Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

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That's exactly what I'm looking to do. I'm a retired mechanic, now a full-time sculptor. I know how to do all the mechanical stuff but don't have the desire to have an everlasting tinker project at this time in my life.

Yes, I'm seriously considering selling the 356. I'd like to get it sold while it's still in the car so the buyer can start it up and here it run.

Thanks all!

Tristar, take a deep breath, relax, focus. Slow down. You're letting stone simple mechanics--certainly compared with Crown Vic/F-150--whelm you. Listen to PDon and KevinP. They speak the truth. I've mentioned them all before: Mike Grimes at Merritt, (317) 736-6233, ext. 103, mike@packardparts.com, John Ulrich (below), and the others, but make sure Mike Chirco, cell (520) 336-0057, at Tucson Packards ships promptly as the others.
I repeat, Jeff Adkins, Moose Motors has not just brake drums, but every mechanical and electrical part for Packard 1935-56, and drum brake parts for all domestics Auburn through Zephyr: (707) 792-9985, packardguy54@sbcglobal.net. Please tell all these worthies that Mike, '47 Super Clipper, Walnut Creek, CA referred you.

Good drum brakes will stop you quickly as discs, but can fade if racing in the mountains, not that it inhibited Juan Fangio's early South American Andes competitions in a '37 Chevy coupe with a canvas trunk lid to save weight.

Have you priced modern disc parts lately?

I've lamented the 1948-50 tubs, but still think it moronic to turn any vintage, special interest, "Classic," old car into a hodge podge. People routinely depended on Packards like yours for long, fast business trips. Carry an extra set of points. Have a spare fuel pump already boxed and left with your wife or paramour, or both, who can overnight ship anywhere in the US in this day and age. You imagine it'll be easier for some poor sap at a shop in East Jesus, Kansas to figure out what goes where on another Frankencar?

By and large, the fellows involved with "retro rods" are less educated--and less interesting-- than those owning genuine old cars. Run radial tires. Your '48 Custom is with all 356-engined Packards on the 127" wb and a 1941-42 Buick Century/Roadmaster with the rare option 3.6:1 "economy" rear axle, one of the only cars of the '40s that could do an honest 100 off a showroom floor.
What more do you want? Today's greases and full synthetic 10W/30 motor oils are another galaxy better than the premium editions from the 1970s, let alone 1940s.

https://julrichpackard.com/

Ex-Python John Cleese, speaking of someone i can't name because we're not supposed to invoke politics here, earlier this year shook his head and said, "I think we have to accept that 35-40 million Americans are morons."

Do not become one of them, Tristar. We're all here to help.

Ross in Parkton MD or Bob's Packard Parts in Marietta PA probably have brake drums lying around.

Again, trying to do a frame swap where you don't end up with a car that looks and drives like an oversize lawn tractor will be quite a trick, and will be a much more difficult and skilled operation than just getting this going. Most of the brake parts are on RockAuto even, btw. These bathtub Packards have the distinction of having the lowest overall parts cost in Packard land, by a slim margin.

I know a guy who did this on a 41 Buick. Doesn't look too bad but it's obviously a rod. But even he had to use parts from at least 2 different cars in that. Some GM V8 engine with a Monte Carlo rear end and he kept the original frame.

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