[AlK]

Of course that does not mean that if I found an original batwing air cleaner that someone thought was junk and I could get it for $5 that I would not jump on it, (yeah right, where is my head????). Hoepfully I can get back to trying to get it started by the weekend. We had rain Saturday, so the event I had planned for that day I had to put off until Sunday and as it was raining I could not get outside to continue working on it. That's how it goes.

[AlK]

Well in the words of that famous physician Dr. Frankenstien

IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE IT'S ALIVE
WWWHHHOOOO HAHAHAHAHAHA

Now that I got that out of my system.....

things have gone slowly due to weather, and other functions going on. In any event the initial attempt at starting the car resulted in it running only as long as I pourd gas down the carbs. After eliminating all of the other possibilities, I hooked up an electric fuel pump to the line and lo and behold no gas from the tank. So off with the tank and back to the shop where they discovered that the pick up tube inside the tank had broken off in the cleaning process. The shop put in a new one and I put the tank back in. The next attempt revealed the rear carb to be working but the front carb was spewing gas all over which demanded that I shut the thing down. Off with the front carb and into the workshop for cleaning. I am sure most people are screaming REBUILD IT. Under normal circumstances I would agree, but at $125+ a shot I figured I would try the simplest way first. Put the carb back on and IT LIVES. However the back carb now does not seem to be working so I will pull it off and clean it. Once that is back on we shall see. If all goes well I will be able to start gutting the interior and sending the seats to the upholstery shop to replace the rather crunchy foam in the seats. The vinyl is in need of cleaning with only the cloth inserts needing replacment. Some small parts of the door panals need some stiching. The overall interior condition I would consider as very, very good considering the length of time it sat. While the inside is being done I will take all of the chrome north and get it redone. Before I get the chrome back I need to make sure my iron lung is working perfectly so I can survive the sticker shock. But what the hey!!! Sometime around the end of summer I hope to be able to get it to the body shop for paint. More updates to follow as they occur....

[AlK]

Well sometimes your the bug and sometimes your the winshield. All carbs are functioning well and the car sounds good. While trying to move it around naturally I had to step on the brake and it was listepping on a concrete sidewalk. The booster that looked rebuilt and bench tested well sems to have have gone off the edge. So I have removed it and will be sending to south to be rebuilt by Ed Strain. Cei La Vie. However I can start the interior gutting and other stuff while waiting.

[vintageride]

There was an article in the 1970s or 1980s in the Packard Automobile Classics (PAC) or Packards International (PI) magazine. The article was called something like "Beware! This Packard!" It was about a black 1956 Packard Clipper Two Door Hardtop that was fitted with a Dual Four Barrel set up like your car. It may have been a 374 too. The article was pretty specific about the modifications to the car.

I wonder if it was about your car.

Peter Tacy

[AlK]

Originally Posted By: vintageride

There was an article in the 1970s or 1980s in the Packard Automobile Classics (PAC) or Packards International (PI) magazine. The article was called something like "Beware! This Packard!" It was about a black 1956 Packard Clipper Two Door Hardtop that was fitted with a Dual Four Barrel set up like your car. It may have been a 374 too. The article was pretty specific about the modifications to the car.

I wonder if it was about your car.
Peter Tacy

Peter
Not sure but I kind of doubt it. My car was also seniorized with senior fenders and grille and a caribbean hood with scoops. Also the car was out of Illinois so I don't think that it was the car of the article. But I have been wrong before so who knows.

Sort of an Update:

Still tinkering with the carbs. Trying to patch up the floors and get it ready for the paint shop. All slow going. Doing what I can..

[Sam A.]

Originally Posted By: Leonard Shepherd

I don't want to hi-jack your thread, but went I was at the Studebaker Meet at South Bend last summer, a lot of us took our cars to the Osceola Drag Strip. There was a Packard Clipper that did very well. Not sure of what ET or speed it did.

It has two 4s and 3 on the tree.

Wow, thats right down the road from me. Small world!

[AlK]

Well things have been a little slow. Back in Novemeber I got the carbs back and it was not until Dec. that I had them put back on and hooked up. The weather has not been much help either, as well as other things getting in the way. I am going to have to get cracking on it because as soon as I find a body and fender shop that does not think I am the sucker de jour I have got to get it to that shop to get them started on it. My wife and I have decided to skip Branson and set our sites on Gettysburg next year. So I have a whole 1 1/2 years to complete this project. I have done a little patch work on the floors. I also have 99% of the chrome off and piled so all I have to do is take it to the chrome shop to be done. I just got back all of the brackets for the front and rear bumpers from the powder coating shop and they look good and it was not expensive. I am considering having the whole car sand-blasted but I am holding off on that because I have heard some not so nice things about that process. I have also heard about a new process called soda blasting that I will have to look into. Since I last posted, I have also had the brake booster rebuilt and it is installed. So we are down to body work. I had a guy come over this morning who must think my name is Rockefeller or Astor or something like that. He looked at the car and quoted my $8,400 to sand and paint it. To me that was a "I really don't want to do it but if your dumb enough or rich enough, I'll do it for that" price. so I will just keep on looking. I still have to shell out about $500 for the correct seat material from SMS. I swore I would not pay their exorbitant prices, but the rest of the material is in such good shape I don't want to change the whole pattern. So that is about where everything stands at the moment. It's slow going especially when you consider the economy. This really is not the time to be doing a major restoration, but sometime we really don't get to chosse that do we??????????????

P.S. In my initial post I had reported on finding some very nice grey upholstery material with some unique
Fleur-de-lis designs thru out. I thought it would look great, however there was not enough to do all of the seats so back to SMS for the correct stuff, OUCH!!!!!!!

[BHR]

AIK, others -

Hope this isn't too off topic, but a guy at the local tire shop broke the clips off my wheels that hold that circular plate on. Any ideas what these are called exactly, or how to get ahold of replacement clips?

Ben

[1956Packard]

Whoa. This is the first time I've ever seen the chrome trim rings mounted and how the clips worked. I think they are as scarce as hen's teeth. I had some NOS clips a few years ago (sorry sold them). I'll see if I can scare up the part number (they came with the rubber damper).

You may try other makes of the same vintage as they also had such trim rings. That is what I was going to do before I sold the set I had (I needed a couple of more too).

Geoff

[AlK]

Well time is getting on and I had a stroke of luck over the weekend. I found ante shop and had him come over last night to look at the car. Now this was a Custom and collision shop and after talking to the guy Friday about how his shop does it vs what I wanted done(which usually translates into more money out of my pocket) I was fully expecting to hear an estimate between $9k and $11.5K. I love to be surprised this way. To do the whole car including patching up the floors and painting it the two-tone black and Jamiaca Yellow............ $4,750. Now that left me speechless I can tell you. Now I have to get the grille and the tail-lights out, get it running again, and then get it over to him. I told him he could treat it as a back burner project as I did not need it until Oct. 1. We shall see how it goes. I still have about $2 grand worth of chrome to be done and most likely $1k for the interior.

As for trim ring clips I can't help, never heard of them before.