My next project? 1921 Packard Coupe

15 minute(s) of a 548 minute read

This one is for Unimogjohn.

I did warn about the quality of early 1950s Box Brownie photographs. In this collection you see first, appropriately, my very first car, a badly retouched shot of a 16 year old Bj in his 1918 Austin 4 cyl 20 hp. Next my first daily driver a 1924 Austin 7hp "Chummy" tourer (note: Six inch brake drums. Foot brake worked on the rear wheels, the hand brake on the front.) and then the next car a 1928 Austin 7hp "Sports". This is followed by my first successful "Special" a 1938 Morris 8 hp. This too was used as a daily driver. At first it was driven as a bare chassis fitted with one seat. This caused many a raised eyebrow when travelling in what was then "peak hour" traffic.

3-7-2013

I know a lot of people will not like this but that is their bad luck. The following is an extract of an e-mailed reply to a well known Classic and "Collector" car dealer. "I cannot understand the average American "Collector" who consign their cars to a morgue (a place for storing dead bodies) My own attitude is that of a Life Saver breathing new LIFE into cars that have been given up as dead. You need to remind your customers that "God gave us automobiles so that we could drive them. not just polish them". The first task in any of my restorations is to totally recondition the engine. Note not just fix it up a bit and paint it. How many early 1920s car owners among your customers can honestly put their hand on their heart and say that their car Is totally original? Show me one and I will prove them a liar! My biggest problem is that I am old fashioned enough to believe in telling the truth. For some strange reason some people find that offensive."

Keep on keeping on

Bj.

For instance, my engines have NEW pistons NEW rings NEW valves NEW gaskets NEW seals NEW timing chains etc NEW Oil NEW Spark plugs NEW points (AND condenser) in the distributor NEW spark-plug leads I could go on but I am sure that you get the idea. I would think that it would be nigh on impossible to drive a TOTALLY ORIGINAL (early 1920s) CAR around the block under its own power. Especially one that has been kept in a Museum or "Collection" for the last 25 years. 

Some years ago I was given the opportunity to drive an exceptionally rare and powerful racing car said to be in "mint" condition, taken straight out of an "Important" Museum. It would have almost certainly killed me if I had not tried the brakes at about two to three mph BEFORE taking it out onto the track. I did not drive it any further.

Regarding that rare and powerful racing car, It was one of the prototype British Connaught's, when I did eventually get to drive it I only managed two or three laps before the "ORIGINAL" return hose from the scavenge pump for the dry sump engine lubrication fractured (fell apart) spraying oil all over the place. Luckily I realised that something was amiss and stopped before the engine was totally wrecked.

ATTENTION ALL.

Please disregard everything referred to in the previous 66 pages! I have a completely new story (and Sales pitch). I have only just discovered that the Packard is "hand on heart" in fact totally original! It was actually a one off special customer order for a convertible based on the four passenger coupe body. My clairvoyant has only just managed to make contact with the original owner, who if he can only materialise for a moment will swear on a stack of Bibles, Korans or what ever you want, that this correct. It may take a week or two the get the story sorted out but as soon as it is ready I will start a new thread.

Dear West et al.

Perhaps I should start by drawing your attention to your quotation from G.B. Shaw. My entire life has been spent adapting to situations outside my control. Only now have I become extremely frustrated by the inflexible nature of a great percentage of the people I have recently come into contact with. In particular with the mind boggling attitude of some of these people regarding the question of what constitutes "Originality" or perhaps what is REALLY authentic. In the past, almost certainly to my own detriment, I have been completely "UP-FRONT" regarding my every action, in particular within this thread, with regard to the Packard. I have never attempted to "pull the wool over anyones eyes". I find that I am now being made to feel a fool for even attempting to restore the Packard, with people laughing at me behind their backs because I have been so silly as to tell the entire truth. As of now this thread is ended! At some time in the near future I will start a new thread in which the Packard will be fully authenticated and shown to be absolutely as originally sold new in 1923. Even the readers of the Antique Automobile would love this thrilling and some times remarkable story, the only thing that it will not contain is pornographic sex. As I said in my previous post, "Please disregard everything in the previous 66 pages".

3-12-2013

Hello 

West Peterson you may be the best person to explain this but anyone else who would like to comment is welcome.

There has been some discussion regarding the "originality or authenticity" of this Packard. I have always maintained that the ENTIRE car as it exists today is at least 85% as it left the factory! That is with the exception of the roof and the seating arrangement, it is ALL original. No not the air in the tires or the oil in the rear axle.

Now only just last weekend there was a Bentley tourer sold at Amelia Island for a miserable Two and three quarter MILLION dollars. My only question is "How much of that car is PRECISELY as it left the Bentley factory? By that I mean right down to the fabric covering the body let alone the body frame itself, the leather covering the seats and the seat frames, the fenders (or should I say "wings"), the ?????? " or does that all change because of the fact that it is, after all, a Bentley? 

I know for certain of all the hundred or so Vintage Bentleys in Australia possibly there is just one or two that could be said to be (almost) original. New cylinder blocks, new crankshafts, shortened or NEW chassis frames, Red Label/Blue Label , gear boxes, the poor old SEDAN bodies long since gone, super-chargers where none ever existed before. it goes on and on! 

Ra Ra Ra and Jolly Hockey-sticks! Absolutely Supaah!

But then their owners almost universally speak with a Plum in their Mouths while I probably have a Pickled Onion. 

As we coarse Aussies sometimes say "It is all BU** SH*T."

3-13-2013

Going backward to move forward, returning to the cars I have owned/restored. Going all the way back to 1956 The first two photographs are of the same 1925 Citroen 5CV. For those ignorant of these things the CV label attached to French cars simply means Cheveaux Vapeur or in English, Horses of Steam. The French system of Horsepower rating predates petrol engines. This little charmer was my sole form of motorised transport for about two years. The second one, with the top up, came along in the early 1970s as an early restoration project. No it is not about to lift its rear wheel up against the Fire Hydrant.

These early Citroens actually used the famous Andre Citroen double helical gears in the rear axle, for the crown wheel and pinion. The inspiration/origin of the inverted Double chevron trade mark. Andre Citroen was a gear cutter years before he became an automobile manufacturer.

3-14-2013

Following the Citroen 5CV i decidedly moved up market. The next car than comes up in my photograph albums is the Sunbeam Talbot 10hp Drop Head Coupe. This when first purchased had very faded Maroon paint and a top that had been painted with some thick black goo in an attempt to make it water proof. None of this was acceptable so this lovely little car was brought back to its former elegance with a bare metal repaint Le Mans Green a metallic green a shade lighter than BRG and a new beige top. A much admired car but lacking in performance in that it had what was virtually a side valve Hillman Minx 10 hp engine. I have never seen it again from the day I sold it. Next came a another Sunbeam Talbot only this time a "90" with an over head valve version of the two litre Humber Hawk engine. This I remember had remarkable low speed torque. On one occasion I won a bet driving it and getting it going fast enough to engage top gear running on one cylinder, with only ONE spark plug fitted.

I trust that all this is not too boring but someone did ask. I did warn you about the quality of Box Brownie black & white photographs.

At this time I was still single and living at home with my long suffering parents. The next car I do not have a single photograph of, a 1923 Lancia Lambda fitted with a later series (larger and more powerful) engine. It seems that it did not keep going long enough to take any photographs. At my mother's insistence that I buy a sensible car I traded it in on a lovely little Fiat 500c Topolino convertible coupe. To think that in the late 1950s you could trade in a Lancia Lambda and the dealer would give you enough for it to pay the DEPOSIT on a second hand Fiat 500 is hard to imagine today. Times have changed. Sadly the Fiat was written off when a drunk in a Ford Customline rammed into it sending it through a fence and a large Cyprus Pine hedge. The owner of the hedge was furious with me for making a hole in his hedge. Apparently Cyprus Pines do not regrow on old wood, so the hedge never recovered. I remember looking at the hole as I drove past some years later.

3-15-2013

Hi all

I am sorry to break your chain of thought but I need to go back to the Packard for just a moment.

While I was going through a container of "Useful things for the Packard"I came across the two nickel plated knurled nuts for the electrical junction box cover "similar to those which may have been originally fitted". 

They have polished up nicely and certainly do look better than the couple of little "shop bought" nuts I had on there.

Again I must apologise for all the reflections. I must try to take all my photographs first thing in the morning instead of late afternoon. I will try again tomorrow (a.m.)

12 hours later it is drizzling rain but still some reflections

3-24-2013

At last a proper road journey, up into the mountains and home again without missing a beat. Even making the climb to the top of Mount Dandenong in top gear. Comfort, quiet, and effortless long legged touring. We have just returned from our first serious drive in the Packard, even the fuel consumption (or lack of it) exceeded expectations. Our destination the Combined Vintage Car Clubs Kalorama Rally. Even returning down the mountain the brakes proved to be adequate provided I kept an eye on the traffic ahead.

3-25-2013

Before going out onto the public roads the one thing that I consider essential especially with a LHDrive car in a country where everybody drives on the left side of the road are some reliable turn indicators. Rather than fussing around looking for "vintage" lights that MIGHT do the job I decided that if I was really concerned with safety that I needed lights that could be seen. This being so I bought a set of four universal trailer amber lamps, an "on-off-on" switch a 6 volt flasher unit, a small amber tell-tale lamp and most importantly an AUDIBLE WARNING buzzer. 

How often have you driven down the highway behind an old car with its turn signal flashing away for mile after mile. This drives motorists mad and does the collector car movement no good at all. How often have you heard "All those ***** old cars should be kept off the road! Nothing is more annoying to our fellow road users and yet the solution is so simple. The one I use is available at most electronics hobby stores for under $5. It is simple to wire in, just the red wire to the output side of your flasher unit or if a three terminal unit the red wire goes to the centre "P" (pilot or tell-tale connection) and the black wire to any convenient earth. Most are suitable for either 6 or 12 Volt. Once fitted, unless you are totally deaf, you will not drive along having failed to cancel your turn indicators, and saved a whole lot of aggravation! The unit is so small and so light that I install mine behind the dash with a postage stamp sized piece of double sided "Scotch" tape. If you do not have one make sure you do, before you use your "proper car" on the road again! In case you are wondering the coin is an Australian $2 the same size and value as our 5 cent coin used to be. If you like to go back in time a little further, a quarter of a penny, a farthing.

3-26-2013

For people who may be concerned that I have been drilling holes into the Packard to mount modern turn indicator lamps, you can rest easy! Everything about the indicator set up is designed so that it can ALL be removed without leaving a trace. Alternatively just the lamps can be taken off and put back in less that five minutes total. One pre-existing nut holds each lamp and the wires all have push together connectors that when disconnected can be easily hidden. Even the switch, tell-tale and flasher unit can be all removed in one unit without leaving a trace. If necessary, even the wiring can be removed without disturbing the main loom but this would involve a few more minutes spent underneath the car.