My next project? 1921 Packard Coupe

11 minute(s) of a 548 minute read

Today I have been working on the '34 Lagonda. I have been having a problem getting it to idle at a satisfactory engine speed (800rpm) At last I discovered the root of all the problems. It had a very minor air leak in the gasket between the inlet manifold and the cylinder head. It has taken several attempts to find it but at last i have a nice even idle at the desired 800 revs.

12-4-2011

Hello Roger

I am exceptionally lucky with the 1934 Lagonda Rapier. The Rapier Register based in the UK has an incredible parts service. There is virtually no mechanical, steering or suspension part that they cannot supply. As a Club based service this is done on a cost plus basis. Postage is kept to a minimum despite an almost same day delivery. All this for a 76 year old car that the entire production over four years did not exceed 400. I keep a credit balance in my "Spares Account" this way anything that I may need is mailed the same day that I e-mail a request. Fortunately the car is so reliable that spares are very seldom required despite being used "competitively" at least once a month. I do all my own servicing and repairs. The distributor has been rebuilt to use a commonly available points set and condenser and it uses 14mm spark plugs that can be bought from any local parts supplier. 

For the Packard I have had very few parts that have proved difficult to find, for those that are, I have found that generally my friends around the world have been extremely helpful, especially the ones I have meet through the AACA.

12-5-2011

the Lincoln Tire Co ceased production during the 1960s If I could narrow that down to an actual year it would give me a starting point. One way or an other I am determined to discover something of my Packards history. 

Bernie J.

Going back some little time I asked if anyone could supply me with the actual year that the Lincoln Tyre Co ceased production. Of all the people who look at this thread surely there is one who can give me this information or can tell me where to find it. While it may seem trivial without some history for the car I may NEVER be permitted to register it for use on the road here in Australia. As the Lincoln tires on the car seem never to have been used it would give me an approximate date from which to start searching the Australian Customs archives. No small task on its own.

12-7-2011

While all that has been going on I have not slacked off completely. To-day I have spent some time on the wiring loom and fixing the flexible conduit to the frame. Some relatively boring photographs tell the story. The first shows the head lamp wires located in the fender stay. As a compromise I have used 'black" wire with coloured traces. also the main beam uses a slightly heavier gauge wire. The next photo shows the flexible conduit as it exits the front cross member and goes through the frame into the fender stay. Next shot shows a bunch of wires exiting the main conduit leading to the junction box on the bulkhead. Finally the ignition wires at the rear of the engine. The two high tension wires are the multi colour going from the coil to the distributor, the plain to the Fuelizer plug.

Speaking to Dave the Painter he tells me that he has made a start but will not have anything worth getting excited about to show me until after Christmas.

In Australia we tend to take our main (Summer) holidays at Christmas/New Year so I don't expect very much progress until well into January.

Hi Roger

I think that I will stick with pre 1940 cars thank you. I don't think that I could cope with all the power assist and computer controls. I think that a lot of the charm of late teens and early 1920s cars is their simplicity and their honesty. They simply do what they were made to do. Almost any fool can work on them. even old ones...

Going back to the photographs in my earlier post. The third one is of the stop light switch with a red wire bringing in live power and the yellow with the red trace going to the lamp. The plain black wire by-passing the switch is the tail lamp. I am not sure why the other photograph did not appear. 

In effect this thread is an on going record of everything that is done on the Packard.

If you go back to my thread on the Dixie Flyer it did basically the same thing following the car from the day I first saw it at a farm clearance to the day it was returned to the family who still run the company (Kentucky Wagon founded 1860) that built it almost 90 years earlier.(Now Kentucky Trailer.)

By co-incidence I saw the Packard for the first time at the same farm clearance. Sadly I don't think that the great,great,great,great grand children of the founders of Packard had the same commitment

Hello again,

On the subject of the availability of spares from the UK most of these originate with "not for profit", one make clubs. the Riley and Alvis Clubs come immediately to mind. The Lagonda Club has a spares scheme for the bigger cars, the 4.5 litres in particular. The Rapier Register is a one model club catering for the 1934 Lagonda Rapier and the later 1935-38 Rapier cars (identical except for the badge) built by a separate organisation after the Lagonda Company was re-structered in 1935. Almost without exception these spares schemes are run by enthusiasts for the benefit of their fellow enthusiasts. Regarding the Rapier Register this club has at the last count 153 members. The Register can account for 381 of the approximate 400 built. There are examples all around the world, the USA, UK, Europe, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia.

Bernie J.

member:

AACA

VSCC (UK)

" Light Car & Edwardian Section.

VSCC (Aust) (Hon Life Member)

Rapier Register (Hon Life Member)

Vintage Drivers Club (Aust)

Packard Automobile Club (Aust)

"Friend of" APPF (France)

12-8-2011

Hi Roger 

I look in on your thread from time to time and am always amazed at your patience and skill. 

Your sort of cars are a rarity here in Australia. I was brought up on a diet of mainly pre- 1940 cars and have always gravitated towards English cars, Mini's (particularly Coopers), Jaguars and European, Fiats when younger,(My Fiat 1500 OSCA roadster was a wonderful little car, VW(Karman Ghia etc) Alfas & Peugeots. Helen's daily drive is a VW Jetta 2 litre turbo diesel. While the VW is air-cond (essential in Australia) it is a 6 speed manual. I can count on the fingers of one hand the Automatic trans cars I have owned in almost 60 years of driving. One of the first things that I did on my Jaguar XJC 4.2 coupe was to convert it to 4 speed & O/D manual trans. I guess that it all comes down to what you learnt as a child. Much of my early childhood disappeared during the years 1939-47. Petrol was still rationed and you went onto a waiting list for a new car well into the 1950s here in Australia. My father drove a little 1935 Standard 9 hp saloon until he could buy a new Citroen Light 15 in 1951. As a Pharmacist servicing the local hospital he went onto a priority list.

How times have changed...

12-11-2011

Still not much happening on the Packard front. with my eye still not quite healed I am respecting the Doctors advice.

12-13-2011

Thank you Ben

The last couple of days I have been busy firstly driving the Lagonda in the VSCC "Inner Urban" Rally on Sunday, then chasing up some of the history, for the current owner, on the Austin 12/6 that was the project before the project before the project before the project etc etc. See International Makes and Models/British/Austin 12/6.

It is a remarkable connection:- Australia-England-Austria-Switzerland. How some cars travel!

12-14-2011

Hi Ben

That may be true but it is really the people behind the wheel or with a spanner in their hands that create the history. Having said that I just wish that the man who wielded the power-saw that cut the roof off the Packard some time between 1955 and 1965 would put up their hand, Even the ones who pushed it into the container to ship it from the US to Australia about the same time. Surely not an everyday event. The car cannot tell me all its history! Only the people who owned it, drove it, or worked on it. We all need to talk to each other! Without communication there is no communication. Please! Someone knows all about it,. Don't be shy. I really get very frustrated asking the same question time after time.

Somebody in America shipped one or possibly two 1923 Packard Single Six cars to Australia some time between 1955 and 1965. One of those cars had a set of brand new Lincoln white wall 600x 23 tires fitted just before shipment. They were fitted to recently repainted rare five lug disc wheels. I am not asking that you remember what you had for breakfast that morning! Someone must know... Somebody just tell me how to reach them...........PLEASE!

12-15-2011

Hello Donald

I personally am not supposed to go near the garage for another 10days following my eye surgery. The body, fenders, hood etc are out with the painter. I don't expect to have anything back until the new year. I still have to complete the windscreen frame and the trim. The seat frames are already made and the base boards for the trim panels but nothing more can be done with them until the body is back on the chassis frame.

I have not been slacking off. I have just finished a 3,000 word piece for the Automobile Magazine (UK) and I am about to, some what belatedly, start on my Christmas letter to friends & family.

12-16-2011

Hi Donald 

Further to my e-mail are these the sort of fittings you are looking for. I am missing the two knurled head bolts that go with them but it should not be a big deal to get two made.

HI David

Thank you for coming to the rescue. If you can post a photo of the ones on your tourer it would be great. As you know the windscreen on my car (a convertible victoria*) is to be something of a compromise.

It is to be hinged across the top and split across half way down in the same manner as the closed cars but with much narrower side pillars. The control mechanism for the top half is still "on the drawing board". I may have a pair of nicely nickel plated pair for Donald yet.

Bernie J.

* Please note West 

I have used lower case "c" and "v" as suggested.