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Well here it is, the car to replace my 1951 Packard 200 as seen in this "Restoration Blog". I am a little older and a little wiser since that blog was started. I purchased this '52 on ebay. It has a 327 with 3 speed manual and overdrive.

THE GOOD: The exterior is a 20 footer. There are a few rust bubbles on the passenger rocker and above the passenger fender skirt. All doors, trunk and hood have a nice fit for not having seals. No dents or bondo! Brakes are solid and it runs and drives! Has cool extras like the after market sun visor and visors on the headlights. Trunk floor is solid as well as most of the floors.

THE BAD: The floor has two rust holes which should be an easy repair. The motor has a loud "tick". The previous owner said it probably needs a valve adjustment, but it should have hydraulic valves which would not be adjustable. Missing some parts and the two front windows are cracked.


THE UGLY: The chrome (stainless) is great on the sides, but for some reason the bumpers and taillights are painted silver. Wonder what it looks like under that paint! Interior was partially redone with pieces lost over the years. It has been half ass converted to 12 volt. It relies on a 12v fuel pump to run. All bulbs are burnt out and the overdrive has not been tested. It has a "modern" gas tank that does not fit well. The gas filler door does not even close all the way!

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5-6-14

One of the "sins" committed on this car is the half ass conversion to 12v. The car starts quick and idles well. If you give it gas, it wants to die unless you pump the gas pedal a little.

Today, I wanted to remove it's dependence on the 12v battery. It has a Carter electric fuel pump rated at 5.75psi which is appropriate for this engine. I bought a new 6v commercial battery from Napa to power the car. Installed it and tried to crank it over, but the car would not start. It must run the 12v fuel pump too slow.

I removed the mechanical fuel pump with was bypassed.

I removed my rebuilt mechanical fuel pump from the '51. The arms look a little different, but I installed it anyway. Fuel filter filled with fuel so I know the '51 pump is working.

The ignition wires were chewed to death by rodents. I'm amazed that the car even ran! The spark plug wires barely stayed on the spark plugs. I removed all of those and replaced them with ones from the '51. Still no start.

Replaced the 6v coil with the one from the '51. Still no start. Even put some gas down the throat of the carb and nothing.

Gave up for the day. I have only had the car less than 48 hours and I made a running car no longer driveable! LOL! Next time I work on the car, I will have to check for spark.

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A vast improvement in the body department but now you have the thrills of getting up close and personal with the joys of war chrome. The silver paint was an effort to hide that stuff and I can almost bet you don't really want to know what is under the paint. Dec 1, 51 Service Counselor Vol 25 #14 tells you where it was used.

It will be a wire by wire search to see what might have been done on the partial conversion. Coil is fed directly from ign switch but make sure someone didn't actually do part of it right and add a resistor in the wire feeding the coil.

Ahhh...I have heard of that issue. I thought it came in '53 though. Oh well. I can use the bumpers off the '51 if I want, paint it with "Chrome" paint instead, or just get them rechromed properly. Of course that is all down the road.

Ok, all I ever have worked with are the Packard V8, (ok and a 65 Chrysler), BUT, I have heard this over and over again. Even at the Pate swap meet, I sold a 6volt starter to a rebuilder.

How are your battery cables? Are you using welding cables?

I feel your pain. I pulled my '51 200 out of the garage before the Christmas holidays in hopes of seeing if I could get it running. Still no success, but I haven't given too much effort either. My starter, fuel pump, carburetor and fuel lines all removed. Had starter tested, good! Cleaned up carb, fuel pump and starter and installed. Same as yours, my wiring is bare in many places. I installed a new 8 volt battery and starter turned over. Found no spark at points. Replaced points and condenser. Now starter won't turn engine over. Solenoid operates, but flywheel doesn't move. I have removed spark plugs and can ratchet the engine by hand, but still no Bueno. I'm thinking about converting to 12 volts with negative ground mainly so I can install a/c down the road. I'll keep trying to get it started before I change anything. Enjoy following your progress. Good luck.

Congrats ob The new car! Smart move.

Change the condensor.

Thanks guys! I love his car and can't wait to drive it on the street! I got an email from the gentleman I bought the car from. He thought the 6v was too weak to overcome the wires and skinny battery cables. When I installed the 6v battery, I also installed the battery cables from the '51. I think they are 2 gauge and started the '51 fine. Not working on this car. He told me to try the 12v and sure enough it fired right up! So I know my fuel pump rebuild was a success and now I will try to find even thicker battery cables and see if it starts on 6v then.

Btw the Napa battery I bought is a 7244 commercial 6v. It is rated at 640cca. This is more powerful than the one I had in my 51.

Measure the voltage at the coil coming from ign sw while the car is cranking. If it drops significantly below 5.5 and gets close to 5v the spark will be weak and car will most likely be very hard to start. If it does drop cause could be too small of cables, battery capacity, dragging starter or bad/corroded connections.