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Owen,
To answer your question, the car was an 1101 club sedan.
This car was a right hand drive car ex the factory. Hence all the extra cross shafts that are used to get the brake and clutch to the other side. This is the second attempt to restore the car. The first attempt was aborted after the body was completely destroyed in the bush fires around Sydney a few years ago. I managed to find a complete wreck in Califonia that hapened to be the same body. So now we are getting close again. As to paint colours etc, there seems to be a lot of differences between what was available in the USA and what we got over here. I have put things together with the same paint schemes as were on the original car. I know, however, that there seems to be some differences to what you guys have. When I find out how to drive this site I will post some pictures of the car before restoration, during restoration and after the fire.

Wade, you're doing an absolutely wonderful job on that 34 Eight and I know we'd all enjoy the pictures, especially me as I've been following 34 Eights for as long as I've owned mine (45 years) and have partial data records on some 150 of them. I'd especially appreciate the thief-proof number of the replacement body, and the original body as well if it's known. And the vehicle number from the patent plate if you're willing to share it (send via PM if you want to keep it private).

Do you know if the car was originally imported/delivered by Kellow-Falkiner Ltd.? They were Packard's agent in Melbourne at the time and I have some data on about 20 1934 Eights that were delivered in Australia by them, all factory RHD cars.

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Dave,

I posted the above body plate details for Wade's '34 in your old Thief-Proof number thread some time ago, so you should already have this.

Thanks, don't want to be a bother. I have all the data you posted some time ago on a variety of pre-war cars. The only thing I don't have is the thief-proof for the 716-143.

Wednesday 25th March 2009
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Dave, soon as I know it I'll post the info here. And below is a pic of the '34 as it was many years ago long before Wade became it's owner.

And at the workshop today Wade told me, because I only was there in the afternoon, that the '34 was fired up a number of times this morning. Including for his wife Gina, and she probably expected it would never happen it's been so long in the making. And for Packard Clib member Jeff, who's our Rally Director for the 2009 National Rally next month. And here I'll put Jeff on the spot because a week and a half ago he promised he'd include his '52 in the Owner Registry by the start of the Rally. So Jeff, the clock's ticking!

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Mal & Wade,

I really appreciate the pictures of the rotted intake throat and your inventive fix. While I am not thrilled to learn of yet more chronic problematic areas of the tried and true 320, I am glad to know what to watch out for, and how to affect a fix. I had no idea the intakes had problems also. Surprisingly, I am rapidly approaching a year of trouble free service from my 320.

I look forward to following the progress on the 34 (since Mal's 41 has been done, I feel my day is incomplete) as it progresses.

Jim

I had no idea the intakes had problems also. Surprisingly, I am rapidly approaching a year of trouble free service from my 320.

The intake manifold fix was very clever indeed, but you don't have to be concerned that what had happened to it is a chronic problem, I've been intimately involved in the 320 engine for 4 decades and it's the first such instance I'm aware of - some unusual combination of circumstances must have caused it.

And may your next 44 years of driving experiences with your 320 engine be as uneventful as mine have been.

And may your next 44 years of driving experiences with your 320 engine be as uneventful as mine have been.

I am all for that Dave!

Dave,

Last night Wade diligently sifted through his records of both '34's and here's what he found.

His original '34
Thief-Proof # 185078
Engine # 378261
Chassis # 378207
Body 716-446

USA Replacement
Thief-Proof # 180711
Engine # 375842
Chassis # 375787
Body 716-143

Additionally Wade provided a list of all owners of the '34.

- Mr W Guest
- A Queensland Farmer.
- Max Hood, a former President of the Packard Club here, who restored it.
- Next owner was Tony Packard, a Holden(GM) dealer whose slogans were "Just up the Windsor Road from Baulkham Hills" and "Let me do it right for YOU".http://video.aol.com/video-detail/tony-packard-holden-car-dealership-1980s/833944928
- Harvey Claypole, a Packard Club member was the next, he ended up disassembling the '34 for purposes of re-restoring it.
- That's where Wade came in, buying the '34 in pieces and in boxes and has been slowly putting it all back together over a number of years.

Wade's now waiting for the body to be painted and as of Friday last week it was due to go to the paintshop, which is about 1/2 a kilometre down the road from the panel shop where it was. Then once the body is reunited with the chassis much more work is required to get it back on the road. And make no mistake, although the '34 will be to show standard, it will be extensively driven.

Wade started the '34 up again today to demonstrate the vacuum assist for the brakes because he'd connected it up late yesterday. Very interesting to see it in action even without the '34 moving. Wade also said that it's actually attached to a control on the dash which allows you to adjust the strength of assistance required. And another thing I noticed, is that the handbrake operates on all four wheels. No handbrake turns here thankyou!

And a couple of pic's, please excuse the quality as I photographed them direct from an old photocopy.

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Many thanks for your diligence and the data (which wasn't in my prior data) and for the bit of history on the car. You're right and I've noted it before in other threads, that Bendix 14" mechanical brake system with the variable power boost is quite a system, I wish my 56 Packard had brakes that good!

Of course in hindsight it should be obvious that in cars with mechanical brakes, the typical parking brake works of all 4 wheels. But I can remember as a kid when I learned it the hard way. I was out for a drive and came into the garage, set the parking brake, and decided to remove the front wheel. Jacked it up, tried to turn it and couldn't and was scratching my head wondering how the wheel had "siezed up" so suddenly as just moments ago I was driving it.