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Well, inspired by BigKev's saga of the resurrection of his '54 Clipper, I figured I'd document a similar story that has just begun. This 200 has been sitting in an open shed on my in-law's farm since the 60's or early 70's, memories are hazy. It was bought new by my wife's great-grandfather and hasn't been licensed since 1963 about the time he died. After that her uncles used it to bomb across the prairie chasing foxes and cows, until it got parked for good.

I've had my eye on it for many years, but until my in-laws finally decided they'd never get time to bring it back I was last in line. Once it was decided to give me the car to work on, we had to move quickly before winter hit too much.

The week before Thansgiving we took a rented car hauler trailer out to southwestern ND to get the car.

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G'day HA52,
Hans, to PackardInfo and for including your '52 200 Deluxe Touring Sedan in the Packard Owner's Registry.

Great family history there and I'll be following along on your Project Blog with interest.

A real "Barn Find"! I love it. I'm looking forward to your restoration blog.

Craig

This should be a fun project, I hope the frame hasn't been destroyed by off roading. (I would really recommend a Scout for that, by btw)
I think 500 hours of labor will go a long way!

So we aired up the tires, the fronts were both pretty rotten from the sun but would hold air for about 5 minutes. With my brother in law pulling the car using a chain to the bucket of a tractor, and my wife trying to steer without being able to see out (windows too caked to clean) we got the car out of the shed and up onto the trailer. We got it chained down, as the front tires kept going flat it was pretty much self-chocked. A little adjusting to level the trailer and we were good to go.

We had 360 miles to get back home and I wanted to get there in daylight, as the front of my little truck was pointed up a bit. Wasn't sure if my headlights would see the road in the dark.

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HA 52, if you want to drive another day to Billings, I'll be glad to show you my 51 200. We're almost neighbors by Montana standards! I'll be glad to share my "don't do that" file with you.

Here are some more pictures of the car as it sat in the shed. The open side of the shed faces south, so the front of the car got a lot of sun. Amazingly, I replaced a valve stem in one of the front tires and it held air then, so 3 out of 4 was pretty good.

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David, I'd love to see your car. Next time I'm back home I'll have to make some time to get over to Billings to see it, I'll remember to coordinate with you when the time comes.

Looks like you got a nice car there! You might want to search this website for strings on getting an old engine going again. The straight 8's were prone to sticking lifters caused by sitting and/or not running them long enough to get nice and hot. I always like to pour some Marvel Mystery Oil in the spark plug holes and let that sit for several days. Also remove the valve covers (remove the passenger side wheel, and the inner fender liner to get at them. Then spray PB Blaster or a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone on the valves to hopefully free them up. Then turn the engine over with a wrench, not the starter. If it moves, you're half way to getting it started. The good news is that the gas in it was probably ethanol free, so one less headache. Not that 20 year old gas will be a picnic.

here is a link to a more in-depth discussion. Congratulations on the 52!

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... um=1&post_id=106426#forumpost106426

Looks like a lot of fun! Can't wait to see your progress. Just getting it clean will make a huge difference!