Clipper47

Dave, My Motor's Manual give the following max. torque figures; 356CID (1940-1950 Senior engine) 292ft/lbs @2000RPM 474CID 405ft/Lbs @2800RPM Curiously the torque figure for the 474 engine is the same for both the 290HP and 310HP versions of the engine. Regards

The transmission is very sturdy and can probably handle the 374 engine without a problem. It was a transmission common used in early hot rods and known to be tough as I recall.

To add to what has been said when turning the idle screws in do so very gently and stop when you feel the screw bottoming and don't screw down further or you will put a groove in it at the other end of the screw. Also when adjusting the float I usually hold the carb body upside down as explained by Speedster but be sure to measure at both ends of the float with the ruler so that the float sits level at both ends since it is a two barrel carb. Adjust the tab which controls the float needle valve with a pair of needle nose pliers but be gentle as a small adjustment goes a long way! I generally use a drill bit the same diameter as the float measurement specified as a measuring tool rather than the paper ruler that comes with the kits. I also like to adjust idle with a vacuum gauge as suggested by Owen.

I bought my '47 Packard for about $7500 Canadian or approx. $4000US in 2001. I once bought a nice original Cadillac 75 Imperial limousine for $350 but that was in 1966!

Bob, My '83 only has 180000 miles so is barely broken in. It's the most reliable and trouble free car of the 30 odd cars that I have ever owned although I rebuilt the carb and replaced fuel pump about 3 years ago. Other than that and oil changes and brake pads I haven't done anything in about 6 years. I just bought an '89 240GL for $300 that has 300000 miles on it and for a $200 in parts it's back on the road.

I have a daily driver 1983 242 with the B21A engine and it is 25 years old this year so I guess it is officially an "antique". I love the PV544 and really do hope to own one someday to keep my Packard company in the garage.

Back when I had each of my VW's (a 1967 and then a 1980) I put regular snow treads on the front and studded snow treads on the rear. Kept the gas tank in front full and had enough stuff in the trunk to equal out the weight of the engine in the back. That sucker would go anywhere in any weather. I never missed work because of snow or ice. Susan, I have to agree with you that those old VW are great vehicles in snow or mud. With that flat floor pan and the tall skinny tires they would go just about anywhere a 4X4 could go. On badly rutted bush roads they were narrow enough that you could straddle the ruts and go where most big vehicle couldn't. A local paper company owned a fleet of VW as bush vehicle for their employees.

Matt, That is true with front wheel drive vehicles and that is why the "experts" recommend putting 4 snow tires on the car. I don't have the same experience with my rear drive ones and have been putting snow tires on the rear axle only for decades and have never had an accident while driving on winter roads (touch wood!).

I've driven 4X4 vehicles for 50 years and this is the first time I have heard of this sales scheme. I might see some rationale for changing two tires on the same axle depending on how worn the tires are. To be forced to change all four seems like a rip-off and another example of taking advantage of uninformed people.

As a young man seeking adventure I found jobs in the Canadian arctic. I wish I could find an opportunity to visit/work in Antarctica. Cold climates aren't for everyone but they are facinating to the few.

West , I agree with your expression also but in this case I don't think the buyer could go too far wrong provided it is in as good a shape as it appears to be. Having said that I don't think I would buy a car without a personal inspection by a qualified person familiar with the car. I see the reserve has been lowered.........

Tom, I agree with Speedster. If you like it buy it. Life is too short to worry about a few extra dollars for something that will make you happy. As a friend of mine once said about old cars."You don't pay too much ; you buy too soon."

tbirdman, What a beautiful car and with overdrive as a bonus. Wish I had room for another Packard.

If you have the leather why not do the whole car. I found that SMS had the correct wool fabric and correct pattern for my '47 also but it was very expensive when I had the add the then exchange rate on the Canadian dollar. My upholstery man suggested I needed about 13 yards of fabric so I opted for a modern cloth material which resembled the original for a Custom model. I think that the door panel fabric is quite easily obtainable since it is just a plain fabric so you could do the panels in cloth as the original and do just the seats in leather. It would be very elegant!

Matthew, You must know that I am kidding anyway since 60C is 140F !

Denny, That would be it. Very much like British cars of the era. I think it would look very nice in leather but boy will that be expensive or what! Door panels look to be standard cloth material though.

Mathew, Here we go again....Is that 60 Fahrenheit or Celsius?

Wayne, Coat? I wear a parka not a coat!

Sometimes my best stuff... oh, never mind. Ops , Sorry West I thought you were serious. It was -40 F in International Falls MN and -40C in Fort Francis, Ontario across the Rainy River It was -46F (-43C) here Sunday with windchill.

West, At -40 the temperature is the same on both scales.

The components of a car today are far less stressed on a regular basis, and (for the most part) outlast our older model stuff by orders of magnitude. A properly built and functioning modern car shouldn't need 2 alternators in it's lifetime, let alone 3 in 5 years. Clearly there were other problems with the Blazer. I have to agree with you Dave, the new cars or at least most of them are definitely more reliable than cars made in the 80's and earlier. The upside about old cars is that they can be repaired by the average joe at home without a lot of specialized tools and electronic testers etc. Of course modern cars emit many times less harmful emissions than the old cars. The air in most cities is bad now and imagine how impossibly polluted it would be if we all drove antique cars as our daily drivers.

Although I have a personal fondness for the Volvo PV544, Amazon and Mercedes Benz 190/220(especially the Diesels) my recommendation is that a VW would be the best car of the 60's to use as a modern daily driver. It's the closest car to a Ford Model T made in the past 50 years. I owned two of them and they were both reliable,parts are still available, easy to repair and gave great gas mileage. The only real downside is terrible heating/defrost system (virtually non existant actually!). My second choice would be a Mopar with the 170/225CID slant 6 preferably a Valiant or Dodge Dart etc. That's my 2 cents on the subject.

In any 46-47 Limousine (2126) models I have seen with division window the chauffeur compartment upholstery is leather. I once had a 47 Cadillac Model 75 divison window car and it was upholstered in black leather also but the rrear seats were in cloth. I have seen photos of "export" cars shipped to offshore markets that were entirely upholstered in leather but I have never seen or heard of it otherwise. The 1947 Parts book shows "Leather Upholstering (genuine) as part # 31.4812 so I guess it was available although other than export cars I have never seen an original car with leather seating? If I can find a photo of one I will post it.

When I was attending forest ranger school in the 1960's a bunch of the boys carried an instructors VW and placed it onto a floating dock one night. They then cut the cables holding the dock to shore and pushed the dock and car out onto the lake. The car and dock were located the next day about a mile down the lake where they had drifted ashore. Another time one of the students who was a bit of a prankster wrapped a roll of toilet paper around the air filter of another students car just before he was heading home for the weekend.When he returned on Sunday night he was complaining about the terrible gas mileage he was getting.

Looked like a nice Packard and a model I would like to own especially for that price!