1940 Packard 180

[West Peterson]

In 2005, I acquired a 1940 Packard 1808 Touring Sedan. It had been sitting for the better part of 45 years in a small wooden-floored museum in west central Minnesota. I first saw the car when I was 7 years old, in 1967. It always intrigued me, because it had factory air conditioning, and was generally an all original car that had never been restored. Through the years it had been maintained regularly. It was quickly repainted and even the front seat was reupholstered at some point. Recorded mileage from 1959 to 2005 was less than 1,000 miles.

The first day I drove the car, it made a LOT of noises. None sounded serious, but certainly noises that needed to be addressed before the car could be used regularly.

This is how the car looked when I got it. Nice tour condition, but when looked at more closely, there are many issues to be fixed.

Edited January 11, 2013 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

My dad had a very similar car in the mid 1960s, a Super Eight but a much shorter club sedan on the 127-inch wheelbase (quite rare, actually). This is a photo of me sitting on its running board. The photo appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1967, which illustrated coverage of that year's Classic Car Club Grand Classic, being held in the Minneapolis auditorium. I was 7 years old.

Edited January 11, 2013 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

My first order of business was to rebuild or replace much of the front end suspension pieces, including tie rod ends, king pins, center steering link, and shocks, along with cleaning 50 years of gunk, repacking front wheel bearings, and installing new seals.

I attempted to drop the oil pan, but there were a few bolts in the very front that were not accessible. The problem was that the front engine mount (a cradle, actually) rubber bushing had deteriorated to the point that the engine had dropped down about an inch due to the sagging rubber. This prevented access to the already tight space of getting to the bolts. Since I wasn't ready to change the engine mount, I inserted a metal hanger in the oil drain hole and scraped the bottom of the oil pan to determine how much gunk may be sitting down there. Fortunately, it felt relatively clean, so I decided to wait on the motor mount replacement for next spring.

Edited January 11, 2013 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

King pins and tie rod ends replaced, and after much chassis cleaning.

[West Peterson]

The following spring (2006), I backed out of the garage and immediately discovered a pretty sizable radiator leak. The following weekend, two of my best friends knocked on my back door and said, let's get to work.

Two hours later.....

[Landman]

Looking at your front steering photo brought back some memories. I powned the other end of the spectrum (a 110) for 12 years. I remember searching high & low for a replacement center bolt. It turs out the hole in the crossmember had enlarged so we cleaned up the hole and a friend made a new oversize bolt with all the shoulders andgbrease passages.

[West Peterson]

According to Packard Service Letters of the time, there were so many "green" mechanics working in Packard dealerships during the war, that many (or most) were not aware that the steering link needed lubricating (yellow arrow is pointing to the center steering link). There's a Zerk fitting on the bottom in plain view, but it just was not something your normal Buick or Dodge mechanic looked for. It's amazing the improvement of steering/handling once you've replaced that steering link. I was fortunate to find a NOS link, although I think the Packard suppliers are offering them now.

Another note of contention with me is that many people feel the need to put radial tires on prewar cars. That is simply a waste of effort, if not money. Once you have replaced and rebuilt everything in the front end, you'll find no need to have radial tires. My father made that mistake, too, with his nearly identical 1942. I told him to rebuild first. He didn't. When it came time to align his front end after installing the radials, he got a phone call stating that it was not possible until he rebuilt his front end. Soon after his front-end rebuild, I did a drive comparison of the two cars. I felt no discernible difference. If there was any difference, it certainly wasn't enough to ruin the looks of a prewar car with radial tires. I should note, though, that I have some pretty old Firestone tires on my car. It may be that the new bias ply tires aren't as good, which is why I'm hesitant to replace my tires.

Edited January 11, 2013 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

The 1940 Packard 180 models were delivered with double white sidewall tires as standard equipment (meaning white sidewalls on both sides). They are not available, and I don't think they've ever been reproduced in the proper size. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the sidemounts and found two factory double white sidewall tires!

[unimogjohn]

Wes, glad to see you finally posting. What is the current condition of the car today? Is it up and running down the road? Beautiful, big car, and super rare with that AC.

[Guest Rob McDonald]

Man, I wish I was that cute once.

It's great that you're pulling up the story of refurbishing your car several years ago. Restoration tales don't need to have happened yesterday to be helpful and fun to read.

I seem to recall pictures of this car with several different roof lines. That must have been a busy weekend. I will remember not to invite your friends over, if I need help fixing a leaky rad. "Oh, let's just pull this pesky sheet metal out of the way."

[Marty Roth]

With the help of friends to get all that sheet metal out of the way, it must have been the perfect time to replace that front engine mount. Then the effort of cleaning the chassis would have been the natural course of action.

Was it necessary to pull the engine and transmission? Sometimes we just do stuff because we can. Othe times we know when it is appropriate to stop. Sometimes a fuel pump rebuild and slack accelerator linkage turns into a full restoration (ask me how I know).

The Double-Sided Whitewalls do look right on that car.

West, that really is a very special car. We almost swapped with a friend for a 1941 160 many (25?) years ago. As I recall, it had a divider window and jump seats. The owner changed his mind and still has the car.

[West Peterson]

The front clip was pulled off with full intentions of diving in the deep end. We did not pull the engine or tranny. It only has 50,000 miles on it. A bent valve was replaced just before I got it, but other than that, the engine itself didn't need anything. We started with the motor mount, actually, and sent the radiator to a rad shop.

[West Peterson]

In addition to replacing the motor mount, the good and the bad shown here, we pulled the water pump off so that we could check the condition of the coolant distribution tube. It was actually in extremely good condition, but we thoroughly flushed the engine at this point.

[West Peterson]

Since the engine had been painted the incorrect color of green sometime in its past, I took the opportunity to put a coat of the correct color on it, in addition to removing many other parts and refinishing them. The carburetor was rebuilt at this point, too. Since the fuel pump looked practically brand new on it, I made the decision to let it be (bad decision, I might add). Also, the water pump looked good on visual inspection as well, so I decided to let that go as well (two bad decisions in a row). Shocks were sent out to Apple Hydraulics (3rd bad decision). Shocks were then sent to Five Points Classic Auto Shocks in San Diego, where they were returned in good order. I also dressed it up with some chrome acorn head nuts, which were an option.

Note the firewall is covered with insulation. It was standard practice for Packard to insulate the interior firewall, door panels and ceiling with insulation (on cars equipped with factory air conditioning), but this is the only car we're aware of that has been insulated on both sides of the fire wall. It is the highest known serial number of this body style for 1940 (delivered in July 1940), so perhaps they were experimenting. ???? If they were experimenting, it never made it into 1941 production for cars with a/c.

Edited January 13, 2013 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

Our "radiator repair/motor-mount repair" and all the "while you're at its" didn't get finished until the following year. While the the front clip was off, I had to store it outside on a pallet, and covered it with a tarp. In all the areas where the fenders had been re-painted, the paint bubbled up and made my fenders look like they had alligator skin. A paint job for the front lip was certainly in the plans for the near future.

Once re-attached to the car, and right on cue, I had a hard time judging where the garage door opening was on my way into the garage. While the fender was going to have to be repainted anyway, this little episode kind of sped up the calendar a little bit.

The running boards are supposed to attach to the front fenders, but the back of the fenders were a little bit rusty, so the bolts had nothing to hold on to. In addition, there were a few scratches here and there on the hood and dog-house... and lights... so we decided to paint the whole front end.

[Guest Rob McDonald]

Wow. Your car has got to be the only Classic that ever looked great without its headlights. I'm even seeing a vision of the Packard Predictor.

[alsancle]

Your approach is a very sound one. "Nut and Bolt" restorations are more or less impossible now. Also, for such a low mileage original car a bad idea.

Is someone reproducing those water tubes in stainless?

[West Peterson]

I've not heard of them being reproduced in stainless. I thought they were being done in brass. Mine wasn't in need of being replaced, so I've never researched it too far. Are you needing one?