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Some of us older geezers & cranks might remember a 4 letter word made famous by Maynard G. Krebs. "WORK". My hats off to you and hope to follow the progress.

Well, I look at it this way, I've always wanted a '20s Packard, I can't afford a real one, so I rely on the advice that my father gave me years ago, "If you want it, make it!". Seems like good advice to me, I just wish I actually had a Packard chassis and cowl to start with. (to make it more "Packard", instead of being a "conglomeration of parts")

And now for the latest: Yesterday, the guy who delivers our $80,000 furniture at work brought me a nice surprise, a piece of burl walnut veneer for use on my dash. Also, I have a pic of the leather I plan on using, I have a whole bag of the leather, enough to do the seats and then some:

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Well today was a total pan out day, I went to an auction in Lincoln, Ks, and ended up with this (underneath all the crap is a cherry 1937 Packard 115 chassis, complete including the brake and clutch pedals!!! Price: FREE:

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AND, to top it all off, between the chassis and the crap was THIS: (Price, ALSO FREE!!!)

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So now, I have a Packard chassis, complete from bumper to bumper, and a floor shift Packard trans to rob the top off for my later model Packard O/D trans. The reason why all this was free is because the guy who bought it all was a junker, and knew my father and I for years, and decided that since I wanted it, I could have it. So, another Packard chassis saved from the crusher!! The body was there too, but I walked past it several times, not even noticing what it was, and it sold for $30. This is the cheapest stuff there, everything else was bringing 4 figure and up prices. All in all, I think it's been a damn good day!! And to top it all off, the real nice thing is that the '25 Speedster project will be all Packard now, chassis-wise. The body's still going to have to be custom made, but so were a lot of other Packards in the '20s and '30s, so I don't feel too bad about that.

I also ended up buying a 1928 Essex body, full of junk metal, for $15. Inside the Essex body were two absolutely perfect "bucket" style seat frames for the Speedster project, along with a nice e-brake handle to hang on the outside of the chassis. I gave the Essex body to a buddy of mine who's going to store the Packard chassis and the rest of the stuff until I get a house with a garage, and also deliver it 120 miles to here in Wichita for me. I really do feel like I made out like a bandit today!

G'day Eric, Congratulations on your windfall, I have still to send you some data on changing the 37 top to suit the R6/ R9 set-up, however yesterday I modified and took pictures which i should talk to Mal about how to post them, on one of my previous R6 floorchange conversions so that it now locks out of overdrive when you select reverse ( stopped of course), as per the original R6/ R9 overdrive. One of my party tricks with the unmodified trans was to select any gear including reverse at any speed under 20mph, without the clutch and without any complaints from the gearbox. It used to freak a few people out but was quite harmless, now it is not harmless at all, but is less strain on the pull cable. Best regards Peter Toet

Eric,

Your luck's in again, congratulations. Always knew there was a floor shift out there somewhere, but didn't expect a chassis as well! A question though, about the front end, are you still going with a "straight" axle? A '25 speedster wouldn't have the coil spring front end the '37 has. Have one for me as I'm sure you'll be celebrating.



And Peter,

Give me a call any night and we can walk through the picture part.

Thanks for the support guys, I appreciate it.
Peter: Yes, please send me the info on modifying the trans, as I can sure use it now.

Mal, actually, I was looking at the independent front end of the 115 chassis and decided that it'll stay, coil springs and all. Remember, Packard's Racing Development Team's were on the cutting edge of technology, even back in '25. Where do you think the ideas come from for the production cars???

I also think it will be modification enough to squeeze the 327 in there, as the "X" member needs to be modified for the extra length of the straight eight, but it's completely doable. I don't think I'll be using the bumpers, however. I do like the short wheelbase of the chassis, and I think it's a lot better option than the Hudson one I planned on using before. (That and the fact that it's a Packard chassis just makes it that much better!)