Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Anything that one should be on the look out for when looking at a 1951 Packard 200 4dr sedan?

John

IMO, particularly in your part of the country, rust. Rockers, trunk rear floor and inside floor at the bottom of the angle around where the feet would be are common spots. If you drive it and it has an Ultra then a smooth quiet and since it starts and stays in high range, leisurely acceleration. A barely felt "shift" or small senstation should happen as it goes to direct drive starting at around 20mph or so depending on throttle. The engine shouldn't race excessively trying to get the car to move and at direct drive the engine should slow down appreciably and you might hear the engine sound change. If the DD clutch has dried there may be a small groan or "moo" as it goes in but that is somewhat common and can be alleviated by letting off the gas as it makes the transition.

If it is a standard shift then smoothness and no grinding of gears as you shift. If it has OD then if you engage it, by letting your foot off accelerator momentarily at around 20 should let it go into OD.

Wiring condition can be an issue on those fabric wire type cars. If it has the war chrome, that is another expensive item in that era cars.

John,

you may want to take a look at this car. Just up the street from me, paint and chrome good.

southbend.craigslist.org/cto/5107073524.html

The story with this car is: It has set in a garage for 45 to 50 years, the owner was going to do some work on it but never did. Originally it was in the garage because it had been wreck in the left rear quarter panel. The gas tank is missing now, where that went?? They had removed a section from inside the trunk to have access for straightening the quarter, which has been done for the most part. The removed piece has not been replaced though. The car has 19,000 original miles on it. The old fellow that has it starts it every so often, says it runs.
I do worry about the Ultramatic sitting all these years though. But should think the front end should still be tight yet, though the grease might be dried out now.....
A friend of mine is suppose to go back and take a closer look for me, he was the one that spotted it.

John

Brand new gas tanks with or without sending units are available from Kanter at a reasonable price. Rear fenders were welded on, so you will need to find a donor car for what ever piece that was removed. 51 thru 54 bodies are pretty much the same as long as you stay with the junior (200) series. The 400 bodies were wider and I think a bit longer. The good news is that they are fairly easy to find. You would have had to clean out the gas tank and lines anyway, so you are probably ahead by buying a new one.

I would plan on overhauling the Ultramafic due to sitting for a long time. It would probably be the most expensive part of the overhaul.

Also plan on overhauling the master cylinder, wheel cylinders and hoses. These are easy to find brand new.

This site is a great one for advice and information. Hope you get the car and at a decent price!

I just looked at the one on Craig's list. The upholstery looks very nice and the paint acceptable. Plan on spending $3000-5000 on paint and almost that much on upholstery on the car, not to mention about that much on an engine overhaul, and the price on this one looks really good!

I got my car in a similar state, although it sounds like your potential car had an easier life before being parked and hopefully enclosed storage.

Howard hit the high spots, look for rust under the carpet and floor mat in front along with the places he mentioned. The wiring will likely be rotten, a lot of that and the interior depends on the mice.

The suspension is pretty simple, the areas with petrified grease can be heated up a bit to make the old grease flow and then new grease pushed through a few times. You'll need a new gas tank (the Kanter unit is very good), and after all this time you will want to replace all the fuel and brake lines, and all the brake cylinders and master. It's all available and pretty cheap, just labor.

If the chrome isn't pitted then you might be ok just cleaning it up, try a spot out of the way to test how hard you can polish. If it's Korean War chrome then they omitted some of the plating and you'll polish through to the copper quickly. I think that started in '52 though. The side and window trims are all stainless so no worries there.

The windshield is specific to '51-52 on the sedans, and very hard to find so hope that one is in good shape.

I'd have assumed the windshield was the same thru '54. Something to be learned all the time on here...
On brakes, has anyone replaced the single master with a dual master cylinder and still retained the 4 wheel drum brakes? if so what master cylinder did you use?
What sort of costs does one get into with rebuilding an Ultramatic. I seen one post here where a person had traded his in for a rebuilt unit and paid around 800 dollars.
What about replacement wiring harnesses. I take it they are available?

John

You can replace the wiring a couple ways depending on how authentic you want the car to be. One outfit that has been mentioned here is Rhode Island Wiring Service (http://www.riwire.com), they will have premade harnesses or individual wires, correctly cloth covered and marked, plus various parts needed. There are other companies that do this too, look on Hemmings for ads. If you just want functionality, then you can get generic harnesses which give you a modern fuse block setup but not authentic, I used Kwik Wire (http://kwikwire.com) for instance but there are many others.

Lots of info on the process in the project blogs, good ones for this car would be Larry51, BigKev and I suppose mine that will cover different ways and means involved in bringing the cars back to life.

OK, I have to ask a question - please, no offense intended. Why '51 200 sedan? This is probably the lowest resale, lowest demand postwar model (or prewar for that matter). It does not sound like this one is in remarkable condition.

If this model turns you on, the advice to see the Craig's List car is sound financially.

I understand "I found it and it deserves to live." But be careful