Rescuing a body that I've known about for 40+ years in a friends barn, I will be bringing it back to life as a 60's style Gasser or Altered, depending on how strict your definition is. Resto purists often have a problem with hotrodding Packards but this one hasn't seen the light of day since the 60's when it was taken apart, frame is long gone. The body will get to me in April 2022 but in the meantime, I've rounded up a bunch of parts and started building the frame. Big block Chevy & Turbo 400 for power, P&J straight axle and 9" rearend. At this point the plan is to preserve the remains of its original paint, blend the various body parts to match, fix any rot, no body filler. It's missing the trunk lid so I'll need to create one - super hard to find a replacement. The crusty 1976 454 motorhome will get a thorough upgrade to make the appropriate amount of power.
Getting started on the frame construction, beginning with scribbling it out on the floor.. 2x4 main rails, temporary crossmembers in the middle & front
Mounted the front axle, a Pete & Jakes unit - more expensive than a Speedway one but it is a very complete kit, with Ford style rod ends. Heim joints for tie rod and drag link ends won't pass a safety inspection to make it streetable in BC. Also built the front crossmember from 1/4" plate, it needs the beef as the entire front sheet metal and rad support mount to it. In the absence of the body for measurements, I have the identical car right here for reference. This one will be it's evil twin...
Removed bumperettes, lowered, vent windows gone, wheelcover mods maybe...that's all I can see...nice cars...door hinge setup is interesting...you'd almost expect them to be suicide but no...nice job... And you have 2...how cool is that...
Lots of little mods - headlights lowered 3", bumpers lowered and tucked in, tail light pedestals removed, top chopped 1" in front, 2" in back, rear door posts leaned forward, top filled. Stock hinges were there and functional so I left them alone. Unseen is a full custom frame and SB Ford/AOD/9" diff. Actually, those are stock Packard smoothie wheel centers put into wider rims modified by Stockton Wheel, stock Packard hubcaps.
No worries, it's a street machine. Not trying to toe the line of period 'correctness', just having fun building it my way.
Right on! I knew there were more Packards hiding out there. Here's a pic of the last one I built a few years ago, 1936 120, chopped, sectioned, converted from 4dr. to 2dr.
Made the driveshaft loop with a drop out lower half to make it easier to take the driveshaft in/out. Set the diff in place, custom built 9" with Strange Nodular 3rd member, 4.88 Gears with Wavetrac posi and Dutchman 35 spline axles, GM disc brakes. Up front I got the steering box mounted with an adaptor plate 'cause the box wound up so close to the rear leaf mount. Naturally it's going to conflict with the engine mount position, not unexpected....
Added mounts for the coil overs, still waiting for them to show up, so I just made a couple temp struts for now. Panhard bar mounted - it may change yet - no so happy with the amount of side to side movement through suspension travel.... Waiting 'till the engine is mounted to find the right angle for the pinion before I weld the 4 link brackets to the housing.
If it's going to be that tight, couldn't you use a Watts linkage instead of the Panhard rod? Looks like you'd be well within the linear range of one. Phil
Yeah, that would solve the issue but it would work best behind the diff and that would conflict with the coil overs. I cut the whole works off and started over with a wishbone Panhard, used the adjuster from the other one and some new bushings for the fork ends - the center mount tube slides in and out and I put a zerk fitting on the underside. It also gives me more room to run exhaust up and over the housing.
Given the confines of the space that should work nicely. Takes a little more of the torque reaction from the wheels away from the bars, too. Phil
Positioned the engine/trans, headers are for a tri 5 Chevy - nobody makes headers for a BBC in a Packard - go figure - they will need a bunch of cutting and redo to fit the fenders right.... As expected it will be fun to do the drivers side engine mount.
The Jalopy Journal
