Dave Mitchell
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Posts posted by Dave Mitchell
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The original cars that I have had didn't have plain soft rubber body cushions, but harder rubber with cording in it, like belting or even like early tire sidewalls, and they didn't compress as much as soft rubber. If they were replaced with soft rubber, they might well allow the body to settle. Some cars had metal plates sandwiched with rubber, but I haven't seen that on the late 30s early 40s production Packards.
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There are two mirror image castings at the lower end of the steering column and the shift linkage attaches to them. These castings were originally pot metal on the early years of the Handi Shift, and they wore quickly on the inside where the tab (which both selected the casting and moved them) went in the slot on the casting. Wear in this place is usually what results in the car getting stuck in one gear and you have to get out and manually put it back to neutral. Packard did replace the pot metal ones with steel, but these also wear, albeit more slowly, but will end up with the same problem. Packard also supplied a kit to replace and tighten the pivot points for the linkage with shims and spring washers. You might also look at the linkage and check it for wear, and replace it or weld it up and work it back to original. If all the pieces are back to original specs, and things are adjusted correctly, the column shift just clicks from gear to gear easily, quickly and reliably, with fairly small throws. Once you have it fixed, you probably won't wear it out.
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My first choice for build quality and engineering, along with luxury and sheer fun of driving would be the Packard 12 closed cars of 1938 and 1939. They are wonderful cars to drive, and make you smile everytime you take them out. They have lots of power and massive torque, the best balance and handling of all the Packard 12s, plus all the burl wood and wonderfully comfortable interiors, you can drive them all day and still feel like getting back in the car. They are reliable and quiet and very low maintenance. They are the last of the era of "overbuilt" cars - heavier and more rugged with higher quality than necessary, and not built to a budget on an high output assembly line. My second choice would be the 1941 Packard 180 LeBaron Sport Brougham with air conditioning. I love the styling and they too are great cars to drive.
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The antenna guy drove me away too. Ebay must collect for every listing or they wouldn't let him do that. It can't possibly sell that many antennas. Does he have a computer program that lists that stuff? Who has that much time to put all of those on? Incredible.
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I can send you engine mount photos. packard12s@hotmail.com
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Harold's grandson can buy the Murphy bodied Buick town car when it comes up for auction next month...
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The straight grill shell tells you that it is 35 not 36. X frame, 35/36 side mount casting, 35 - 37 dash, and cowl curved for DeSaknoffsky hood - it is most likely a 35.
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Contact me at packard12s@hotmail.com and I can help you.
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Fred Roe was truly a gentleman and a scholar, unassuming and helpful, with a terrific knowledge of many classics, not just Duesenbergs. I really enjoyed talking about coachbuilt cars with him. This is a great loss to automotive history.
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I have an NOS left side motor if you are interested. Dave packard12s@hotmail.com
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Wow, you are really having a busy year, but it sounds like fun. That is a long time to commit to being on a volunteer board - it is great to have guys like you who do that. If you come to Moline someday stop by and see me and we will get out some Packards, a Cad and maybe even a Buick. If you send me your address at packard12s@hotmail.com, I will make sure you get a CCCA application in the mail. It would be great to have you back in the club.
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The fact that wealthy and famous people owned the cars does have some impact, so I would include that as far as you have it. I always wonder where people come up with the information when they say what the production costs were of cars like Packard 12s or Cad 16s, Pierce or Franklin 12s, or newer cars like Mark IIs or Eldorados. I suppose that it exists somewhere, but I haven't seen it, only heard it repeated. It would be interesting to see if it does exist. I suppose that even in the day it was buried deep in the automaker's interal accounting records and only the unit managers really knew for sure. Your age and experience with the cars would give you an edge with those reading the application. I am no longer on the committee, so what I say is just what I know from the 12 years that I was on it, but those applications that talked about the real merits of the series rather than just saying that they were better than other cars already classics usually carried more weight. For me, performance is certainly a factor and I appreciate my 41 Packards with 160 hp, and 165 with the high compression heads, so the Buicks should impress too.
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On the other hand, I feel like the Buick Roadmaster would be a more likely candidate for classic status than the 6 cyl T & C. But if you do it, do it right and really put together a case for the car itself, not just a comparision to other cars already classics. The comparison is fine, but can't be the whole argument. It has to be where the car fits in the market, where it was advertized and how, price points, production costs, production numbers, who bought them, the features that they had, chassis, trim, interior, etc that sets them apart from the average production car.
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I think that at least two Coachcraft cars already have classic status - perhaps the silver car in the photos above, which I think was owned in the Seattle area, and a 41 Cadillac in New England.
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Open car shutters are shorter.
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1933 1934 open car radiator shutter assembly for sale. Also 32 - 34 Twelve water pump, trunk rack brackets, frt license plate bracket, tail light lenses (blue dot), head light lenses right and left, rear shock shield, door handles, coil bracket for 34 12, distributor base for 32 Twin Six, 32 tail light buckets and bezels, etc. packard12s@hotmail.com
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Hi Mal,
Send me an email at packard12s@hotmail.com and I will send you some photos. If you still have holes in the boards, mask them before you have they recoated so you will end up with a uniform surface. Ask the people putting on the coating to thin it down to let it flow out more and be less rippley - but you still want a fairly thick coating. I would sand it down smooth before you take it to have it recoated. I found out the hard way that if you sand through one layer, you will be able to see the edge of that layer and you will have to start over. We started with coarse paper - like 80 grit on the really rippled surface and worked our way down to 400 I think, maybe 600. I treat it with a rubber preservative a couple times a year and it has stayed nice. You need to have it thick enough so that it will flex a bit like the rubber did. The nice thing is that you can use it as a running board and not worry about it.
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My spray on boards have been done for 11 years now and still look great. I saw a Steele set on a show car recently and they were the worst thing on the car - even with a really good job, all the seams show, and of course they weren't there when original. West's brother and a lot of others did theirs after seeing mine (and West mentioning it in his magazine article). It does take a lot of work to make them nice though, but it is worth it.
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The kickdown switch is in the engine compartment and attached to the throttle linkage near the firewall. I can send you a photo. packard12s@hotmail.com
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Trunk rack, time to learn something new, do some research on the introductory color schemes for 1938. Remember Charles Blackman's 38 12 convertible victoria? Chinese red with a chinese red dash, stripe color wheels, striped body color, body color bumper brackets. The car was original, now restored and at the ACD museum. I have factory photos of a Packard ivory coupe roadster with beetle green wheels and ivory dash, taken by the brick wall at the factory. I will grant that most 38s had the grey dash - all 5 of my 12s do and all 6 of my spare dashes are, but that doesn't mean they all were. I have also seen an original limo with a black dash. Also I will disagree with you that Packard wouldn't accept custom paint orders, all of the 38 literature like data books and price lists I have lists custom options for paint and interior either with a cost or no extra cost for both 38 and 39 seniors. Packard was in business to sell cars and that wasn't easy in 38/39; they would do what it took to move them. There is a reason that they sold so few seniors in 38/39 and it wasn't that they couldn't build them.
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Light metallic grey is correct, and typical, but it was an option to have them body color. I have seen two original cars done that way. I have also seen a limo that was done in black.
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The dome light will work without the parking lights on, but the running board courtesy lights do need the parking lights on I believe. This is sort of odd, since you would have to open the front door and turn on the lights, then open the door for the people getting in the back. I don't think that any of my 38s have a 3 position switch for the dome, but I would have to check. The jamb switches should always turn on the dome, no matter what, I think, at least in standard configuration, unless an owner wanted to be able to get in the car without being seen at night and had that modified.
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The chrome shell, as well as chromed light housings were an option from 35 - 39, and the 38s and 39 chrome shells were done just as this car is. On a 38/39 there is no natural place to break that off. This was done on more cars in the US than you might think since almost all have since been painted with the idea of making the hood look longer. It was a pretty popular option in Europe however where chrome grill shells were in favor up into the 40s - think Horch and Mercedes Benz - I know of several original cars in Europe that still have chrome shells including 2 39 Super 8s delivered to the Swedish royal family. Likewise I thought that 38/39 would never have been two toned, but factory photos and dealer letters, as well as extant cars indicate otherwise. Some were subtle, such as the 39 convertible sedan (the body color is original paint on that car) and some were more of a contrast, and it was also done on sedans. The (John) Deere family had a 38 limo which was dark green with black fenders and a wealthy family in Portland OR had a limo which was beige with brown fenders. There was also an option of having wheels painted the body stripe color, the dash body color as well as the bumper brackets and some parts usually black. Two tone interiors were also available, half leather and half bedford cord - Packard was in business to sell cars and did whatever they could in the middle of the 1938/39 economic downturn. I would have to admit that at first I wasn't a fan of the chrome shell, but I have been around the 39 convertible quite a bit and I really like it as a unique feature now, and think of it as part of the extra flash that was what the original owner wanted. It is kind of nice that it has survived that way as a historical record. This particular 39 is a fantastic car to drive with awesome power and great balance - a truly magnificent road car - the best 12 I have driven.
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The door jamb switches should control the dome light as well at the running board courtesy lights on a 12. Usually there are two switches, one on each B pillar, one for the dome light and the other for the quarter lights, and they are on/off switches. On the jamb switches, the ball pushes in on the mechanism for the switch, pretty much like other push in jamb switches.
1940-1941 difference
in Packard
Posted
I have a friend who has a division window set up out of a 1940 if you are interested.
packard12s@hotmail.com