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steward,

tell dod,,to go to a 4-10,,work week,, then you will have a week off!,,,,,

Stewart,


What fun. What memories! Wish I lived in your neck of the woods......I'd be turning wrenches with you. Keep the faith.....all things are possible. I've been there !

I cheap rubber strap wrench will work perfectly and not mar the finish.

I have found my new favorite tool...PB Blaster. I've been stripping the front fenders of all their bling and it just wasn't going my way.

A little here and there and the next day it was like working on an entirely different fender. Got one done will finish the other soon.

I did get the antenna out. As soon as the other fender is stripped I'll have to give it some attention. Its extended and I can't store it that way so I need see if I can it retracted properly.

I did go a car show this weekend in Elizabethtown. They shutdown the whole down area for about 4 or 5 blocks. They had about 1800 cars show up. There was only lone Packard among legions of Chevy and Fords. A few pics below of the 55 Patrician and an Auburn from the show that I liked.

Fantastic weather here for late July so we are taking advantage as much as we can that just doesn't include much Packard time. Come September when the garden is mostly done I'll have a lot more time.

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Got the fenders stripped this week and had time to take a closer look at that antenna yesterday.

Hooked up an old 12V bench tester that I found on Ebay for $16 and nothing happened. Removed the cover and found the nylon piece that raises and lowers it, broken in 3 places. The motor still wouldn't run with the cover off. I'm not sure I really going to worry about it right now. There are far too many aftermarket antennas out there. I'll revisit this later.

The wife and I had to take a road trip today about 2 hours north into Central Indiana. We were getting off the interstate at Franklin and I wasn't about to let the opportunity to stop in at Max Merritt's pass me by. I called him Tuesday to see if he had a fuel tank to fit the 400. He hooked me up with a non-refurbished tank off a 51 model. I don't think he was expecting me to say "I'll pick it up". He had it in the back of his truck when we arrived.

He didn't have any refurbished ones at the time because they are consolidating some warehouses into one location and all the equipment for that job is not set up at the moment. I'm just glad I got to meet Max and have a tank for my car. That was the last major missing piece for my Packard (I think). Wonder how much I saved in shipping?

The last image below is of the pile of free tools that were left in the truck from the previous owner. I meant to show it to you earlier but forgot. Their just a little rusty.

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What is the hole in the corner of the fuel tank?

That's where the over flow tube returns to the tank. Max gave the piece you just can't see it in the pic. It's not broken, just disconnected from the top half of the tube that you see in the image.

If that's a 51-4 drivers door power window switch, probably the most valuable item with that stash of tools. The tools themselves don't appear to have fared well.

Very cool I love my 55 400 its got a ton of attention this last month at a car show. They are fun and worthy project. I can't wait to see more.

HH
I'm not sure what car that switch is from but it doesn't look like any of mine. Also I have to differ on the usefulness of those rusty tools. I used a bottle opener in the pile today to open my Corona. I'm wondering when the last time I had a tetanus shot.