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This is a story, not so much of the swap meet, but Packard motoring and one of Packard's gentlemen.

Today, Sunday 28th October, my brother Lindsay and I went for a cruise down the Hume and Federal Highways to the Canberra Swap Meet, organised by forum member Peter Packard. It wasn't so much the swap meet we went for, but the chance to meet Peter. As Canberra is almost 300 kilometers(about 180 miles) from Sydney it was also to chance to go for a long run in my '38 Eight Sedan(known as Abbie-Jean) which I've now owned for about 5&1/2 months but never before gone more than 30 miles from home. This was to be it's touring test.

We left Sydney @ 6:00am and all went well, gradually taking cruising speed up from 50/55MPH to 60MPH with a couple of bursts to 65/70MPH where it was evident that Abbie-Jean still had plenty in reserve! UNTIL, on a long uphill section, about 20 miles outside Canberra, I put my foot down in passing a semi and WOOOOOSHKA - steam and coolant were spraying back onto the windshield, the truckie was making signals we had a problem, and I was looking to try to let the semi pass on the inside so I could pull into the breakdown lane! On pulling over, I left the motor running opened the bonnet, and opened the radiator cap holding a rag over it. But I didn't hold it firmly enough as a geyser of most of the remaining coolant erupted sending both Lindsay and I diving out of the way. After picking ourselves, and our bruised egos, up we refilled the radiator from coolant I was carrying in the trunk, leaving the the cap off the radiator as a means to try and reduce pressure, and proceeded to the next wayside rest stop where we topped up the radiator again and filled the now empty coolant containers with water.

Arriving at the swap meet, we were met by Peter at the gate and were allowed to park inside the venue. On telling Peter of our little mishap he no sooner heard than he offered to perform his bushman's engine block and radiator flushing treatment on Abbie-Jean ( See Peter's post of a little while ago in this Forum of "OVERHEATING -ALTERNATIVES TO A RADIATOR REMOVAL" for the detailed description of the treatment performed). And I've taken pictures of parts of the procedure, see the attached link. Also in the link are pictures of 9 of Peter's Packards(just about all these cars are in the Owners Registry)as well as some other interesting cars, including, for Packard53, a 1946 Daimler of which only 2 of this particular type were made without an inside partition. (John I'm sure Peter will be able to provide you with more details of this interesting aluminium bodied car if you PM him)

Peter took us to his "office" where 8 of his Packards are garaged, see pic's in link. We also saw some interesting antiques and "things" some of which are also pictured in the link! Anyway, Peter then did his thing with lengths of exhaust/PVC pipe and Radiator tubing to clear the engine block and radiator of Abbie-Jean.

We were a little longer than the 1 hour Peter originally envisaged, because of the necessity to construct the "apparatus" from scratch, the whole thing taking an hour and three quarters with Peter doing 98% of the work with me getting in the way by taking pic's at "in"appropriate times. I subsequently learned from Peter that he had left the keys for the swap meet facility with someone there but on his return they couldn't be found. So he returned to his "office" and spent 2 hours searching for them to no avail. While all this was going on, unbeknown to Lindsay and me, we left in Abbie-Jean for the return trip to Sydney. No doubt the thought crossed Peter's mind that he'd left the keys in Abbie-Jean, but fortunately the person who had them and had previously denied so, on being requested to have a second look found then in his jacket pocket at home!

Anyway the trip home was accomplished, but not without some minor drama as 5 pitstops were required to top up the radiator because it was now evident the continued source of the overheating stemmed from a leaking waterpump. A positive did emerge from this part of the trip, as Lindsay and I were able to practice and refine our pitstop procedures and techniques and will soon be crewing for Formula 1 at the rate we're going!

This post is more a tribute to Peter for his selfless offer of help, not to mention the turmoil we unwittingly put him through with the lost keys episode. Thankyou Peter

NOTE - Most of the Packard pic's are not captioned. While of the others, I'm sure there's going to be something that tickles your fancy.

Oops - Forgot to attach link, so here goes.

picasaweb.google.com/ozstatman/CanberraSwapMeet28thOct2007

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Thanks Mal, I have to be a bit careful here as I am about to sell the Daimler and you may be accused of "RAISING THE SHARE VALUE, ETC,. Please be advised that ALL Packard owners are invited to have their radiators cleared out if :

1. they can help with the task

2. They can put up with the bad language if I can't get the right size hose clips

3. If they are not involved in my losing keys that are not actually lost.

It was great to see the car in Canberra, Mal and Lindsay allowed me to drive it and no matter how many times I tried to fry the clutch and keep the engine in the red line ( sort of valve bounce if no tacho) , they kept their cool. I could hear someone reloading a firearm in the back but they were great! Mal offered to take one of my cars to Bonneville (not sure what for?) He says that next time I come to Sydney he will fix me up real good.
Thanks Mal and Lindsay. P.S. Our Swap Meet was down about 50 % in vendors ( 250 vendors), but we had approximately the same number of punters through the gates (1600)

Thanks for the visit and we should keep in touch. Peter Toet

Peter: This is based on some quick research I did on Daimler. Your car is a model DF36. The coach builder of the body I would guess would have been one of two firms, either Baker or Hooper. Again there might have been the outside chance that Vaden Plas of England could have built the body.

John F. Shireman

Just remembered another little incident, about when we pulled into the rest stop to replenish our water supplies on our way to Canberra.

On opening the trunk the rear license plate literally fell off. It was held on only by one screw, the other screw and the two retaining nuts having deserted their posts. So using bushmen's clips, ie pieces of wire appropriated from the fence of the rest area, it was secured in place and we continued our journey.

It wasn't until I'd finished appropriating the raw material for the clips which involved walking through long grass, that my brother said he was keeping an eye out for black snakes, a large, very venomous and aggresive snake! I thanked him for that! Although now conscious that a little earlier I had headed into the bushes to point percy, at what I imagined was porcelain, but could well have been a snake!

G'day John, I WISH that it WAS a 36 (150hp straight Eight), unfortunately it is a DE27 (110hp six). It is a Freestone and Webb hand built Aluminium body on a 138 inch wheelbase and there were only ever two made in non divider window. It has Bijur chassis lubrication, built in jacking system, 3 windscreen wipers and weighs in a just under 3 (THREE!!!!) tons unladen and drives exactly the same as my 533 Packard ( late 1927). I swapped a 1927 Harley for the car in a moment of weakness, and I am about to see it go. However, after seeing how well it blew out the radiator on Mal's 38,120 I am of two minds as to keeping the car. The prospective purchaser is due down this weekend so I shall do the Ettore Bugatti thing and assess if he is suitable to acquire it. Best regards Peter Toet .

Peter: Thanks for the information on your fine car.

The real feature I would like to see in operation is the built in jacking system. 138 inch wheel base that is one heck of a long car. Which means lots of leg room in the rear for passengers.

I know some of the history of the major English coach builders, but know nothing of Freestone & Web. Could your please give me some history on this firm.

John F. Shireman

And another thing, although not strictly Packard related there could be a tenuous link anyway.

Today, Tuesday 30th October, I had a colonoscopy at the local hospital. Reason I mention this is that when I returned from Canberra on Sunday I had to start the cleanout procedure that evening in preparation for the Colonoscopic examination today. And at the time of Peter's treatment of the '38 the thought briefly crossed my mind I could have the cleanout procedure then and there! Hahaha. Fortunately for everyones sake present I resisted. Pleased to say the colonoscopy went well and all's clear. literally!

You only had to ask, Mal, the Daimler would have been keen for the work and we had all manner of connectors available. The pictures on the link from your original post are great. Readers please be aware that the spout of water and exhaust gas in the picture in your original post is about half that passing through the radiator. There is an equal amount leaving the radiator via the radiator to block outlet inside the engine bay. It really works and it is free. Glad to hear that your exhaust system is ok, I get mine checked every 6 months. Best regards Peter Toet

Last little anecdote from the Swap Meet day, I promise.

Packard53 - John, this may be of interest to you.

While Peter was collecting the exhaust pipe, hose connectors and clips necessary for the apparatus, we were walking and talking about cars(funny) and it came up that some years ago he had a Rotary and it had run 10.7/10.9 in the quarter mile(can't remember the time exactly). His son is also interested in these types of cars and when he arrived about half way through the procedure Peter mentioned to him that he'd bought the rotary engine that was at the swap meet for AUD40, about USD35 at current exchange rates.

The following exchange then occurred:

Me - Oh, What RX is it from?

Peter - It's a Wankel.

Me - Oh, So then it's from an NSU?

Peter - No, it's a Wankel which was used to power a pump!

So, after I picked my bruised ego up, I kept my mouth shut on things remotely mechanical so as not to expose my obviously limited knowledge again!

G'Day Mal, I have not seen the pump so I am not sure what it's pedigree is. It is supposed to a single rotor, 100cc capacity. I shall let you know when I pick it up. BTW I have a very limited knowledge of Rotary development, including how much development companies such as NSU, Mazda, Norton, Suzuki, etc, put into the basic WANKEL engine. We have a few NSU rotary cars in our local club, but this is definitely not from an NSU. I have a Suzuki RE5 Rotary Motorbike as well, which I understand is closer to an NSU than a Mazda in design development. I wouldn't feel embarrassed about demonstrating a lack of knowledge, as I do it all the time, and am probably doing so right now. There are some very clever people on this site and someone who knows better usually corrects me and I learn from it. Peter