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Friday 23rd November 2012

Yesterday morning met Noel at the workshop and then headed off to Mudgee to pick up his '41 Coupe body. Now it's been over 40 years since I've driven a car towing a car trailer, let alone hooked one up, so I was glad to see Wade arrive at the workshop in time to help with this aspect. And so he should, after all, we are using HIS Ute! Don't know if there's an instructional DvD for this type of thing but irrespective, it wasn't needed, Wade gave an expert hands on, real time, tutorial. That done and with the Ute and trailer now downstairs off the roof carpark Noel and I loaded our gear in and off we went. But not far, actually only to fill up, then we were off in earnest. We'd arranged to meet Tony, Noel's mate who did the bodywork on the Coupe, at McGraths Hill about 40kms west although Tony lives locally. Noel rang Tony as we were leaving and, with our fuel stop, this allowed Tony to arrive at our meeting point before us. From there we followed Tony to Glossodia, another 14kms, to pickup a Hyundai Lantra which Tony is going to work on to return it to the road. Lantra on board then it was off in earnest to Riverlea which was another 193kms. But what happened to Mudgee? Riverlea is near Mudgee, but about 20kms short of it. It's easier to refer to Mudgee which is reasonably well known then Riverlea, which is not!

Arriving at Mudgee Riverlea found Tony's 66 acre property is on a cliff the side of a hill. And he pointed to the top of the hill about 1 km away and said "See those trees up there?" "Yes" I replied. "They're mine!" Seems like Tony is lord of all he surveys. Tony had bought the property about 10 years ago and first built a shed, where they lived at times while he built the house. A remarkable effort but Tony still doesn't live there full time although he takes every chance he can to spend time there. Don't blame him with kangaroos in abundance, brilliant parrots flitting around and he's even seen a platypus, a monotreme, in a nearby river. Very few Australians have seen one of these, let alone in the wild! Anyway, enough of the realtors pitch, on to what we came here for, a Packard body!

But first the Lantra. Stopped at the entrance to the property at the base of the cliff on the dirt track inside the front gate. It was so steep that the Ute, with the trailer and Lantra attached, wouldn't hold on the cliff slope with the handbrake fully on and in park. It just started sliding backwards down the cliff slope until this startled driver applied the brakes very hurriedly! Solved that by driving forward and off to the right so the Ute and trailer were across the face of the cliff slope. Unloaded the Lantra and drove the Ute and empty car trailer up to the shed which is above where the house is built. I believe Tony was first going to site the house where the shed is but sanity prevailed as not all his friends have 4 x 4's. As it is the dirt drive to the house is steep enough in itself!

First hurdle overcome next was a little R & R in seeing the Coupe. Tony has done a magnificent job in repairing floors, body, doors, boot(trunk) lid and although it's not quite as it left the factory you'd have to look hard to find where new meets old. Noel is particularly pleased with the job done. Because of my lack of current trailer maneuvering experience Tony, who often used a car trailer when he owned his panel shop, backed the Ute and trailer up to the shed's door. Then with the aid of a large come-along secured to the trailer and with some metal channels, left over pieces of the metal frame the house is constructed of, the Coupe was slowly winched aboard the trailer. To assist Tony in working on the Coupe's body he'd constructed a framework of square tubing atop some solid wheels and to which the body was bolted. During the winching process the channels were repositioned a number of times, the come-along repositioned once and the cowl variously moved right, left or left, right, or left, left, or right, right, you get the picture as Tony barked out commands to his wiling helpers while he operated the come-along. Also entailed a little muscle power to re-align the framework on a couple of occasions. Needless to say, under Tony's command, this operation was a resounding success. However we were short the necessary tie downs to secure this precious parcel of Packard panels. So the Ute, trailer and Coupe body were left as is while we retired to the house, that Tony built, for some rest and refreshments before going into Mudgee for dinner a little later. Yes, we actually did get to Mudgee and on the way purchased some tie downs at Supercheap Auto.

Next morning Tony, being a very early riser, had tied down the body to the trailer as well as likewise securing the steel framework before Noel or I had risen from the depths of our slumbers. Noel reckons it was because of the clean country air that he slept that well! Packed and ready to go Tony asked us to check the tie downs, one of which was found to have some slack in it! I don't know if this was a test or what, but it's always the drivers responsibility to check his load is properly secured! Tie down re-secured, Noel and I were then off on the trip to the body shop.

But shortly after we had we traversed the 3 kms of dirt road and were on the highway, the Ute beeped at me, we were low on fuel. While Tony had filled up at Lithgow on the trip up I'd foregone doing that believing I'd have enough fuel to at least get us back to Lithgow. Should have listened to the experienced traveller and, as well, I'd seriously underestimated the effect on the Ute's fuel economy of towing the trailer and Lantra then with the Coupe. Although the Coupe was at its aerodynamic best being rear first on the trailer, but any aerodynamic effect might have come slightly undone by the fact the boot(trunk) lid wasn't in place! Made it to Capertee, where we'd stopped for lunch yesterday and about 66 kms from Riverlea, so the warning has a good reserve built in. Although I was sweating all the way and trying not to show it! Didn't fill the tank, instead put 30 litres in with the expectation that would get us to Moorebank about 176 kms distant. Instead, approaching Blaxland, a mere 121 kms from Capertee the Ute again spoke to me, again we were low on fuel. Rather than risk another "splash and dash" we turned fully conservative and filled 'er up!

At the body shop, which we were able to make without the necessity for further refueling, arrived just as Frank the owner was outside the workshop. Is that deja vu all over again or what? Parked the Ute and trailer, with its precious pallette of Packard Parts, in front of the workshop then Frank and Noel went round the body with questions, answers and the like being bandied between the two. Then, while Frank went off to organise space and a forklift to aid in the unloading, I took off all the tie downs and fastenings. On Franks return with the forklift, a hand truck type model, it was obvious it wasn't going to work. Instead the boss, Frank, called forth some of his workforce and the front then the rear of the body were lifted and deposited on terra firma. From there the body was pushed around to a temporary parking space until an indoor space could be freed up for it later in the afternoon. Then came my finest feat of the trip, backing the trailer! For this Noel acted as my trailer eyes, standing behind the trailer and calling out directions. The main problem with backing a trailer is it's counter-intuitive to other aspects of driving. You have to fight your senses to make sure you turn the wheel in the opposite direction to which you want the trailer to go! I think that's the explanation but, if not, please be gentle. Explanations aside managed to accomplish that after only one restart, not bad for not having practiced for over 40 years. Hang on a moment, I'll just reach round and pat myself on the back!

Packard delivered, all that remained was to return the Ute to the workshop. Again this was accomplished without further beeps, or refueling required. There found that Wade, over the last couple of days, had fixed the brakes on the chassis. The leaking fittings weren't the right ones. He'd also been working on Big Red. And he'd just finished painting a 320 block with primer to 1) help preserve it and, 2) keep it clean. This was because Wade is travelling to attend a meeting the owner of the block is also attending. Wade's intention was to return it to its rightful owner. Except......he then found out the block's owner is flying to the meeting and thinks it might just be a little too big and heavy as hand luggage for the return flight!

EDIT - Now early afternoon Saturday in Sydney and I've made quite a few corrections to spelling, grammar, insertion of missing words, etc following from my wife's review of the story. Should have run it past the editor sooner rather than later!

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Tuesday 27th November 2012

Late morning start at the workshop, and when I arrived, found Wade and Michael working on Michael's '54 Convertible. Michael had purchased a front end rebuild kit from Kanters earlier this year and the time was now ripe for it to be fitted. The Convertible was up on the hoist with both front wheels and brake drums off. Wade and Michael were working on the left side suspension with a screw support under the lower A arm, I think that's what it's called, while bolts were undone. As parts were removed I assumed the role of parts cleaner, something I'm intimately familiar with. Wade's experience with Packards has been mainly with pre-WW2 and earlier cars so the suspension on the '54 was somewhat unfamiliar. However Michael had come equipped with a manual which had lots of exploded parts views as well as other documentation. Only removed the left side and started re-assembling components with the parts from the kit today. Also made use of one of the spacers fabricated by Chris to use to set the width of the upper and lower arms when they are torqued to 90-95 ft/lbs, nifty special Packard parts. Assembled the upper arm, using Chris's spacer while the lower A arm was partially re-assembled. It'll be completed tomorrow but I wont be there, instead I'll be painting a ceiling and visiting grandkids, it's a hard life. But will make a workshop pit stop at some stage between finishing the painting and going off to see the grandkids.

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Wednesday 28th November 2012

Pitstop at the workshop revealed the left front suspension rebuild of the '54 to be almost finished. Wade and Michael have installed the upper arm, the spring and the lower A arm, which has the longer of Chris's 2 spacers in place. A new kingpin has been installed and they were in the process of reattaching the 'upright', my term, when I left them to it. Also still to be reinstalled is the shock absorber.

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Mal, the last photo reminds me of a comment from a woman customer (many, many years ago). We had doing some work in the top and bottom of another customer's engine. To do this we had the front of the car jacked up to work underneath and a stool next to one of the front tires on which to stand to work on the top of the engine. After watching us work on the top, she said: "Why do you guys jack up a car then use a stool to work on the engine?" So, retorically (sp.?) speaking: Why did Wade raise the car on the lift so high that he had to stand on crates to work on the car?

(o[]o)

Quote:John,

It's conjecture on my part, because I wasn't there when they did most of the work yesterday, but I think it's because of installing the lower A arm and spring. The height required to do that would have to be at an acceptable level. It entails using a long screw support to support the end of the A arm when the spring goes back in and before the upper pin is buttoned down. The reverse procedure was used when the spring was removed on Tuesday, when I was there, so I'm trying to imagine what was required yesterday. So yesterday, once the support was in place, it stayed there until the upper pin was installed and then the support was taken out. I saw that part! In the meantime plastic milk crates, a great workshop resource, were pressed into service for access to the upper pin at an acceptable height. In some of both days pics you can see the screw support.

Mal, this is what I believed to be the case. My question was a bit tongue in cheek. It still makes a great photo. Maybe we could start a caption contest for it? Inject a bit o' humor into the situation. We can all use a laugh from time to time. We could have the respondents agree to donate $5 to Big Kev for each caption. The winner gets something from Wade's Workshop. You be the judge.

Here is my caption contribution: "Wade, won't this lift go any higher?"

Go for it guys, it is a worthy cause.

(o[]o)

Friday 30th November 2012

Quick pitstop only at the workshop where I found the left front suspension had been completed and Wade in the midst of disassembling the right front suspension. Wade was fighting with the upper shock absorber nut which was turning freely. However it succumbed, following a tip from John, using vise grips applied to the piston shaft and a rattle gun on the nut!

And an aside, and there are plenty in this Blog! Yesterday when passing RichardW's house at Eastwood I saw a '23 23/60 Vauxhall on a car trailer in his driveway and thought I'd get a pic of it on my return trip. Lucky I was back about 15 minutes later because any longer and I'd have missed the photo op completely. As I arrived Max Stephenson, the Vauxhalls owner, was preparing to leave and I learnt it was to deliver the car for shipment to South America to participate in the The Great South American Challenge 2013 - February 14 to March 24. Max and son James have competed in and completed many long distance rallies around the world, including the Peking to Paris and the London to Capetown World Cup Rally, in the Vauxhall which is called "Penny". To learn more about the South American Rally go to the H&H Classic Rallies Website and follow the links.

Quote:John,

Sounds good, however I'm not sure what we could offer from the workshop as a prize! Old, dirty, rusty and, might I say, highly valuable Packard parts are probably not going to be easily prised out of Wades grasp. Hmmmm, wonder what else might be suitable? In the meantime, while I contemplate what might be a suitable prize, lets get those entries rolling in! Remember the judges decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into and entries close at midnight on Christmas Eve.

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What, no one wants to play? Let's help Big Kev and have some fun at the same time.

(o{}o)

Monday 3rd December 2012

Only a couple of hours at the workshop this morning with the afternoon to be taken up visiting grandkids. At the workshop Wade and Michael, accompanied by his son Ben who was an interested observer, removed the right front suspension components. Once removed my role was to then clean the 3 main components ready for further disassembly and rebuild. Once cleaned up the upright was separated from the stub axle after the pin securing the king pin was driven out. Then followed more cleaning of the further broken down components before the stub axle went to the press and the roller bearings pushed out. Some final cleaning and new roller bearings were pressed in, the king pin installed and a new securing pin pressed in. At this point Michael departed with Ben as Ben had an engagement to fill as an MC mid afternoon. Not long after I too bade my farewell just after the grease caps, covering the top and bottom of the stub axle had been fitted.

A little later my wife Kath and I visited our newest granddaughter and travelled by means of the Coupe. Reason being being we needed a photo of us to submit for inclusion in the Rally Book for next years Packard National Rally. Mission accomplished, with a good time with our young granddaughter and a number of pic's of us with the Coupe. The plan then was to go home, effecting a pitstop before heading off to see our other grandchildren. Again we were going to go in the Coupe. But........close to home, I again managed to effectively jam the Coupe in low and second at the same time! Some people just never learn, do they? I did say close to home didn't I? Well it was real close, about 80 feet to be more precise. So close and yet so far. Now the road we live on is a busy road, especially at peak periods the afternoon one of which was fast approaching. Asked Kath to take those final few steps home by herself while I tackled the recalcitrant linkages. But a small sledge hammer, which had usually proved effective to free up previous hang ups, was ineffective. So rang Wade, the workshop is only 10/15 minutes away to seek advice. Wade suggested a large screwdriver but that too failed to gain the desired result. Shedding any inhibitions then asked Wade if he could come and rescue me before the peak set in in earnest. He agreed and, while on his way, I persevered in trying to free up the linkages. Used the small trolley jack and a jackstand under the left side, the car is still LHD, and raised the Coupe sufficiently so that with my girth I could slide under. The beauty of the Coupe still being LHD in that situation was that the left side is in the gutter in a RHD country so I didn't have to worry about being run over just if someone was inattentive and rear ended the Coupe. But even trying to manipulate the linkages from undercar didn't help. So went back to the hammer and, lo and behold, was able to get the linkages back in alignment. Don't know if it was jacking the car up, the undercar linkage manipulation or a combination but whatever it was it worked. Then couldn't get on the phone fast enough to let Wade know his services were no longer required! As I was phoning Wade a guy pulled up and stopped in front of the Coupe and came over. Looked familiar but I couldn't quite place him. Turned out to be RossM who I'd met back on the 29th October when he came into the workshop and I'd posted this that day "...Ross is an Aussie who has spent the last 25 years in the US but is home now. Ross is organising for his '35 Super Eight 3 Window Coupe to be shipped to Australia. The Coupe has been undergoing restoration for the last 7 years, after all it was in 5,000 pieces when obtained, but is close to completion now which will be done in Australia. There are also some engine issues which still need to be addressed and Wade is going to attend to those..." And the amazing thing was that Ross said he'd just been visiting Wade at the workshop, it is small world at times. Anyway, even though the linkages were now working, I decided to park the Coupe and finished the remainder of the grandkids tour in the daily driver.

Quote: Doesn't look that way John, but............I've included an untitled pic taken at PACA's Christmas lunch yesterday. Some say there's a close resemblance between this correspondent and the person in the photo but I can't see it. All I'm going to say it was a FUN day and my wife was quite comfortable with it all. Say no more, nudge nudge, wink, wink! So here's your opportunity to exercise your minds and at the same time benefit PackardInfo with imaginative captions for the photo!

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Alright Mal, maybe we can gin up some interest with your photo. Here is my caption contribution:

Known only by a very few at the North Pole, Santa has a sister. Here she is making a surprise appearance at a Packard club luncheon. There are rumors the elves put her up to this trick.

(o{}o)