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It's all gravel roads around here too for at least a mile but this car is not going anywhere other than around the yard and three properties once it's running again. I got here on the 2nd and no snow but the next day it started coming down so we got what appeared to be about 6" although it's starting to melt once again. At last check, light snow is expected on Wednesday afternoon just in time for me to leave on Friday. At one point last week, it got down to 2 degrees so not exactly warm and toasty but nit bad in the shop with a space heater and good insulation.

Down at ground for a moment, I climbed in to see what the brakes felt like and, while they don’t go down to the floor, they are not firm either. I didn’t expect them to be but they’re okay for now to move it around and onto the concrete the next time I’m here.

Back home now more or less. Closer to it than when at my shop anyway. One thing I forgot to say about testing the brake pedal last week was that I also tested the parking brake and had a surprise that it does not feel attached to anything! I guess I will have to get under the dash to check it out although maybe removing the dash would be easier. That way I get the siren’s wires run or at least see if maybe they are under there somewhere already.

If it uses the same setup as regular 51 and later models the hand brake is just a straight rod from the handle to the part that actually works the brake. Rod goes thru the firewall to where it joins the ratchet and locking mechanism at the extreme edge of the firewall in the engine compt right near the fender edge. The end of the rod is held to that mechanism by a small spring which could have broken or became disconnected letting the rod slip out of the mechanism so it is unable to move and pull the rod going down to a bellcrank assy which is the piece that actually pulls the brake cable.

As Howard said, the entire mechanism is on the engine side of the firewall.

If you pull the handle and feel tension but it won't lock, then it ratchet spring. No tension, then something is disconnected.

And it is also conceivable there is an issue at the bar under the transmission where the cable coming from the front does the work. The hook like sheave affair where the two cables going to the rear wheels join the bar could be disconnected or way out of adjustment.

It’s not really a mystery and as many 1951-1954 Packards that I’ve owned I do understand the mechanism. It was merely a surprise as underneath everything is intact.

Just for fun, here are some photos of one of my former Henney-Packards, a 1952 Nu-3-Way.

Getting its engine reinstalled after some work. Although original, low mileage and not needing to be rebuilt, it was removed primarily to clean and paint it. In the background is my 1951 combination for which I bought the ambulance that this blog is about as the combination had a Jeep rear end in it which was still in it in this photo.



The 1952's new rear brakes (14")



It was eventually repainted Lowell Grey (a 23rd Series color) which looks greenish under the florescent lights, bumpers, ornament and stone guards rechromed, and used as an every day car along with attending NorCal PAC tours, shows and meets including this Oakridge Mall show in San Jose, CA. It even won best in class at a PAC National Meet. This shot gives an idea of how much wider the tire track was at the rear.



By the time the next two photos were taken, the car had sat for a good many years and was starting to deteriorate so I cleaned out the fuel system, sealed the tank and sold it while still drivable. The last I heard, it was in Australia.

The 1952's Nu-3-Way side-loading hydraulic table extended. The hydraulic power was an option on the Nu-3-Way but the manually operated table was able to also move out the back door while the powered version was not. The table can be moved out either side (whichever side it's unlocked from) but the control lever to power it is on both sides and when unlocked the front seat automatically powers forward and goes forward quite a bit farther than does a standard passenger car power seat, which I learned the hard way when I neglected to latch down the lock lever and a bump in the road popped it up! This car had power brakes, power steering, manual overdrive transmission, radio with power antenna, power windows (only the fronts opened) and power seat. It also had LevelDraulic which was a side to side leveling system.



Here is the side loading table tucked away inside.

I’m going up to my shop next week but there is currently a large fire very near with 0% containment in two days with the possibility of evacuation orders. We’re located across the right (east) end of CR02E toward the lower right of the page which I hope it is far enough but my nephew who is much closer in one of the red areas got an evacuation order already. Where the shop is and the whole area hasn’t much to burn as it mostly lava floes and dust with small and sparsely scatted trees but fire finds a way.

Be safe and good luck with the fires. We're getting into that season right now in Central Washington and I fear it's going to be a bad year for fires. We had a poor winter and are way down on water. Sounds like Central Oregon is in the same boat.