Highlander160

The way to charge an Optima, they respond well being attached to another standard battery by jumper cables. You then put the charger on the standard battery and both the battery and charger will charge the Optima. Don't go over 10A on the charger. As to + or - ground on the car, the batteries and charger don't care about the car's circuit. Just attach to the requisite posts. The Optima should hold a charge for quite some time.

Use it! Frank Sinatra said, "You only live once, but if you live like me once is enough." I know, right?

He wanted to be different, just like everyone else. Just sayin...

They're all going the way of the Dodo Bird, Hudson, Moon, well, you get it. What you want is here in the WWW now. Rod & Custom is gone for good, Garage was short-lived, Hot Rod is like you've already said above. I get The Rodders Journal and tried Hemmings Muscle Machines for a year. The rest of the things that really attract a reader can be found on your friggen phone now too. I guess we sucked it up for catalytic convertors, impact bumpers, little F.I. engines, lots of synthetics used on bodies, why not interactive reading too? Ya gotta admit, it's kool to make a direct comment or question to a featured car here or on other sites (I frequent The Jalopy Journal too).

The old Mopar racers did indeed lift the ass end. The springs were designed to plant the tire which in turn would lift the rear of the car some. Torque was mentioned. TQ is multipled by the convertor, 1st gear ratio, rear axle ratio divided by 2, and then multiplied by the tire diameter. If you look at the tech article posted, the blue 70s Cutlass. Do we think that maybe 400 lb/ft could do that? If we let 400 lbs drop on a 1 foot bar attached to the car, would it lift and twist it like that? No way. Once the TQ reaches the tire (on launch) it's somewhere around 3500 lb/ft. TQ is measured, HP is calculated. It's all just as simple as it is complicated. The Mopar race leafs included a 1/2 leaf in the right rear spring at the front for some applications. The "truck arm" style of rear suspension included long trailing arms that located the axle and pivoted far forward of the normal leaf spring rear designs. Home brewed truck arms can be found under old "gasser" class cars in order to plant the rear tire with as much leverage as possible. Today the same forces can be applied with "arms" as short as 20". It takes 4 aligned to take advantage of an imaginary "instant center" that's above or below and in front of or behind the vehicle's CG. If this gives you the idea that I really like drag racing, well, you'r right. :cool:

That frame fits 1101-04-07 conv victoria, conv sedan and coupe roadsters as well as your coupe (my all time favorite Packard body style). Be aware, there is a repro frame out there. It might fit but it looks nothing like the original. It's very flat on the face vs the rounded profile as viewed from the front. I didn't get the opportunity as my client did find the real thing, but I was going to attempt a re-shape of the offering and get it as close to the original as possible. There does appear to be enough material to do that. Is yours missing or just in bad shape? There's a lot of restoration talent out there that might be able to save what you have unless it's been reduced to carbon steel lace (!). I specialize in 32-34 Packards. If something comes up I'll forward them here. Good luck...

I happen to be both and wouldn't touch it with someone else's money. :eek:

There's a real answer to this. Some are and some not so much. If "worth" is the keystone that has to be defined and the number of definitions could ban one for excessive use of bandwidth. Many 4dr sedans were simply utilitarian motorized transportation. They were cheap and hauled lots of people and their stuff. They made great taxi cabs, fleet cars, cop cars, most of which were simply consumed and recycled, as they were probably designed to be from day 1. Of course the private sector consumed their share too. That idea and your own imagination applied, easy to understand and cover the "...not so much..." part. As the models climb higher up the food chain we can clearly find the "Some are...", but it can easily go out of context. It always struck me as funny in the 20s and 30s cars, especially those at the top of the food chain, that the lower priced open cars took over in the value race. Simple, canvas tops, leather which was usually sort of plain in design, and many considerably less when new yet they win the $$$$$$$ race in ads and auction results. We've all had it shoved down our collective that "When the top goes down..." as if that was always the end-all be-all of historic transportation. The luxurious use of rare exotic woods, the finest of wool and rare cloths, vanity items, foot hassocks, they weren't found in the open cars. Neither were intercoms and personal beverage cabinets. Most of those that have those things have 4drs and their tops are fixed. Some even padded with lovely types of leather or various other animal skins. Yet they usually never command their original price increase that was there in their day. Back in context, like the 57 sedan pictured, even in those days we can find the 4drs worth doing. Usually they carry some version of "DeVille" or perhaps "Continental", and they too were at the top of the food chain in their day. For some odd reason most forums decry the effort and expense required to restore all but the most rare of cars. It's as if everyone who reads this is in the business of trading cars and are duty bound to realize a profit. It's not new news either. Back in the early 90s you couldn't pick up a collector car magazine that didn't have at least one reference to the stupidity of restoring a car. "Let them take the loss..." or "...take advantage of their mistake..." was pitched like some new sensation. Now all the Picker/Barn/Pawn/Storage TV shows have even more folks thinking they're probably owed some form of profit because they chose an artifact. I could get really 'R' rated in regards to how I really feel about it, but then, why? If you want to live the more door life, what the heII, get 2 or 3. They're junk, right? No, not at all. The market place abused em and gave em step child status. Adopt and embrace what really was crowding intersections at rush hour. Every mile you lose waiting to afford the market's calls, sorry Charlie. Your profit is going well below the zero line. Your profit is miles. More accurately, Smiles Per Gallon. Next...

Ok, I guess I'd like to chime in on exhaust systems. Most of the mail order systems I've had to work (fight?) with were made from replacement dimensions on the typical generic tube benders as found in muffler shops everywhere. While I'm mainly a Packard guy, I've noticed that many other early cars used mandrel bent tubing vs the crushed bend look of a replacement. Even the lowly little Model A Ford had a mandrel bent system. More money, expensive equipment, and a tough sell since a true system can be twice the cost or more. Back when I was working on a 41 Continental there were some original pipes in the parts collective. Yes, mandrel bent with little to no crush. It's hard to get the replacement companies to change their ways so I wish you luck in that regard. I told a supplier of Packard stuff that his tailpipe for the 8 cyl 34s were backward. That was in 93. In 2011 the client had another from the same guy drop shipped to us to complete the job. Guess what? Still backward. One of my services to my Packard bretheren will be 1st a welded system using mandrel bends, and maybe I can find a source to bend them up for us the old way. Keep your chin tucked down and keep punching Barry. She's lookin good so far...

Most gloss chassis paint was alkyd enamel. Long life and easy to use, it can be painted directly over bare etched metal (like production chassis prep) and still have a long service life. I too have removed parts to find a glossy finish below them on black frames. A few years back I finished a 37 12 and it had glossy paint below some parts that were still in place since new. 120 or 12, it's still a Packard built with higher standards than the rest of the industry. The best bet for unimpeachable info is factory photos, especially those taken in the assembly plants. Sometimes you need to temper the use of such info and know what you're looking at. I've seen Packard Green transmissions (engine color) in old factory photos but those were on a show chassis. Sometimes a different color is used to highlight a change too, but if there's assembly line pictures or those in a showroom you can rest assured that you're seeing what the customer was buying.

If your car has "collector car" plates like YOM or permanent antique then it's sort of an open window to being a collectible asset. I tag my old cars like regular old drivers. This has less to do with the actual topic and more to do with the cop who has a wire hair up his hiney and wants to hassle a driver for not going to a "meet". The gift thing, as I understand it, a person is entitled to a tax free gift once in their adult life. I could gift my daughter a $100K car and it's tax free, just as if i gifted $100K in cash. Brain food, maybe...?

Stick with the 15% Why pick a scab that might make everyone else end up at 28%. If they said "...no..." document it and do your thing. This is like one of those discussions that never gets resolved because the most removed and remote of questions are posed. Bottom line, if a pro and a tax man told me 15% instead of 28% then that's what I'd pay and never look back. Then there's the one time gift deal for a family member which is tax free. Gift the car, then anyone with even the lowest of financial understanding knows what to do next.

Good points all. Maybe by stupid I'm being a bit harsh. I was once told "...and I even painted over the original dents...". Yes, I'm serious, that's what I was told. I can't find the "dent" option in the catalog though. Does that make it a COPO? I'm in the business, I strive for fit and finish that's becoming to the cars I do. If I had a $100 bill for every "...never that good..." that I heard I could buy 1/2 the "barn finds" in the USA. Sorry kids, but Packard and others cut and buffed the cars to perfection. Even the Model A was wet sanded and polished (except fenders and standard pickups) and there's a depth to those cars in all of their original pictures. I wouldn't restore an operable time capsule as that too would be what I call stupid. Original survivor cars are the foundations I restore to when there's an example available. Yes there has to be some exceptions in our modern world, but with restraint and discipline we can repeat the past closer than many think. Next...?

Yes, but is rust and rot and bird crap really "patina"? I know what the true meaning of patina is, but I didn't get the memo that wear and tear and deterioration is now included. Patina is perhaps the most abused term in the collector car industry today. REAL patina in a car is when the gauge faces have yellowed just a bit but are still clean, crisp and clear. Perhaps the glass has that sweet amber glow that only time can do but isn't broken and bubbled beyond use. The paint is all there, perhaps a wee bit thin if you look close, but from a distance looks to be fresh, or it might have that subtle cobweb look that only cotton and Simonize produced over decades of care. In the traditional rod world there was a saying, "...barn find is the new flat black...". Let's be fair here, we're not dealing in home furnishings or art. These are machines meant to be more to some than a mode of transportation. They were conceived with pride and care from engineering all the way to the kid that washed it for it's new OWNER at the selling agency. Profit was driven by price or quality, and our reality is the quality driven versions. They were special when the family got it, they still are today. To leave it worn and broken is simply stupid.

I recently reactivated a dead Optima with a jumper battery. I got it to about 11.5 volts on a slow trickle. The next day I hooked it up to 10amps with a starting battery voltage of 10.28 and it cooked a cell in about 40min. I was not impressed. An expensive battery that can't stand 10 amps? Why is it so expensive? FWIW it was an import from about 5 or so years ago. "They" say the newer ones are better but are they?

In the shop as we speak (type?), a 62 Impala 4dr HT, deluxe bumper guard, push button radio, outsie mirror, rear antenna and 6cyl stick.

A complete and solid car that's easily restored because it's complete should be what a barn find is all about, but somewhere between rat rods and traditional hot rods the meaning has morphed into valuable pidgeon crap and even dirt. Yes, dirt. The idea and those cars found is so far off from reality I can't seem to get my head around it. Add the latest TV shows (we all know they're real, right?) that seem to always depict some lucky stiff stumbling upon a 6 figure classic for chump change and we now have this desire or fantasy becoming a genuine reality. "The way it was" is what some fools seem to think when this feces laiden filthy forgotten artifact is extracted, and oh Dxxx YOU if you even wash it. Really? Did your grand parents drive filthy cars? Did your fathers, uncles, big brothers, and neighborhood gearheads let their treasures become cracked and broken? Did they NEVER wash the cars? I see this in the hot rod sand box a lot. Some kool ol rod is pulled out, paint now cracked and flaking, seats as hard and brittle as the mud stuck in the wheels, and once posted that set comes out screaming "...don't change a thing!!!" In my day the simple and nasty response to that would be a singlefinger salute because IT'S MINE. I'm not some shop hand, nor am I a museum caretaker. This whole removal of the term OWNER can fall in line with barn finds too. I own all of my cars, caretaker my a&*. When treasures are pulled from the ground or the deep sea, do the museums now leave all the mineral build up and dirt? No? Why? Are they out of their minds? Dirt is valuable! Will it change or get back to what we used to know or love to see? Probably no time soon, but if this ol bastid stumbles onto a forgotten automotive treasure it will be what the original owners remembered, or if an old hot rod, what the builder was showing in the 1st days of completion. I'd bet it didn't include birdshxx and cracked paint on that day, and I can't seem to recall a single OEM who offered such a thing. Can you?

You have to keep looking, they're out there. That happened to be the easiest find. If nothing's changed they won't make a 'new' one.

Maybe it was alreayd stated about the topic, but there has to come a time for any organiztion to recognize more if for no more reason than attracting new members, revenue, etc. How it's being handled moving forward can count way more than a single decision. If this paticular club wants to educate the next generations they'll have an opportunity to do that now. To think you can convert every musclecar/street rod/racer into embracing the really vintage stock stuff, well forget it. Try to get the attention of a small percentage and be glad if only a small percentage of them take to it as the elders have. The CCCA has this issue too. How many 35-50yr olds are all wound up about Chryler Imperials, Packard 12s, Auburn Speedsters and any number of even lesser models of the cars they recognize? You see it in the sons and daughters now and then but not much more. Their "schtick", if you will, was always 25-48 and some additionals on a "please apply" basis. Clearly there was merit to this (or not in some views) back when they were formed, and the air of exclusivity was certainly not for just anybody. There's no Model A Fords or vinatge Chevrolets, not many other marques that sold in 6 figures a year, and that was the point. They meant to focus on Mozart rather than Elvis. Sadly this is where they end, yet the very fiber that made "their cars" Classics didn't stop. Just to name a few, how about a Cadillac Eldorado Brougham? A Lincoln Mark II? And as far as that goes, what about a Ford (gasp!) Cobra or GT40? Chrysler Crown Imperial anyone? Ok, ok, what about those quirky CHEVROLET El Moroccos? Just when you thought I forgot about you Chevy guys, huh? Back on point and topic, there has to be some way to move, to bend like a young tree in the wind vs falling over like an old one. The events and tours can be divided at times and combined. Enthusiasm and desire is contageous. If you have nobody else to "infect" then it dies. That can be good or bad, and ultimately it will be your membership and those events that makes that happen either way.

I'd say you won't need a different ring and pinion. The OD is after high gear, not a range selection like a Columbia axle or the like. Also, I just have to say WHERE'S THE DADGUM PICTURES? I mean Packard and Picture start with the same letter. You can't say "...just got a 160..." and not show it, yes?

Do you get anything? A click? A drain on the battery (lights dim a bit in the start position)? To see if it's the neutral safety switch hold the key in the start position as you move the shift lever, but hold the brake! In neutral you want to go between R and D, the full range of shifter travel. In the later 60s the neutral safety switch was purple wires. The wiring to it is at the bottom of the column. Did you rule out the starter? Jump from the battery post to one of the solenoid activation posts. If it cranks it's your car, not the starter. The solenoid has a "big and little" pair of small posts and the wires should only be able to go on 1 way. That's a good start (no pun intended) to finding yiour issue.

Ok 51c'joe, I've found them. I don't have an unlimited supply of these but I could part with some to help a fellow enthusiast out. They're about 1/2" wide, 30" long, the nails on the side that really counts are just under 5/8". With a nail about every inch there's considerable grip strength into the hardwood we find in our old car door frames and pillars. I've used these on every complete Packard restoration I've done with zero failures. The picture with the paint stick on the nail side shows how much is left once pushed through the average panel board. I've taken door panels off on some of the cars and reinstalled them with no issues as well. I think $10 each shipped is a fair price. I'll send them pushed into some closed cell shipping foam strips for safety's sake. They are extremely sharp and have drawn a few cuss words from me now and then so consider yourself advised (!). Tally up how many you need and let me know, I've put up a "chart" of sorts to make it easy. You can email me at: Lgt : 30" nail : 5/8" hgt : 11/16" (total hgt) highlander809@gmail.com

Give me a little time to check old stock, but I may have a full box of what you need/will work. They're long strips with nails through them. In the past I've used them on all of my Packard restorations. You simply push the whole works through the panel, then from the nail side I'd use a deep socket that fits close and strike the board to expose as much nail as possible. the padding used on the upholstered side covers the metal strip so it doesn't show through. As the cloth or leather is wrapped around the nails can poke through as well. I can let you know later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for the input West, but the black ceramic? No thanks. It just doesn't look like they did back in the day. "Semi-Gloss" black ceramic seems to be a settled for finish. I agree that it's becoming a popular choice and know of the durability from my racing and hot rod exploits. This for a 34 Packard (go figure, huh?) and nothing but that shiney black glass look will do. I've heard of the MN loaction and they did a 34 Packard 12 for us about 6yrs ago. It did come out very nice and of course the right OEM look. I've not had the opportunity to seek out my old source yet. If I do I'll show a progres post from start to finish. I did meet with my local powder coat guy a couple days ago. Unless the inside is perfectly clean then the ceramic will burn off in no time. I'm thinking of soaking this old rusty 1101 manifold in a molasses bath for a couple weeks to clean the inside. If it works (carbon and all) I'll do the inside coating before it goes out. If not we'll just restore as usual and hope for the best.

You can always dig through some online MSDS pages and see the content. Not too easy to read but not too hard either. Here's one: http://qclubricants.com/msds/RotellaT140_MSDS.pdf