56 Packard 400 awakens from a 10 plus year slumber

I purchased this car from a guy that I work with at Kanter Auto Products back in November that had sat un used in his drive way for over ten year. he had owned the car for many years and had purchase the car back in the 80's in California. My current plan is to get the car in mechanical order and then attend to the body and paint. This is my first Packard and I am very excited on bringing it back to life.

Here is the condition of the car when I picked it up in November:

First order of business was going through the brake system and BTV Power unit. Unfortunately the brake system needed a full overhaul. From a rebuild on the BTV to cleaning lines and new wheel cylinders. I had taken the unit apart piece by piece cleaning each part and inspecting. I glass beaded the can and master cylinder portion and lightly honed the bored on the vacuum canister. I will be used one of Kanter Auto Product BTV rebuild kits in the rebuilding process. I will also be replacing the original piston with a brand new stainless steel one.

Here is the me testing the unit before install

Next was the wheel cylinders and cleaning of the brake lines. The brake shoes were still good but I did have to get hardware kits as some of the springs were bad.

The driver side manifold is cracked on the 400. I took sometime on my breaks during work and was able to find a nice used exhaust manifold. Here is the manifold as I found it.

Then Cleaned:

Painted and ready to be installed

Here is the old next to the new good used one. The removal wasn't to bad luckily no broken bolts

Install:

I needed a break from the mechanical side of things so I pulled out the H.D. rubbing compound Sunday evening to see what could be done with current status of the paint on the car. I am torn with this car. I haven't decided fully what I am going to do with it restoration wise. This car is still wearing its original paint so its only original once. I think at this time I will try to save the scottish heather side and repaint the white. Thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. As you can see the color is coming back ever so slowly.

Here is the maiden voyage after a major tune-up, tank cleaned, trans serviced and a oil change.

Click on the picture for the video

I went through the front end on the Packard and the only real issue was the upper and lower control arm bushings. They since have been all replaced and the front end greased. The only thing that will need to be done is I will need to go up in size on the torsion bar pins to most like the 4 ring as the car has the 2 ring and is very close to the bump stop.

Next was on to the passenger side window that was inoperable. Started with checking all my power and grounds, wiring wise the car checked out good. I then pulled the regulator and motor to see what was going on. I direct powered the motor and nothing I ended up pulling to the motor apart but over the years of use a burr had formed on the worm gear shaft portion of the armature which made disassembling somewhat difficult. What I found to be the issue was a stuck brush. So I freed the brushes up, polished the shaft part of the armature and lubed up the assembly and now it works good as new.

From there I was able to get some more miles on the car(50 or so). The car had a pinging issue and a shutter so I rear timed the car and fine tuned the dwell. The pinging is gone but the shutter is still slightly there.

As it stands my new list for now is:

1)Fixing / diagnosing the shutter

2)Pulling and checking the wiring for the head lights as the dashboard lights do not work.

3)Torsion level system it works when it feels like, but Dan Kanter has been a big help working on this part.

On a side note I made it to my first car show. I will tell you the car got a lot of looks and attention plus the fact that it was the only Packard there. I enjoyed all the people that stopped to talk and reminisce especially one guy that told me how in 1955-56 during his senior year of H.S. He remembers how he and his buddy's would stand on the back of any Packard they saw on the street just to test the torsion level system.

By working at Kanter, you don't have shipping costs for the parts you can buy there!

I'm amazed to see the condition of the paint...Good luck with this car; they are rarely seen, but I like them.

That is very true, the cost of shipping parts oversea can be very expensive. Here are some more recent photos of the. Since I have gotten the 400 on the road. I have logged about 200 miles or so. Each and every trip is an adventure I am always listening for new bumps and rattles. The next project with be the trailing arm bushing and the watts link.

Do you know where in California this car came from? This car looks very similar to one that had spent a lot of time in a shop that I had worked at in the early 80's.

I spoke with the previous owner and he said most of the work on the car was done in Temcula CA and a few other shops in the area till he moved to NJ around 1985

Thanks

James

The car I saw was in a shop in Glendale CA around 1983. The owner had a few other cars including an Imperial that may have been a 57 and a 57 Ford that he would bring in. His name escapes me at the moment.

The person that I purchased the car from was Stuart Blonde in our Packard Department

Thanks

James

No I don't think Stuart was his name. I would think I would have remembered a name like his.

beautiful big car & color combo

Great progress James! Please keep us up to date.

I love the car ... and what you are doing to it. Keep up the good work!

I love the car ... and what you are doing to it. Keep up the good work!

At this point I want to drive and enjoy it for the summer. I have restored various cars but this is my first torsion level Packard. So it has been a fun and unique set up to work on. At this point I am torn on if I should repaint it or keep the car original and preserve the original paint. So for now it will be more or less mechanical restoration.

James

At this point I am torn on if I should repaint it or keep the car original and preserve the original paint.

Nice car! I had restored 55-6 Caribbean's for the last 6 or so years, and your project caught my eye. It looks like a really nice original car. The one thing about painting, is that there is a lot of chrome and stainless on the cars. Yours looks to be in great shape, but when put up against new paint will sometimes make it look a little "iffy". I've cursed the chrome/polishing shop many times, because it seems to magically change shape after it's redone. The weather strip can also be an issue if you go aftermarket. Looks like you are up to a great start, keep up the good work and picture posting!