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I just checked, the ball is there and it functions perfectly. Thanks again, Ross!

Well, shoot. I just remembered that shop that’s going to ceramic coat my manifolds is closed on Fridays. They work 6 am to 4:30pm Monday through Thursday. Looks like I’ll get the manifolds to them on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday.

DOH!

I forgot to post this picture and question before, regarding repainting my air cleaner. When I stripped it down, I found some hand engraving in the top of the lid. It doesn’t matter for anything, but I’m curious if the engraving means anything. Thoughts?

mileage/oil change dates? 4-6-40. 9-2-1942?

Quote:

Maybe. It would seem odd to engrave that in the air cleaner to me, but could be. And, it was not visible at all until I stripped the paint. Who knows how many times the air cleaner has been painted, though.

Also, the second row of numbers looks like 6-4-60.

I dropped off my manifolds to be ceramic coated this morning. I contemplated having the porcelain redone on the intake manifold, but decided to just ceramic coat both manifolds. The cost difference between ceramic vs porcelain for the intake was $200 vs $1000. In the end, I went the decision of the next generation owner (my son). His thoughts were that the ceramic will last longer and be less for him to deal with later and he felt like it would look better having both matching.

I’m sure I can come up with another place to spend that $800.

After that, I stopped by the shop. They have thing masked off to paint the dash.




They are also working on the rust repair on my running boards. This picture shows something I hadn’t thought of before. You can clearly see where Packard started with a 120 board and extended it for the 138. I knew about that part. I just hadn’t ever paid attention to the stiffener that is welded to the bottom since the last bracket also had to get moved as compared to the 120.

Birdie is entering the re-assembly and upholstery phase. The two rear doors have been re-installed. It's hard to get good pictures because the black paint is like a mirror! The last picture is the center divider all stripped down.

Since long before I was born, my dad's side of the family has held a family reunion. To make sure people can find us and not lose touch, it has always been on the last Sunday in June at noon in the same place. I talked to the shop about having Birdie ready in time for that and how important it is to me since everyone who remembers Dad driving the car will be there. The shop has come back and told me they are confident they can have it ready! It's not a sure thing, but I'm optimistic. So, with any luck, Birdie will make her first appearance at the end of June.

The hard part is concocting a story as to why my wife will be driving Mom and Dad to the reunion without me. I'm trying have Birdie make a surprise appearance. We'll see how it goes.