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In this project blog the subject is my family's 1935 1201 Coupe for Two or Four Passengers. It is a Detroit-made Right Hand Drive coupe; these are believed to have been produced in quite limited numbers.

My father obtained the coupe from his elderly aunt in 1983. It had been her daily driver since the 1940s. The car was last driven in 1993, and has been stored and neglected from then until April 2016. These first photos of the blog were taken in mid April 2016 and show the car with 23 years of dust and neglect.

From this point in time the restoration has commenced. I will take most responsibility for the car, but my father will remain involved and will help.

In the two weeks since these pictures were taken, the kind members of this forum have already been extremely helpful with advice and information, hence I have decided to create this blog in the hope that the brains trust of this site will continue to take an interest and help along the way, and also hopefully so the blog may be of use to others undertaking a similar project.

All the best from Tasmania; I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. :)

John

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John,

Great to see this Project Blog, an excellent idea.! Not only will it document your progress with the Coupe but will be a vehicle in itself both for yourself and for others who undertake a similar journey. I did a Project Blog called Mal's '41 120 Coupe then another about continuing Packard matters called Wade's Workshop.

Plenty of photos are appreciated and help in the documentation process. Already looking forward to following along on your journey.

This Sunday I made the following progress on the 1201 Coupe:

1 A lot more cleaning; firstly of the work space around the car. It was so cluttered with my parents' junk that we could barely get at the car. Really need clear clean space around it to work. A problem for me is that the car lives in a shed at my parents' home half an hour out of town. I don't have garage space for it at my home in town. So it will be day trips on weekends with an occasional evening after work, for the foreseeable future. I also did a lot more cleaning of selected areas of the car itself. Washed sections of the engine bay that were covered in dust, grease, rat droppings etc. Vacuumed out the wedding confetti left in the rumble seat area in 1993. :)

2 After discovering that the battery does not belong in the engine bay (it's been in there for decades), I hunted out its true home. I had read that it is supposed to live under the seats. This was baffling because there is no sign of a battery housing there; just a rats' nest that luckily doesn't seem to have caused much damage.) Eventually found the original battery housing under the floor of the golf compartment. It won't fit the new battery I'd measured at the battery store last week, so I need to do more thinking about the new battery. What's the deal with Optima batteries? They certainly look more compact...

3 Having remembered that in 1988 my father and I purchased and squirrelled away an order of components and materials from America for future renovation; I crawled into the long forgotten storage space and dragged out the boxes of stuff to do an audit of what we have. I opened the bolts of cloth and carpet with great trepidation, fearful that the broadcloth, headlining and carpet would be ruined from damp, mould, rats and moths, but was thrilled to unroll and discover sufficient quantities of the genuine stuff to do the interior when the appropriate time comes. I unrolled it all to check it thoroughly; it is gorgeous stuff. Couldn't remember what else we'd ordered, but discovered a complete wiring loom, hub caps, headlight lenses, radiator louvre thermostat, a box of rubber stuff and a few small bits of bling, all in great condition. Got to be happy with that!

4 Removed the spark plugs and squirted some penetrant into the cylinders. Checked and cleaned up spark plugs for reinstallation. Ran out of time to do more to prep the engine.

More later,

John

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John, if you take the carpet out of the seat frame on the floor there should be a lit with a battery holder underneath it. On the LHD cars it's under the drivers seat, not sure what side it would be on yours.

It won't fit the new battery I'd measured at the battery store last week, so I need to do more thinking about the new battery.

Sedan batteries are under the front seat, convertible couples and coupes have them under the rumble floor, at the golf bag opening. The battery installs from underneath, the access cover is just for making connections and checking/adding water, the battery box floor drops down on theaded rods, the base plate and box are much larger than the opening in the floor boards.

Good find on the parts, replacement Fulton Sylphon shutter thermostats sell for nearly $500!

The battery on my 1201 coupe was moved by a previous owner. Mine is behind the golf club door, but I noticed the original cradle was still there when I was under the car not to long ago, and I thought it was under the front seat, like it was in my 1936 120 Coupe.
I haven't paid much attention the my other 35 1200 sedan, but I know that the battery there is under the floor board behind the drivers seat. When I get to the cars tomorrow I'll take a better look on both and see how and what happened.

Also there was a 35 1201 coupe for sale in California not too long ago, but it was all in pieces. I tried to get some pictures but the guy sold it already.

Yes, it is in the golf compartment on mine, but I found it from underneath. It is all intact as Owen Dyneto described. Which prompts my next question... how do you access the underside of your Packards? I found the crawl space a bit too restrictive to get all the way under. I have four car support stands that I could use to lift it a bit; just not sure if I want to trust them with my life.

If I do use the four car support stands, where on the chassis should I place them?

My next tasks moving forward are now as follows:

1 Get the car higher so I can get underneath.
2 Take a decent camera to document everything accurately in situ, as an aid to later re-building.
3 Clean the underside. The topside is looking better now, but the undercarriage is still encrusted with dirt. Too much to allow efficient work under there.
4 Finish sorting a new battery out. I'll measure the original battery compartment and choose something to suit. I'm not concerned about aesthetics of the battery at this stage, so maybe a more compact Optima will be a sensible choice?
5 Continue preparations to attempt starting the engine. Still haven't looked at fuel lines, filters, oil, cooling system etc. Lots to do there.

Cheers for now, John

"Also there was a 35 1201 coupe for sale in California not too long ago, but it was all in pieces. I tried to get some pictures but the guy sold it already."

Sounds interesting! If there were approximately 117 made, they must be out there somewhere. I noticed that the PAC website has a page of roster keepers for different year and model groupings, but the email address to their '35 Eight Roster keeper doesn't work. I wonder if they have any on their list?

To my knowledge there are 5 818s existing. Shamefully, we know a number of them were cut and converted to convertible coupes due to the higher value.

You could place the jackstands under the frame but my preference is to place them under the spring perches or on the front and rear axles just adjacent to the springs.

I'm always fearful of the car on jack stands, so what I usually do is put the car on lawnmower ramps: they're rated for 2000 lbs each, and have raised sides so it's virtually impossible to fall or roll off.

Last year there was a light brown 1201 coupe with orange wheels that came out of a long storage. There was also a white one in NY that spent some time on ebay, that was the wrong color bUT the selet kept saYing it was a packard aproved color. I think I still have a picture on that one.