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It scares me what's going to happen to this hobby in like 20-30 years. It's going to be me and some Honda rice rocket guys trying to fit a Packard eight into CRX. :-/

Not to worry. Generator rebuilds won't be an issue without a running engine. In 20-30 years gas will be so high, it will be sold by the cup and your Packard won't even get a full tank without a second mortgage---if you can find enough for a full tank. That cup won't take it very far --- and you might even have to put the CRX engine into your Packard.

Just like alcohol and rubber today, whatever they come up with as tomorrows substitute probably will eat the steel parts along with the replacement rubber because everything will be carbon fiber, plastic and some future to be discovered exotic material by then. Tuning your Packard to run on it might even get interesting assuming it doesn't eat the engine. The substitute might even make ethanol look like the good old days.

Today's worry is trying to find a tank that will fit and look proper, tomorrows will be trying to find a replacement tank and parts made out of something that won't get destroyed by the fake gas and will fit & look proper in the correct spot.

Yes. Given any badge, over the last 10 to 15 years any supply of NOS,OEM,NORS or even just good used parts have mostly dried up. Only to be replaced with reproduction parts that either WELL EXCEED oem specs/parts OR fall short of those specs. It's changing so fast that it is nearly impossible to keep up with over any period of 3 years or more.

What's the difference if one has a nice restored car or any restored item that is cosmetically original from the outside with modern mods inside OR another collector has a a MeadowBrook and Pebble beach winner with reproduction parts that do NOT meet oem specs????

Either way, it's NOT orignal!!!

Guess i'll have to save up to buy a hover-flatbed to fly/tow my cars to the shows in the future :)

My prediction...
In twenty or thirty years our gas engines will only be under the hood for looks because of the price and make-up of "gas." Instead, we'll have our driveshafts unhooked, and a small electric engine/transmission will be in its place with a small rechargable battery in the trunk. We'll operate the whole unit with a foot-opperated remote where the gas pedal is now.....
We have the technology now and they will get smaller and more powerful as the years go along.
Just sayin'...we're in for some major "modification," like it or not...

Kev,I think this discussion thread needs to be moved to the General section. Good discussion, but it will be better served in the other place. Thanks.

(o{I}o)

Supposed to get a call from a friend tomorrow of another rebuilder in Cleveland, will post his info. Supposed to be fair pricing and fast turn around. I have a fedex account so i'll ship it likely tomorrow if he sounds reasonable and maybe have it back before the weekend.

If it's not waiting on one thing it's waiting on another!

The generators on all the Packard`s and Model A`s I have restored, the windings had no short-circuits nor broken wires. But the insulation (paper or cloth) was in bad condition. With a cleaner I washed and then I dried the outer windings (field winding) and the rotor. Replaced old paper and cloth with modern bandage adhesive tape. Then I let an repair shop, shop for industrial electr. motors, dip the two parts in modern wire winding insulation liquid and afterwards to be baked in an oven. Commutator to be machined in a lathe. New brushes and bearings. Never fail again!

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Agreed.....and done.

Just got the generator back from a place in Cleveland, pics and info below.

He was recommended by the person i bought my Packard from who has 2 shovelnose 32s and another earlier Packard, maybe late 20's? amongst other vehicles like a locomobile and a 30's giant cadillac. I felt with a recommendation from someone with those kind of vehicles that they must do good work.

Took about 3 days, and the price was fair. He quoted me $125 if the armature wasn't bad (it wasn't) and stuck to the price. He said nothing major wrong with it, i think the brushes weren't making good contact. The voltage regulator i had that was NOS was fine for it and he said it worked excellent, he set it up to charge at like 7.1 volts.

He said to lightly feel the rear shaft housing after it had been running a few minutes. He said if it was warm it's ok but if hot the belt was too tight.

He showed me where to put oil to the bushing after storage and to rotate the shaft by hand and then start it after it's been in storage awhile.

Lastly, he said to check voltage after it's been running 3-5 minutes. He said the mechanical voltage regulators take that long to warm up and operate. It could very well have been working, but i would never have known to let it run that long before checking (not that i could have with the radiator still out.)

Here is their info:

Certified Auto Electric
225 Northfield Rd
Bedford, OH 44146
sales@certifiedautoelectric.com
440-439-1100

Pics attached. The chrome brush cover band and new delco badge were from ebay, rest of the hardware, oil port covers, etc they did there.

I'm assuming this is enough valid info to move it back to the correct forum for someone to find later?

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Lookin good. Was the chrome band on a Packard? I always remembered them as just painted black but looks good. Needs a little bling here and there.