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I sure would like to know where they put placed the arms when they lifted your car on the 2-post. I tried putting my dad's '38 on the lift and it was sketchy as heck. Couldn't find a good place to lift from.

Kevin, Sorry I didn't notice. Usually it's up on 4-points of the frame. I'll ask tomorrow or Wednesday when the car is finished.

Mario Bruno has 3 shops in the general area. One is a service station shop in Kensington for more modern cars, but sells ethanol-free gas. The 2nd is a muscle car shop in Rockville. And the new shop for modern and prewar classics is in Gaithersburg. Eddie is the foreman/manager and has kept me updated on the work progress. Rafael is a sterling mechanic who, between Bill's '40 180 sedan and my '40 160 is getting to know everything about Super 8 Packards with overdrive. It's really a blessing to have a place to repair the Duchess and maintain it.

Here are some more photos.

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My 16 year-old granddaughter Emi flew out from San Francisco. We went to the museums in DC. I parked at the Willard Hotel, a very safe place to leave a classic car under the watchful eyes of several attendants there.
She wanted to see NYC, so we drove the freeway to Long Branch, NJ, Packard Club member George and collector Rick made arrangements to store the Duchess for 3 days in a safe and climate controlled collector garage, while we took the train to NYC.
When we returned, we put the top down, and drove to Avalon on the south Jersey shore to spend a week with my youngest son, James, and his family. Vacationers there thought we were the start of a parade. Emi and I drove to Cape May to catch the ferry across Delaware Bay, waved to Joe Biden in Rehoboth, and drove back home to Potomac MD.
The Duchess ran at 60 and 65, getting an amazing 21+ mpg. I had to do the math twice. Around town we only got 12-15 mpg. It was very hot and humid the entire time, but the cooling system never overheated. The new rear springs creaked quite a bit with our luggage in the trunk. I’ll have to look into that. The Duchess ran smooth as glass, true Packard performance. We put on 600-700 miles on this trip.
George produced the 2023 movie MIRANDA’S VICTIM about the true story behind the Supreme Court’s Miranda Decision, requiring the explicit reading of rights to a person arrested. George’s Packard is in the movie, as is Rick’s Ford sedan. Rick was especially generous with his time and assistance. Car guys are great!

Some photos

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Hi Joe...What a delightful trip with your Granddaughter. Our Granddaughter is in her second year at McPhersen College in Kansas majoring in Automotive Restoration...Ernie in Arizona

Way to plan for the future, Ernie. “That’s not mascara, Granpa Ernie. I just changed the oil on the ‘37.”

The new leaf’s springs are creaking a little less. I shot the bushings and other rubber parts up front with rubber lubricant. Is that normal for new ones to make noise?
I doubt Packard dealers would allow a customer to drive off with creaking springs, but?

I also had under the car lighting problems. When I labeled the wires in my dash last year, I didn’t do wires under the car. So I traced each lighting wire. I found loose or unconnected wire, a bad splice., a burned out bulb on license light, a loose terminal screw on my fog light switch, etc. plus ground issues which I cleaned. I labeled each wire at the junction and back bumper. Now if anything goes out, I can find the wire and test it. Major safety improvement. Esp no brake light, which was the incentive for doing everything else while at it.

I also treated the leather upholstery with a mixture of half foot oil and half Hermes saddle oil. I’ve been doing a lot of driving with the top down.

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Joe, the new springs also change the spring travel. Just as if you had a new mattress in your bed. The noise could therefore also come from other friction surfaces (tie rod ends, stabilizer bearings, shock absorber bushings, etc.).

There’s noise from everywhere,Gerd. Hey, it’s a convertible.
Today Chuck drove us in Bill’s 1940 Super 8 180 Club Sedan around Great Falls VA. Beautiful country. We decided we’d try this once a week, rotating thru Chuck’s ‘36 sedan, Bill’s ‘40 and my ‘40.

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Couple more photos of today. Cruising in Packard luxurious comfort. No convertible rattles.

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