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Lookin good! Congrats on a successful maiden voyage! I have a noisy lifter too so thanks for the ATF tip. I think I'll try it.

Thanks Charlie, it was funny because while I was driving toward my house a guy flagged me down blinking his lights, so I pulled into a parking lot thinking we were leaking something. Nope, he just wanted to ask what kind of car it was. He liked the engine, thought the old car was pretty cool. I hadn't expected any fans, since the cosmetics are pretty bad, but as we all know you don't see a Packard driving around just every day.

We're having an outdoor movie night at work Friday night, we show the movies on one of the big hangar doors, have BBQ catered, and invite old cars and airplanes to display. So I can do both of those, the 1952 Packard and my 1956 Cessna. And I don't have far to go, just around the corner of the ramp. So, I thought I better get going on cleaning up the car for its glamour turn. Started buffing the trunk area and top tonight, you can see the difference after the first pass on the roof.

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Well the Ghost made it's public debut tonight, we were easily the most authentic barn-find looking car there :). Even with my hand-waxed cleanup (Santa- a power buffer would be nice) it's now upgraded to a Shiny ugly weathered car. But I think the clear plastic sheeting over the seats totally completes the look.

Whatever, I got several questions and good comments on the car. Not many Packards out there but folks were pretty positive about the "cool factor" of having one, so we got good vibes. I'll be making another pass with the wax (Garry's Royal Satin, a pretty abrasive cleaner wax that we use on our airplanes to get the chemical stains off the wings) and do some real scrubbing this pass to work out some more of the rust and weathering stains. Even so it isn't going to look a great deal different, just to please my discerning eye. At least the stainless trim all cleaned up nicely. Now I need to clean up and straighten the hubcaps.

Hi HA52

I've been following your persistent progress, congratulations on your successful maiden voyages and debut! If your cruise nights there are like those around here in western New York, if one Packard shows up its guaranteed to be unique among the cars in attendance.

So, the old-time ATF fluid with the oil quieted the noisy lifters: those old mechanics had lots of good tricks like that.

Grey Ghost looks great simply buffed out, looks much like used '50's cars I remember in daily use as a kid. For seat covers, if you can locate a set of NOS Western Auto Stores plaid saran sets in the red/blue/yellow combination with red bolsters would be ideal, look just exactly period.

Good luck and enjoy that rig!

Steve

Thanks Steve! Funny you should mention those seat covers, when I got the car it had the remains of some red plaid plastic covers on both the front and rear seats, but not salvageable at all.

I was one of 2 Packards at a show today at a neighborhood church event, there was also a '50 with a Chevy engine. But I did chat with two other guys that have Packards, the guy in my neighborhood with the '49 (not driving right now due to a fuel pump issue) and another with a '40 convertible who instead brought a Cadillac today.

I sucked in the crowds with the hood open today, that big straight 8 gets a lot of comments and conversations started.

I got tired of my foot sticking to the butyl sound deadening sheets on the floor of the car, so it was time for some carpet. In keeping with the "get it together sorta half decently to drive for now and we'll be doing all this right later" theme, I picked up some indoor/outdoor carpet for about $35. I didn't use any padding for now, but it came out looking fairly nice and it sure neatens up the car interior.

I also got handy with a brush and added some touches of red paint here and there for accents.

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The work this summer was to get the car driving so we could get it to a cruise night, tonight was the last one of these big shows for the summer and here we were. Over 500 cars there tonight and a lot of foot traffic, we had a sponsor spot at show center along the main drag - my wife's cousin owns one of the sponsoring businesses. So it was fun, got lots of questions and comments. I only saw one of the local Packards in the show tonight, the green 200. Started some conversations about body work, paint, interior and the windshield install so got some good leads and info.

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I found that I really missed having some side mirrors, people were sneaking up beside me in traffic since I can't turn my head very well (long ago car wreck). So I looked at other cars that had added mirrors of the same general vintage, and pictures, and then found some in the online Summit site that looked fairly period correct. Got the better quality chrome finish (important to complement the spotless appearance of the rest of the car of course), convex for the pax side (objects in mirror are closer than they appear) and then stuck them on the car with duct tape in various spots until I was satisfied with the placement.

Once I got them mounted, off I went into city traffic for a spin to test them. While they obvously don't give the view of the big mirrors on my pickup, I can at least keep tabs on my sides again now. So they get a thumbs up, $100 well spent in my opinion.

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Took a road trip down to SW Minnesota to visit Smith and his collection of Packards and parts. Picked up some shinier parts with better chrome to brighten up the front of the Ghost, plus we picked through the cars by the shelterbelt and I scored some nice window and door handles, headlight trim rings, and a couple hubcaps. Other than my hubcaps, all my parts are in good shape physically - just everything needs rechroming. Not in the budget right now, so these parts are a good step for now. Not perfect but so much nicer.

Managed to not spend too much (Scott made fun of me when I pulled into the yard ("you forgot your trailer!") which was a minor victory of restraint - he has so much stuff. And I got to see some really nice cars along with his next project. And of course that '53 Caribbean project that I need to win the lottery before I could afford it. I just love how those look!

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Wow I wish I had your old grill and bumper not to mention how jealous I am of your new ones! Great score!