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Anyone else in a cold winter climate getting their cars out of hibernation? It's only early March and more cold weather yet to come but with 3 days here in northern New Jersey predicted for 70? or better this week and a St. Patrick's Day parade beckoning for cars this Sunday, seemed time to get one of the 2 Packards out of hibernation.

When the '56 Carib was put away for the winter it had a fresh oil change and filter, grease job, new antifreeze, and fluids checked so not that much to do. Cover off, tires let down to normal pressures, battery on trickle charge for a hour. Then just removed the plastic baggies on the gas tank filler, oil filler and crankcase breather, metal cans removed from the tail pipe end (rodents!). I had fogged the engine with motor oil when I put it away so when it fired up I had a bit of blue plume for a few seconds, and it settle down to a familiar idle. Pretty much the same process to follow today or tomorrow on the '34. And hopefully ready for yet another season of trouble-free driving & touring.

Just out of curiosity, how far you do go when you tour?

as always
Garrett Meadows

Excluding the mileage to and from, the typical Henry Joy Tour has 4 days of driving tours. Normally the first day will be quite short, maybe 15-40 miles. Of course it varies but subsequent days may be 60-100 miles each day so on a typical HJ Tour you may accumulate 350 miles of tour driving, again exclusive of the to-and-from the host hotel.

I've only used the '56 Carib on one HJ Tour, that one in the Canandaigua area of upstate NY and the added mileage to and from the event was close to another 350 miles. For all the other HJ Tours I've used the '34 and generally had it shipped to and from the host hotel. That wasn't so much because of the mileage involved as it was the absence of good direct routes that avoided Interstate highways.


As far as PAC National meets go, I don't go to all of them and don't always take a Packard when I do. I drove the '48 Custom 8 to Asheville NC in 1993, about 420 miles each way. I drove the '56 Carib to Reading PA last year, about 130 miles each way and to Gettysburg in 2010, about 240 miles each way. I had the '34 shipped to the Centennial Meet in Warren OH in 1997, to the Boston National in 2005. National meets always have some tour driving days which can vary quite a bit; last year at Reading the total of the tour drving was perhaps 200 miles. The Gettysburg National tour drving was more, perhaps 300 miles.

Now that is a good idea, putting a can over the tail pipe. But why the plastic bags over the gas and oil fills?

John

The cars are stored in an unheated garage so the concept is just to minimize the intrusion of any condensation. Whether or not it actually is helpful I have no way of knowing but it's a simple and cheap precaution.

One of the best tools I own is called a Steam Vac Jr. by Hoover.
They were discontinued a few years ago & after wearing mine out, located a NIB on Ebay.
Great on carpet & seats, like headliners too?
My browser will not let me attach the photo however.

When--and if--I ever get a Packard, I'd like to be able to drive it and know it is reliable, within in reason. Based on the number of miles you drive, obviously you are confident that your vehicles are road-worthy and can get you from Point A to Point B.

Last week, here in Baton Rouge, there was a small antique/hotrod car show at one of the local hotels. Within a half-mile of the venue, I saw a magnificently restored Ford Model-A broken-down on the side or the road being hoisted onto a flatbed tow-truck. I felt terrible for the owner, getting within a half-mile of the destination and then having the car go kaput. But, then again, I guess that can happen to any vehicle.

as always
Garrett Meadows

Yes, I have a lot of confidence in my Packards and take my maintenance of them very seriously. In 53 years of driving and over 40,000 miles I've only had 1 serious breakdown in the '34, snapped a rear axle just a few miles after getting home from Ohio in 1999. Another incident with the '34, though it didn't leave me stranded, was when the conical spring that hold the cane shift in it's socket broke and fell into the shifter rails; luckily the trans was in 2nd gear at the time and I was close to home. Another incident, again which didn't leave me stranded, was when the cast accelerator pedal broke off, I just drove home on the hand throttle. Never had a breakdown in the '56 Carib over about 20,000 miles (edit- yes, I have a push button issue one time coming out of "auto park" which has since been disabled).

Some say there two types of vintage vehicles: Those that have failed to proceed, and those that are going fail to proceed. I have had all three of my Packards brought back home on flat bed trucks.

37 - Distributor decided to come apart on way to car show. Easy fix after problem discovered.

47 - Battery cut-off switch failed returning home from a Cars & Coffee event. Somewhat of a mystery as it was not obvious why the switch failed. Removed the switch and never had any more problems.

55 - Distributor primary wire terminal insulator broke on way to Packard Texas Meet. This was a bugger to find. Such a simple failure that caused all kinds of problems. Turns out my mechanic over tightened nut and cracked the insulator. I'm going to fire that guy one of these days.

I don't hesitate to drive my remaining 37 Packard on tours and to events. Only problem is heavy and fast traffic. I have fitted outside rear view mirrors which gives me a much better view to the rear and sides. I also installed turn signals as many people do not know about hand signals.

(o{}o)

I wanted to get mine out, but still waiting on exhaust and rebuilt carb to show up!