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Just picked up a '53 Cavalier with 70,000 miles on it. I'm new to Packards and I don't know much of the history of my car, but apparently it has been in storage for the past 40-50 years. To get my car running and reliable what items I should I refurbish, which should I rebuild, and which should I replace? TIA

Welcome aboard!!! It's an interesting ride, the entire Packard Experience. You'll meet some decent folks and a couple of twits, but that's almost anywhere.

Hint Number One: don't overpay for Packard parts.

You will need to change all of the fluids in the engine, trans, and rear end, both to get out the old stuff and the water and to see what's living in there. All long term storage cars are not the same. There are rodents in the crankcase stories, and their tiny bones make a lousy lubricant.

The brakes will need to be sorted thoroughly. New parts, including the flex lines, and new fluid. The fuel system could be an issue, depending on the amount of crud in your tank, if any. Same with the cooling system.

Obviously, the more you can do, the less it will impact your wallet.

Try not to take the entire process, or yourself, too damned seriously. Murphy owns several Packards. Yeah, that Murphy. Use lots of penetrating oils - they have improved remarkably over the years. Use fire quite judiciously. Invest in a good grinder, a reciprocating saw and blades, and plan to replace a lot of bolts-n-nuts. Packard often used 14 fasteners where 6-8 would have gotten it done and Ford would have used 2 and a couple of folding tabs. Of course, that's also why my 1946 barn find (one of the lines on Old Car Ad Bingo) doesn't rattle after all these years.

You have found the correct website for lots of knowledge and lots of help, and lots of outside reading to figure out what you want/need to know. Ask away. Odds are, you're not the first guy to encounter whatever silliness you find in your car.

My very best wishes to you!!!

A 53 Cavalier is a pleasure to drive and you will enjoy it.
Replace or rebuild every single item that ever touched brake fluid. Pretty much every component is available new. It is not difficult to make new lines with the Nicop tubing and I view that as essential on a 70 year old car.

Pull out your spark plugs and pour in each hole in a good cupfull of ATF or other light oil. Try to turn the engine over with a breaker bar and a 1" socket on the front crank bolt. That is easy to reach from under the car. You will need to be able to turn 2 full revs to make sure the valves are not stuck before trying anything with the starter.

So much depends on how the car was stored. I got in one '53 Clipper that had the engine drowned with oil before a 40 year storage and it was effortless to get going. Others had mousey nests IN the cylinders and were scrap.

G'day 53 Cavalier,
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '53 Cavalier in PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry.

Of all places, one of the largest mouse houses in my '37 was the drive shaft! Pictured is what came out. I had no idea they could get past the U-Joints!
Bob J.

Attach file:

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  Drive Shaft Mouse House.JPG (203.59 KB)

Ross Miller's "Speedwell Garage" video series has a lot to offer "newbies"

Speedwell Garage on Youtube

I have a 1953 Cavalier and as Ross says, it's a pleasure to drive. The Ultramatic does not give you a great takeoff, and it's not really geared for going 80 mph on the Freeway, but both of those just encourage one to take it easy, which one should be doing anyhow. But I've driven it all over.

On this website in the "Directory" you will find a list of Packard vendors and service providers. Incredibly, all the engine parts for your casr are available new as well as many, many other parts. Some vendors you will want to get to know are Max Merrit and Kanter, as well as Tuscon Packard, Seatle Packard Company, Heinmuller Packard Parts, Packard Southwest, and Patrician Industries. Many of these vendors also advertise on Ebay.

Max, Kanter, and various others sell rebuild kits for your Power Brake unit (Easamatic or "Bendix Treadle-Vac") or you can get it rebuilt by Max, Kanter, or various others such as Tiger Treadlevac repair (see the Directory).

There is a lot of club support as well, and it's good to join the national Packard Club.

National Packard Club

One thing that no one has mentioned, but it is possible to take the oil pan off with the engine in the car, though a bit tedious. Some folks recommend taking that off and cleaning/inspecting it and the bottom end prior to getting the engine running. Probably good to first see if the engine can be turned over first as Ross says.

There is a huge video series on basically the same engine that goes through a number of things, most importantly from this standpoint, shows how to take off the oil pan. This is for a 1947 Packard but the basics are the same:

1947 Packard video series

Going to do a little parts shopping. Where do you think are the best places to source the following parts? I'm not building a show car, but not modifying it either.

-Master cylinder rebuild kit.
-Wheel cylinder rebuild kits.
-Brake hoses
-Radiator hoses
-Fan belt
-Spark plug wires
-Shocks
-Carburetor rebuild kit.
-Fuel pump rebuild kit.

This should keep me busy for a couple of afternoons.

Napa for hoses, plugs, some rebuild kits, etc. Check with them first using the Parts X-Ref here on the website.

For the other stuff your going to Max Merrit or Kanter.

Carb kits order from Daytona Carb

You can get shocks from NAPA, Monroe gas-charged. I did this recently.

Be careful with the hoses. I found the cross-ref wasn't entirely accurate and ended up having to get the front hoses from Max. But if you take your hose off and bring it to NAPA you might have more luck. The NAPA I have access to is not very customer-friendly, they are the "just give me the number" kind of folks.

Max and Kanter also sells a carb kit that works well.

NAPA sells complete new wheel cylinders. Get those, don't bother rebuilding them, they are inexpensive.

Look on this website for folks' success with various fuel pump rebuild kits, but I just ended up getting a rebuilt fuel pump from Kanter on an exchange basis.

Spark plug wires - the ones you can get from NAPA now are the ones where you have to crimp the ends yourself, which requires a special tool.

Both Kanter and Max have radiator hoses. You might also have success at NAPA, again if you have a good parts guy.

If you have the Ultramatic you have a oil-water oil cooler for the transmission that is attached via a very short hose to the bottom of the water pump. Some folks have gotten a new top hose from Max (which tends to be a little long) and cut off a section of it to use as the short section. The oil cooler should be taken off and inspected, it's not unusual for those to leak. Kanter and Max both sell refurbished ones or some folks have gone to the trouble of installing an air-oil heat exchanger affixed to the back of the radiator.

I bought cylinders from Napa for my 1954 Patrician but discovered that the bleed valve used different wrenches between them! Some were metric (10mm) while others were not (3/8”) so maybe bring along a wrench if you want them to match.

As for the cross reference chart here, it is a bit of a mess so be sure to bring along your old part to confirm. For example, many hoses listed indicate that an adapter is needed but I’ve not found that to be true so maybe whoever posted those entries had non0stock cylinders already.