Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

In the photo of the car as it now exists, in green, which I agree looks much better than the ice cream truck colors it was wearing, the battery box looks absolutely huge. Is that a by-product of altering the length of the fender? I've never noticed the battery boxes being that prominent before on these cars.

Yes it's correct and in that position on Deluxe 7th & 8th Series cars with a lid on top. Tom Hartz

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Perhaps I'm mistaken (not unusual), but I believe all 1930 Packards had the four-speed transmission.

In regard to the steering wheel, The 1931 wheel is indeed much nicer than the 1930. Most people are unaware of this subtle "modification" to our Speedster, but it sure looks better, and it's much more desirable to hold onto as well.

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West, you are correct, the seventh series had four speed transmissions. The difference is that in '31 there was a redesigned gearbox with third gear being constant mesh, and the shift to fourth was a "short throw." It seems funny that they did this as driving an 840 is a bit different than a Formula race car with paddle shifters, but I guess it was meant to appeal to people who were tired of shifting, as it was just a "short throw." Tom Hartz

Absolutely love the new colour and would be very interested to know what it is. Final colour, although obviously subject to personal taste is critical.

Did George change that steering wheel or did it have that on it when he bought it?

I know at one time he put a veed radiator on it, and bolted a second transmission onto the back of the stock trans so he could have an overdrive. I think he also tried sealed beams inside the headlights.

He never changed the steering wheel on the Phaeton. However, that horn button and throttle plate is 7th series so that has me thinking he did that.

As well, what is going on with that shifter? The Phaeton shifter was stock.
I have seen several of those cars where they installed the 9th series four speed thinking no one would notice.

After bombing around in Billy Hirsch's 745 I'm a big fan of the 7th series trans. It's a totally awesome unit and I would never want anything else.

As well, there should be a number on the steering box and maybe he changed the whole thing. The trans went in the Phaeton and he put an 8th series trans in it.

Another thought on that roadster thing, underhood is a mess. I remember George had one of those carburetors and the only way to mount it would have been to cut up the manifold. We didn't do it. The vacuum tank in those pictures is a riot. Looks like it is being used to decant whiskey. And that manifold is missing a nut. I guess mechanically sorted means a fresh tank of gas. If it looks bad in pictures, it's really bad.

That place seems to send a lot of cars overseas. They had Kanter's car. I wonder what happened to that one? He told me he'd never sell it. I guess some Russian oligarch said sell or be poisoned. That was a good car. I hope they didn't tear it up just because they wanted a different color.

There is a lot of crooked money overseas. Maybe those guys think they can trade cars like stocks and use them as a laundry.