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Somebody brought me a hood ornament in the same condition as that shown below.

They want to know if I can straighten it. The arms are bent and the body looks like it has had stuff piled on top of it.

I've seen a number of these problems and never gave it much thought. What I don't know is whether this thing is a fake, a period fake, or yet another Packard anomaly.

Low quality fakes are easy to spot, but this one has me scratching my head. I have a known genuine and it weighs the same.

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Looks real enough to me. I'd say just explain that after 80 years holding that wheel, she's getting a little tired and fatigued.

Keep an eye on this thread for straightening techniques.

This appears to be an Eighth series only deviation. The Sixth series had a problem and virtually all of the originals are gone. That is, I have never seen a Sixth series car with an original Deluxe ornament. The only person who could fill in the details is long gone.

Anyway, for the bent arms a set of strain gauges is being used and the voltages monitored while the thing sits.

Tim
will you please elaborate more on the strain gauges and voltage. Thanks.

I have an original Flying Lady that was on my 645 DC. We always thought that it was on the car when new but can only trace it back to WWII when my uncle bought the car.

Mine has only slight differences with the one picture above, i.e.
- The wheel spokes are much more detailed
- The pins before and after the mounting wedge are shorted
- The Lady's left heel does not touch the base

Hope that this helps. Mine is available if someone is interested.

A strain gauge measures the movement between two pieces of metal such as and aluminum head and an iron block. We clamped the bent arms between two pieces of metal and tightened until voltage began to show. Now it is sitting there and when the voltage drops the arms have straightened a little.

Very interesting Tim......Thanks for the reply.