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Dave,

You ain't seen nothing till you see Big Bad Barry's '35!

Gerd,

Soviet military types easily qualify.

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Monday 2nd May 2011

Yesterday, at home, I'd polished the badges to be mounted and attempted to polish the badge bar itself but only with limited success on the latter. At the workshop today re-finished the front of the bar on the belt sander and wire wheel, then re-polished it. Using contact adhesive, glued a narrow strip of thin rubber to the rear of the bar where it bears against the bumper grill guard bar. Trial fit of the badge bar to the bumper grill guard bar was good and with it in place measured for rubber spacers to fit between the badge bar and the retaining clamps. Cut the spacers from a length of fuel injection hose I'd bought a couple of years ago to replace a leaking hose on my son's BMW. Repco would only sell the hose in minimum 1 metre lengths so I ended up keeping more than I used, but it came in handy this time round. With everything ready, bolted the badge bar to the bumper grill guard bar. Then the badges were mounted to the badge bar with a minor adjustment made to the PACA badge in the middle, contact cementing a small piece of thin rubber to its back to avoid a squeak. All done, helped Rick push a Mazda van out of the way then drove the Coupe home. The whole exercise took something like 8 hours to complete, spread over 3 days, although the more proficient and confident would have accomplished it in a couple of hours. But I am happy to have achieved what I achieved, being an accomplishment for me.

Tomorrow I'm taking the Coupe for a run about 100 miles north. Should be a good hit out for the freshly re-gasketed manifolds. Going to see a guy, AllanC, who has a '40 Convertible Coupe and who is interested in joining PACA. On the way I'm picking up PeterL who sighted the car about a month ago at the Hunter Valley Steamfest which also has a large car display as part of the festivities. Apparently Peter went looking for the owner of the '40 Convertible Coupe while Allan went looking for the owner of the green '38 Sedan, Peter! Because Peter and Allan's paths didn't cross that day I took up the running as club secretary and 5 phone calls later, over the course of a couple of days, Allan made contact with me. From there I've arranged to meet him tomorrow and it's only fitting that Peter accompany me.

And yesterday, Gina emailed me a couple of pic's taken with her iPhone of most of the Packards lined up at the start of the Tasmanian Rally.

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Well done Mal, an excellent job on the badge bar.

Also I hope that Gina continues to keep us up to date on their travels in 'The Apple Isle'. Perhaps we could consider a Packard contingent for the Targa Tasmania one day?

Tuesday 3rd May 2011

After picking up PeterL at Morrisset, on the way north in the Coupe, and about 10 minutes away from our destination I called AllanC and was given detailed directions on how to find and approach the property because of the dangerous corner the entrance is located on. Made it there safely, to be greeted by Allan, Anne and friend MalcolmB at the front gate, but only because we were in the Coupe. If we'd been in a modern car, we would have arrived without the accompanying welcoming throng! Then, after a refreshing cup of tea and Arnott's Milk Arrowroot biscuits, a longtime Aussie favourite, we viewed the collection. But, enough of the chit-chat, I'll let the pic's speak for themselves.

See this link for the Picasa album of today's pic's, most of which are captioned. There are some interesting snippets, one of which will no doubt set Packard tongues a wagging!

Quote:Matt,

Another pic below. It came with this comment
"Pepe says "tough life south of the border" may have to return to mainland sometime in next month" Pepe is FredD better known on PackardInfo as PepePackard. That's him on the right of the pic.

Quote:I would expect a certain Packard Biposto will be leading the charge at the Targa?

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Monday 9th May 2011

Not much happening. Did take Harvey's brake drum puller to the workshop this morning. Big Bad Barry had borrowed it to change over a spare pumpkin into his '35 Sedan, and had returned it to me at the PACA committee meeting last Thursday evening. First thing I noticed at the workshop is that John and Rick each had an additional hoist installed over the weekend. Shouldn't be so difficult now to schedule Packard time on a hoist!

Also had a PM, over on the PAC Site, from a US Packard guy who's going to be in Sydney shortly for a 10 day stay. In the midst of trying to tee up some Packard and other car related activities during his stay so he doesn't go into withdrawal.

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Wednesday 11th May 2011

Latest pic from Gina of the Tasmanian Packard Rally. Gina's words used as the pic caption!

And Brian, the US '49 Packard owner, missed his flight and now arrives tomorrow. I'd tee'd up a run for him and his wife on Sunday to a couple of old car events, weather is looking good, but they have other commitments. I'll now catch up with Brian next week for some Packard related activities.

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Thursday 12th May 2011

Received another pic from Gina with this message - "....the blokes talking cars at Ford Motor Museum in Wynyard - now heading for Devonport to board ship...."

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Saturday 14th May 2011

A pic in the previous post is titled "Meanwhile, back in Australia, 2 little girls were playing in Poppy's Packard." Although they were having fun my wife Kath, who was in the Coupe with them at the time, became concerned. The bracket mounted on the bottom edge of the dash below the radio for the heater controls became dislodged "and there are wires sticking out". Girls will be girls so it seems, with no respect at all for Poppy's Packard, must have inadvertently kicked or leant on it.

Today, after examining the mayhem more closely, saw that the bracket is screwed to a metal strip which in turn is pop riveted to the bottom of the dash. Obviously not a Packard part but I'm happy to leave it there because it serves it's purpose. In order to remove the pop rivets unscrewed the heater control bracket, took the metal strip down to the workshop and drilled out the pop rivets. Also scored some replacement pop rivets from Rick for the remounting.

Remounting was fun, I got to act like Wade, upside down under a Packard dash! First had to drill out the holes in the bottom of the dash because they were fractionally too small for the new pop rivets. Pop riveted the metal strip onto the bottom of the dash, then the fun started. Todays experience only reinforces my admiration for the way Wade literally dives under dashes and works upside down in such a confined area. Of course being all thumbs didn't help my cause but, like Wade, I persevered and finally was able to screw the heater control bracket back in place.

The State and National umbrella clubs for the old car movement here in Australia promotes one day a year as National Motoring Heritage Day, which this year is tomorrow. All clubs are encouraged to be out and about to showcase their cars to the public on this day. Additionally there are a number of venues for club runs to commence from, or to be destination to. So, after picking up Noel in the Coupe we're heading south to Berry, one of a number of the venues in and around Sydney. Time permitting, on the return journey, we'll call in to the Australian Motorlife Museum which is another of the venues. Couple of other Packards may join us on the day, I hope so.

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Sunday 15th May 2011

After returning home, from the Packard jaunt south with Noel today, found that Gina had send another pic. This time from Howlong. Besides the frost, looks like Wade has a big job on his hands cleaning up Big Red after being on the road for the best part of a month.

But more about todays jaunt in the Shows and Events Forum when I get the pic's captioned. I'll create a thread and post a link to my Picasa album there.

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Tuesday 17th May 2011

He's baaaaack! Had a call from Wade last night to advise he'd be at the workshop today. Arriving there with Big Red covered in road grime, after being away for over 3 weeks, a good wash was certainly in order. Before doing that, first it was around to Tyre and Wheel Co for a replacement tube for Big Red. Half an hour after starting out on the trip Big Red had a right rear flat and Wade changed to the spare. When I say Wade changed to the spare, he eventually did, but required some assistance in doing so. The flat happened on a 110kmh section of motorway, and fortunately Wade was able to pull into a breakdown bay. So far, so good. But the jack Wade had taken, just wasn't up to the job. So onto the emergency bay phone and about half an hour later a motorway breakdown truck arrived. They also didn't have a decent jack but by using both jacks Big Red could be elevated enough to effect the change. Turns out the tyre had started to separate internally and with the flexing of the case the loose flap of rubber abraded the tube causing the flat. What Wade wanted to accomplish today was to use an old tyre and a new tube just to carry as a spare for a few days. Left the flat tyre and rim and old used tyre with Tyre and Wheel, going back later to pick up a rolling spare. Then on Thursday David, from Antique Tyre Supplies, is delivering 2 new WWW's, one as a warranty replacement for the one with the split case, the other to replace the old spare. What will happen then is that the 2 new tyres will be mounted, balanced and go on the front, the 2 best remaining tyres will go on the rear and the remaining tyre will then be used as the spare. I imagine there'll also be a bigger, better jack thrown into the boot as well!

Back at the workshop it was Big Red cleaning time. Armed with bucket, sponge, cloth and hose we cleaned off the accumulation of dirt, grime and insects. Then followed a session of chamoising resulting in a much shiner Big Red than earlier in the day. But, before starting washing, Wade warned me about another problem that had developed on the trip, the front of the roof insert had developed a leak. Previously the rear of the insert had leaked but this had been sealed before departure. The trip travel and body flexing combined with the 70+ years top resulting in another "minor" matter to fix. It'll be resealed in the next few days in the same manner as the rear was so it's ready for the Rally next month to Stawell 600+ miles south west from Sydney. Wade's really running up the miles, clocking up 2,480 miles for the recently completed Packard Tour of Tasmania 2011 at 14.9 mpg(Imperial gallons) soon to be followed by well over 1,200 miles more. You could never accuse Wade of leaving his Packard in the garage.

Then into Big Red again, this time with John joining us. A local automotive business, Ryde Steering, is closing down and selling off their equipment. Including the hoists, one of which is a four post hoist with a 4,000kg lift capacity, sufficient for Packard work. And if the price is right, Wade could soon be the proud owner of a hoist in Packard corner. Then there won't be any concerns about time on Rick or John's hoists even though they have just doubled in number! Finally back to Wheel and Tyre Co but, because they didn't have the right tube, there wasn't a spare to pick up. Instead brought the offending tyre with the loose flap of rubber back to the workshop for warranty changeover in a couple of days.

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