In way over my head..... but trying to remain optimistic

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

Hi all.... I am mallory and i have two classic cars, 1959 MGA and a 1939Packard club sedan. My MGA is a bit far gone for me to focus on right now so i am putting all my attention on the Packard.

A little history on the Packard, Sometime in like....2000 my father and me were selling the 1976 Rolls Royce we restored and a man came up enamored with it. He said he had bout half the cash, and would like to trade the rest. He said he had a Packard and he showed us where we could find it. Dad and i found it.... I was enamored with it.Love at first sight. It was a relic from a very different world. I begged my dad to buy it. He was hesitant. We had just finished a HUGE project of bringing that Rolls Royce back from the dead and he was not exactly thrilled to have another project. But daughters often get their way when it comes to dads.

We were both delighted that such a rough looking car could drive us the nearly 35 miles back home. Though it ran, things were very wrong with this car.

 

Time passed nothing happened with the car..... Ever. I went off to college, and Dad and mom sold the farm.... Literally! The Packard was backed into a shipping container where is sat for maybe 5 years.... till my dad shipped it to my brother from vancouver WA to mesa AZ. ....(long story)

I just got the car back yesterday and my dad signed the title over to me. So now its my turn to being this relic back. since the last i saw someone has sprayed some paint on it badly. I am assuming this was my brother on account of rust perhaps.... Not sure, but it dripped badly and now it needs some attention.... But for the most part i am relieved to now have it back.

So that is my story on the old girl.

Edited May 27, 2015 by impulsivelystupid.lol (see edit history)

[39BuickEight]

What a great car! Best of luck with it!

[trimacar]

Great story and pictures, you'll find a lot of support here and elsewhere in the antique car hobby....there are a lot of pitfalls to restoring an old car, if you ask there are people on this forum that know how to avoid some of them...nice car......

[Packard Don]

Great car with an unusual body style. It looks much like a '40 110 Club Sedan that I used to own until a few years ago. Is it a Super 8 or a 12? If it runs, once you clean out the fuel system and brakes, and reinstall the interior, it looks like you should be able to get back on the road relatively easily, then restore it as you go. By the way, I used to have a 1959 MGA too (or was it a '58).

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

Great car with an unusual body style. It looks much like a '40 110 Club Sedan that I used to own until a few years ago. Is it a Super 8 or a 12? If it runs, once you clean out the fuel system and brakes, and reinstall the interior, it looks like you should be able to get back on the road relatively easily, then restore it as you go. By the way, I used to have a 1959 MGA too (or was it a '58).

You are right it is an unusual body style. I believe it to be custom.... My father and i debated on if its originally a Club Sedan or that at some point went through a conversion with a coach works company... The dealer who sold it in LA was well know to customize his Packard's.

This one is a Super 8 yes. It already can run. Starts up fine... But the breaks are all disconnected so it would be rather dangerous to drive till i replace the broken front drum and reconnect things. The things this car needs is

New belts and hoses.

New break drum for front.

Replace 6 v battery.

Clean the chassis (wire brush off rust and dust)

Im NOT re chroming this car but the bright work needs some shine.... any pointers?

Change the lubricants:oil engine transmission, rear axel and replace wheel bearings. Lube chassis.

Carburetor needs cleaning.

Needs a new headliner.... Might need some help figuring this part out.

Put antifreeze in the radiator mix with water ect...

Needs new running boards.

transmission linkage needs some adjustment.

Drivers door window and passenger vent need replacements.

Wiring needs to be replaced but i already have the kit.

A good sand down and a paint job!

Then i may call it quits and sell it to fund the MGA project.

Its a good list, but not too bad considering most of the spendy stuff has already been done.

[Ozstatman]

G'day Mallory,

You might also post on the PackardInfo.com Website - http://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/

[Joe Block]

It llok like the hard body work been done, Paint it and enjoy

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

Realistically however....What should I expect to spend on a paint job for this? I am not made of money, but I would like to put a fairly quality paint job on this without breaking the bank...and I differ with my father on this point but i refuse to do a MACO paint job on this car. He says that maco does a good job, but i am sorry, i just cant agree.... I do not mind doing most of the prep work, but what am i looking at when it comes to cost? For a car of this size. Two toned.

[39BuickEight]

It's not the shop that determines the paint job, it's the painter. I'd expect $2000-$3000 for a decent professional job, and it only goes up from there. Good painters that take pride in their work will not return a car to the owner that's not up to snuff.

[trimacar]

Well, first of all, two toned (fenders darker than body) usually doesn't work well on cars after about 1933.

A professional paint job these days is $8000 to $20,000, with the lower number being a decent looking car, and the higher number being a block sanded optically near perfect job.

Nice car but restoration costs can put you upside down(more in car than it's worth) very quickly...good luck with it..

[Guest Bill Miller]

90% of the work and cost of new paint is in the preparation. Do as much as you can of the dollying, filling, and sanding and even priming yourself and save some money. I would worry more about the mechanicals than the cosmetics. You mention a carb cleaning being necessary. If it's not running right that's usually not the problem. Check out the plugs, plug wires, points and timing first, then the coil and only after you are sure the electrics are working right then worry about the carb. Also make sure you are running fresh fuel. I don't think you are over your head, just stick with it and work out one thing at a time. Just don't catch the thing on fire and you'll be alright. Also try using Maas on the chrome to clean it up. You can buy it at most good hardware stores. Best of luck.

[West Peterson]

If you're going to paint it two-tone, you may as well have Maco do it, because it will be incorrect. No sense in spending a lot of money on doing it wrong. They were not two-toned from the factory, and as Trimacar said, it doesn't look right on that age of car. While there was an odd job or two that left the factory with two-tone, 99.9 percent were all one color from 1935-40. Two-tone arrived back on the scene for Packard in 1941, but not with the fenders. It was optional to paint the top a different color, and I've seen the tops of hoods painted the second color as well. Certainly not the fenders, though.

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

Thanks guys good tips. I was going basically off of the tones my dad picked out. I like the look of a two toned car. But I want to do a proper restoration. Not an incorrect one. And since it is mine now, I want to do it right, especially since i plan on possibly selling it in the near future, most interested parties would probably prefer an proper representation of the time and make of the car. Anyway again Thanks! I will be looking for a good painter. Maybe I need to frequent some classic car shows and ask about. See where they went with their cars.

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

At Bill miller, you are right. The gas tank is old and needs to actually be taken off and cleaned out or replaced, the gas inside is well over 8 years old now. LOL. My dad has warned me not to start it up till most of the list has been tackled. I am a patient methodical person. I sure hope i dont catch that car on fire... My garage is below my house!

[West Peterson]

Since I'm fairly certain that Packard didn't offer that body style from the factory until 1940, I would advise that you take lots of detailed pictures from the inside showing how the rear window was "blanked out." You are correct that E.C. Anthony had some cars modified by Bohmann & Schwartz, but since you don't have any documentation for that, nor a body tag, the next owner is going to want to see if the job was done in a professional manner, or "shade-tree." Usually When B&S did that type of modification, they also removed the running boards and bobbed the front fender "Darrin-esque."

While you're painting it, you should also remove the extra lights below the headlights. If you want to incorporate turn signals on the car, either find a pair of 1940 parking lights that fit on top of the fenders, or use a nice type of light that you can mount to the bumper brackets.

My father bought the 1940 version of that car when I was six, and it was going to be mine if anything tragically happened to him before he sold it. Today I have a 1940, but it's the long-wheelbase limo.

Edited October 26, 2013 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[Restorer32]

Bear in mind that any really good professional painter will be reluctant to paint over your bodywork, primer etc. May be better to do what you do best and pay a paint and body guy to do what he does best. We won't paint anything unless we are allowed to start from bare metal. Top quality primer, sealer and paint for your car would set you back at least $1500 just for the materials.

[carbking]

Just an additional comment to what Bill Miller had to say about the carb. As he said, do it LAST after doing a good electrical tune-up. If you do have to go into the carb, the following is very important:

The EE series carburetors were Stromberg's first thin-wall casting. When removing the fuel line from the carburetor, it is imperative that two wrenches be used; one to support the fuel fitting, the other to loosen the fuel line. Stromberg issued service bulletins to all of the car companies, and the car companies issued bulletins to their dealers, and the mechanics didn't read the bulletins, and broke the castings. EE-23 bowls were made from unobtanium, and verypricium!

Jon.

[Packard Don]

Interestingly, the very first photo of this car clearly shows the rear quarter windows so this modification was done much later in it's life. Even so, it was very well done from the dropping of the rain gutters down the back of the doors to the rounding of the door corners themselves. The fact that the quarters appear to still be in primer adds to the recentness of the conversion. Nevertheless, it is beautiful car and a great example of enhancing an already-attractive style. When completed (and even now) this will be an elegant car!

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

Packard Don right you!! are good eye! something i totally missed!!! I never noticed that in the picture. I was too busy looking at the headlights. I will mention that to my dad. In the time i have known this car i never saw the back third windows OR TOOK NOTICE. So...I dont know. My dads mind is unfortunately failing. Maybe he knows more... Or knew more. I was very young like 12 or even eleven when i picked out the car. Maybe either my dad did it and....heartbreakingly does not recall or this picture was taken before we owned it. The property its on looks like the farm i grew up on. so....head scratch-er there. Wow....How could i have missed that? not original....at all then. but i never really thought it was in the first place so this is not a situation changer for me or anything.

Edited October 26, 2013 by impulsivelystupid.lol (see edit history)

[Guest impulsivelystupid.lol]

Yep that is defiantly the farm i grew up on.... Ugh... I wish my dads mind was not failing me. I want to know! Must have been done when the rest of the body work was done. .....Now i sit studying the pictures trying to figure out THE REAL STORY HERE... I will call up my mom and see what she knows. Dad and i have debated it together before... Now i feel like he knew all along the truth. I guess i cant hold it against him if he dont remember.... But i cant help feeling lied to right now. but the pictures dont lie. Thanx so much for pointing that detail out Don.

Edited October 26, 2013 by impulsivelystupid.lol (see edit history)

[1935Packard]

Very interesting thread. My only advice is to try to decide now, before you start, whether you plan to keep the car for the long run or sell it after it has been fixed up. If you're going to sell it, as you suggested you might, then your choices should be guided solely by what is worth doing: What steps will make the car worth more than the added cost of the step? On the other hand, if you're going to keep it, then consider it a labor of love and do what you want and what will make you happy.

The difference is particularly important because in the first case -- if you are going to sell it -- the realistic best option may be to sell the car now rather than spend money on it at all. It's easy to spend a lot more on a car than it could ever be worth. Especially with a sedan, you could end up spending tons of money and have to sell it for much less than the extra money you put in (even ignoring the value of the car when you started). That's not an option if you plan to keep the car, of course: In that case, what matters is what is meaningful to you in light of what is possible with the resources you have. Those are two very different paths, and it's probably sensible to figure out now which one you want to take. My 2 cents, anyway.

Edited October 29, 2013 by 1935Packard (see edit history)