 200 kms put on the rebuild. But back to Rob's shop, Central Auto Restorations. Besides the Facel Vega and the Four Hundred it contained a number of other vehicles. These included, a '24 Rolls Royce which has just had the body and mudguards(fenders) repainted as well as Rob hand making replacement interior wood trim mouldings, a '64 Ford Fairlane Coupe, a '50's Bentley about to be "Uted"(he just finished another one last week) and a hand built hearse trailer to be towed by a trike!

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