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To Poppy (an excellent grandfather name) from G.P.Joe (like G.I. Joe),

Thanks for the pix and showing us the 3rd leg of the milking stool.
1. Restoring 2.Showing 3. Driving Family and Friends

A fun outing, Mal. Thanks for taking us along,

G.P. Joe (don't call me gramps)

Good Morning from Arizona, Mal. Great to see you out with your Packard and Grand Children. My Grand Daughter, Tara and I go out in our 49 'Miss Prudence' quite a bit together.

I think that the 48-50 Packards are great cars and they go along just fine...They may look like chubby chicks, but they drive delightfully and always draw a crowd here in the wilds of Arizona.

People always want to know who made them and when we point to the name on the car, those younger than 65 or so just scratch their heads...

We just changed the plain hood ornament that she came with to a Cormorant ornament and what a difference when driving. One almost needs to look through the damn thing to see where one is going.

One thing about the 48-50 machines...they are happy to run and the more we run them, the better they run.

Thanks for the 'Car Show', those are some interesting machines. I hope that they get to go out and play on a regular basis. I enjoy seeing cars in museums but always love to see them on the road.

Enjoy your Packard day. Ernie

Sunday 8th July, 2018

Not quite the 4th of July, but close enough for American Independents Day. Yesterday, in preparatiion had topped up the front shocks, 15ml in left and 10ml in right. Also checked other fluids and all well. Then this morning RobertS, from Goulburn about 80kms south, travelled the 93kms to Guildford with me. Overall numbers were down on previous years but Packards had a good representation with 6 in attendance, see photos. Good representation too from the ACD Club but limited to 'only' 5 Auburns.

Great story about the 1914 Overland. Restored about 1990 and sold shortly thereafter to an Antiques Dealer. Dealer parked the Overland in his garage and, 32 years later after his death, the dealers wife rings the restorer for him to come and take the car away. It hadn't moved in all that but fortunately had been put up on stands and the tyres held air!

Packard ran well, temp fine but it's the middle of winter here so not a good test. Only minor hiccup is a tendancy to stall coming to a stop after a long, or longer run. Not a drama, as it starts up again right away.

NOTE - Click on any pic for a larger(and better) image.

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Friday 13th July, 2018

Visit today from GaryZ, a member of our Packard club, who's the owner of '49 Eight Sedan. Only trouble is Gary purchased the Packard disassembled meaning he's got a giant jig-saw puzzle in putting it back together.

Original plan was that Gary would be picking up some parts on his visit but the guy with the parts just got out of hospital and, because of that, was unable to get the parts together that Gary was after. Not to worry though as Gary inspected, photographed and took notes of my car for such things as the location and routing of fuel and brake lines, none came with his car, and a few other items.

Also was able to give Gary a decent stint behind the wheel, his very first drive of a Packard.

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Sunday 12th August, 2018

Went for a good run today, about 70 miles each way. Destination was Sydney Motorsports Park where our States "Old Car" umbrella organisation the Council of Motor Clubs holds an annual display day. This year about 1,900 vehicles in attendance including 10 Packards.

NOTE - Click on the images for bigger, clearer images.

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Wow, Mal...1900 cars is one hell of a show. Thanks for all the photographs...Ernie in Arizona

Ernie,

Thanks, that's only a small sample of the cars on display, and only covers 2 of the 5 display areas. Fairly diverse selection of vehicles, with lots of British and many European makes to be found along with Aussie and US brands. Took 200+ photos yesterday and I've forwarded a link to the album they are in to your email address.

Saturday 18th August, 2018

Yesterday posted in the Post-War Forum in a post titled Interchanging Front Shocks?

Today I made the 300km trip to view the '48 Limo Chassis and engine mentioned in the above post.

Confirmed the engine number is a '48 327, see photo. But forgot to take a tape measure to check the wheelbase, which is definitely longer than my '50 Eight. In the absence of a tape the wheelbase measured at 4 good strides, I'll check that against the '50 tomorrow.

Upshot of the trip is that, I'm now the proud owner of 1/2 1/3 1/4 of a '48 Packard Limo. And yes I've add IT to the Registry! After inspection I asked the lady selling it would I able to to make an "insulting" offer. She said I could, and I did, only to be promptly referred to her Dad who actually owns the chassis. So then had to go through the whole "insulting" thing again. Fortunately Dad didn't seem to be too insulted because my offer was accepted!

Now I know there are major differences between a '48 Limo and a '50 Sedan but I'm interested in some of the components, mainly the front shocks and the engine. All components on the chassis were rebuilt 25 years ago but have sat since then so I'm taking a gamble that I can salvage these parts.

Now comes the hard part, getting it from Point A to Point B. Not having a vehicle capable of towing a trailer or a car trailer either, shouldn't be a major problem should it? As the song goes That what friends are for, right? We'll see, whatever the result I'm willing to take the risk.

One matter to enable transportation of the chassis is that it needs to be rolling to get it on and off what, at this time, is a mythical trailer. As you'll see in the photos of the Limo it is missing the right front wheel and tyre, while all the other tyres are flat to some degree. Turning to Hollanders, from what I can surmise, the wheels off my '50 should fit the '48 Chassis, see pic's. The bolt pattern is the same 5 x 5" while the bigger car has a wider wheel 6" versus 5&1/2" for the smaller car. If I've misconstrued this please set me straight so I can start hunting for wheels that will fit.

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Had another look at my Hollanders because I have the four 15" inch wheels and tyres that came on my '41 120 Coupe. But, I'm confused, Hollanders shows 16" wheels, while the Model Info Page here definitley shows 15". Thinking I might be able to use the Coupe wheels?

Thank You Mal...I appreciate it...Ernie in Arizona