32 903 winter restoration completed

[tbirdman]

Just got the gauges back last week and got the rest of the car put together. Was worried as I had done a lot of things to the car and had not started it. However the car started on the 4th spin and ran flawlessly. I think the electric fuel pump, which I only use to start the car when I haven't run it, won't shut off as it did before when the proper pressure was reached. I have another one coming to see if the electric fuel pump is the issue. Can see an fuel leakage. The missing I had going up hills that I used to solve with throwing on the electric fuel pump, is gone. So the mechanical fuel pump which I had rebuilt over the winter, must had been the culprit. Did a 60 mile trip today through some curvy roads so my arms are tire. [img]<>/wink.gif[/img]

[tbirdman]

I wanted to thank all of those who helped with the winter project including Speedster wherever he may be. I have pictures posted Here. The interior leather is much more of a dark cranberry. The picture tend towards a purple and I was too lazy to correct in Adobe Elements.

I saw the inside of the Jaeger clock that I'm having serviced. It's amazing piece of watchmaking. I was amazed when I saw various parts inside had an engine turned pattern on them. Only the person servicing the clock would see this, but Jaeger wanted the inside of the clock to be beautiful also.

My left arm is real sore right now. With the 60 miles thru windy roads yesterday and then another 20 miles tonight, my arms got a workout. [img]<>/frown.gif[/img]

[Restorer32]

Love the colors! Very 30's.

[mrpushbutton]

My gosh, what a beautiful car--Packard in all its glory! and yes, what a treat it is to see a car painted in authentic colors that speak of the era instead of the "ego trip" resto-repaints where the tired old yarn "for $35 they'eed paint it any color you want" is recited.

Yeah, someone in 1932 wanter that shade of purple! (or resale red, or electric blue or............)

[tbirdman]

Originally Posted By: mrpushbutton

My gosh, what a beautiful car--Packard in all its glory! and yes, what a treat it is to see a car painted in authentic colors that speak of the era instead of the "ego trip" resto-repaints where the tired old yarn "for $35 they'eed paint it any color you want" is recited.

Yeah, someone in 1932 wanter that shade of purple! (or resale red, or electric blue or............)

I would had imagined during 1932 at the height of the depression, Packard buyers might had painted their cars more subtle colors as not to attract attention to their already higher end purchases. As I mentioned before, I at first did not like the color and bought the car in spite of it, but I get now asked quite a bit about the color as most like it. I personally think this car with the current interior would look great in a dark maroon with maybe silver or black fenders. But the color is staying as is for now. I went with the cranberry interior as I thought that the brown interior was too much earth tones and I did want to liven it up.

[Orin]

Absolutely beautiful. I also like the color, as it's very different. On the other hand, with a car that beautiful I think any color would be fantastic.

[Packin31]

Great job nice to see and hear you got her going.

Someday mine will be out there on the open road with you. [img]<>/smile.gif[/img]

[tbirdman]

Originally Posted By: Packin31

Great job nice to see and hear you got her going.

Someday mine will be out there on the open road with you. [img]<>/smile.gif[/img]

Tom,

I don't think I could have the patience to do what you and others do. I'm a small project guy...I only bite off enough that which can be done over a 6 month winter period. Hopefully your car will be on the road soon.

The only good thing about the length of restoration is your car is safe from idiots in your garage. Today I went to a small charity cruise. Two people on two seperate occasion parked their bicycles between my car and another car so they could go look at the cars. They look at me crazy when I aske dthem to mov their bikes. Brains about the size of a pea. Then again on two separate occasions, two kids helped themselves up on the running boards. I'd like to wring the neck of the parents who were right next to them. For the most part people treat the cars with respect but it's this small bunch drives me nuts. I wonder why car shows don't prohibit things like bikes, scooters skateboards and make periodic announcements on how to view the cars...ok off my soapbox [img]<>/mad.gif[/img]

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Thanks for posting, Birdman - those colors are right on, perfect and the job itself looks outstanding. You must be pleased for sure.

We now avoid the "cruise nights" because they do not draw only car people. Our two drivers are anything but perfect and I don't mind the occasional nick - I always let kids get in, beep the horn, etc. but the skaters, leaners, open it yourselfers, etc. are a bit out of hand around here. I find the nominal fee that most "traditional car shows" ask is great at keeping it to those with some level of true interest. We had a club give up on a growing event in the Hartford area as the town just would not co-operate with crowd control. Anyway, fantastic car - enjoy!

[tbirdman]

Steve

Thanks for the compliments.

I agree with you that letting kids sit in the seat and honk the horn is great. But those that think just because the car is out in the open, then I can do what I want with it.

Then you have the guys who keep asking you what it's worth. I finally shut up a guy Sunday when I replied to him "You mind me asking how muchyou have in the bank"?

[bernardi]

Before real power steering, they called it "Arm Strong Steering".
You have an absolutely beautiful auto! The gratification level must be really high. Maybe a yellow tape strung around the car would keep the curious at the proper distance.
Some people just have no appreciation of the damage they can do. Once when my motorcycle was in a shopping center parking lot, a grandmotherly type picked up her youngster and let him stand on the tank. I was watching from a second story window and couldn't even shout at her. It was not only hard on the paint, but dangerous.

[tbirdman]

Yesterday at the Forest Grove Concours I happened to meet the previous owner of my car. It was an interesting discussion. He had bought the car about 4 years ago from a guy who had spent a ton of money on the car trying to make it right. That owner had bought the car in 1994 for a pretty good sum and them dumped a bunch of money into it for which I have the receipts. That guy had really got the shaft from the dealer who supposely restored the car but just did a cosmetic restoration. Anyway the owner who I met yesterday bought it in ~2003 could never gain confidence in the car running without breaking down. He drove it maybe 150 miles. Much to his surprise I told him my tale of driving it about 1500 miles with only bad coil and points that caused any problems. We came (hopefully) to the conclusion that both him and the previous owner had sorted most of the mechanical problems out of the car.

Also he didn't care for the color, though he said the new cranberry interior makes the car much much better. He said the color made it very difficult to sell the car when he had it. Also the local people knew about the car problems which made the sale difficult. I just don't know about the color. Time after time yesterday I was asked about the color and people expressed that they loved the color so maybe it's Northwest color [img]<>/wink.gif[/img].

He also had a full set of keys which he gave to me. They were in a Lincoln leather holder which had Greenwich Conn embossed on it. The car wad delivered in Greenwich. Conn so maybe this is a clue to the cars history. Vey interesting day for me.