1940 Packard 120 Convertible Restoration

[flashed]

Absolutely amazing work you do .

[Bomp]

Late to the party but Im here now.

Blown away by your sheet metal skills.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by dantimdad

Nice work!

I love mid century modern furniture. I build some when I get time.

Steven

That's pretty neat, do you have pics?

Originally Posted by flashed

Absolutely amazing work you do .

Originally Posted by Bomp

Late to the party but Im here now.

Blown away by your sheet metal skills.

Thanks!

[theastronaut]

Made a new side panel for the cowl.




Test fitting the cowl panel with the inner rocker, hinge pillar, and pillar cover.

[dantimdad]

[QUOTE=theastronaut;6844905]That's pretty neat, do you have pics?


I'll have to dig around and find some. I have a bad habit of knocking out a woodworking project and then sending it off without taking a lot of pictures

[dantimdad]

You can look at this pic to get an idea of the Mid century wall unit I built:

http://dantimdad.files.wordpress.com...9/wallunit.jpg

Check out the crazy fiberglass TV tray. I found a set of 6 at a yard sale for $1 each!

Steven

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by dantimdad

You can look at this pic to get an idea of the Mid century wall unit I built:

http://dantimdad.files.wordpress.com...9/wallunit.jpg

Check out the crazy fiberglass TV tray. I found a set of 6 at a yard sale for $1 each!

Steven

Nice!

[theastronaut]

Offset the end of the rocker where the B-pillar piece overlaps. This way the panels sit flush once they're welded together.

[theastronaut]

Reworked the front of the rocker to blend into the A-pillar post.






Upright section of the rocker was flared to round into the A-pillar.




New section welded in and fitted.






The gap will be lap welded to replicate the factory seam.

[MP&C]

Nice!

[Bomp]

Every single detail is top notch.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by MP&C

Nice!

Originally Posted by Bomp

Every single detail is top notch.

Thanks guys!


Dad and I took a trip up to Dillard GA last Friday to check out a shop that specializes in Packards. Was able to take a ton of pictures and measurements of another '40 Convertible to make more accurate patterns for the floor pans. He also had factory pictures of a '40 Convertible so we'll be able to replicate the interior style correctly.

[MP&C]

must.......have.......pictures........

[duallyjams]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Thanks guys!


Dad and I took a trip up to Dillard GA last Friday to check out a shop that specializes in Packards. Was able to take a ton of pictures and measurements of another '40 Convertible to make more accurate patterns for the floor pans. He also had factory pictures of a '40 Convertible so we'll be able to replicate the interior style correctly.

got to spend the day with dad and go look at rare packards no that's a father and son day

[Ol Blue K20]

To think I thought the 66 F100 was beautiful work. This one is handmade parts..awesome work.

[theastronaut]

Been making progress, just not posting it. The owner has been here the last two weeks to help out. He's been stripping panels and helping me get the body squared up.


You would have never guess what we found under the paint on the tail panel...









Same thing in the passenger side door jamb.





Stripped the quarter to see how tall the patch panel needed to be made.





Since the body had been off of the frame without proper bracing it was sagging pretty badly. We bolted up the doors to check how far off it was and the doors wouldn't close at first, they were overlapping the quarters. We adjusted the opening with the adjustable braces I welded in to get the door openings back into shape.







Front half fitted to the cowl first, then tack welded in place.







After leveling the body on the frame and adjusting the bracing to fit the doors.







Once the body was back in shape I added more bracing to keep it in place. Definitely don't want it twisting out of shape on the rotisserie!






Made a few more patch panels.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Really makes you wonder how nice some of the 20's-40's cars really are when you see them...

[68Timber]

Is that seam sealer under mud?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Really makes you wonder how nice some of the 20's-40's cars really are when you see them...

Yeah I know... its pretty scary.

Originally Posted by BRUISER

Is that seam sealer under mud?

It's brass/bronze? filler rod from brazing in metal on top of the original rusty panels.

[duallyjams]

That's some serious bracing.

[TBONE1964]

Hi John,

As always I am inspired by the work you do. It is amazing your attention to detail even on parts that will never see the light of day when the car is assembled. It is a funny thing that this is your next project. A 1940 Packard 120 I am currently restoring a speedometer for a 1946 Packard Clipper and I am curious about the speedometer and gauges in this model. All I can tell you is that they built speedometers like clocks back in the 40's. They have certainly got more easy to repair as time went on.

I am also curious if the speedometer has a trip odometer and if it is reset by a cable?

By the way, I love the dinette set and if I was closer, I would try and talk you out of it

Keep up the great work,
Take care,
Tom

[Lokin4AReason]

impressive work and glad in seeing yet another one being saved ... esp. a packard =0)

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

That's some serious bracing.

Well, it was seriously sagging! Didn't want anything moving around when we took the body off the frame.

Originally Posted by TBONE1964

Hi John,

As always I am inspired by the work you do. It is amazing your attention to detail even on parts that will never see the light of day when the car is assembled. It is a funny thing that this is your next project. A 1940 Packard 120 I am currently restoring a speedometer for a 1946 Packard Clipper and I am curious about the speedometer and gauges in this model. All I can tell you is that they built speedometers like clocks back in the 40's. They have certainly got more easy to repair as time went on.

I am also curious if the speedometer has a trip odometer and if it is reset by a cable?

By the way, I love the dinette set and if I was closer, I would try and talk you out of it

Keep up the great work,
Take care,
Tom

Thanks Tom. First off, I apologize for the late reply. I don't have the speedometer available, and I didn't take the car apart to see how it worked either. Wish I could help you out with those details. The table set was in the back of a customer's van. We replaced a window regulator and spotted it and ended up trading for it. They had just brought it back from their beach house and was going to put in in storage, so it had seen almost no use.

Originally Posted by Lokin4AReason

impressive work and glad in seeing yet another one being saved ... esp. a packard =0)

Thanks!!

[yahoos]

Wow. You have some serious skills. Keep the pics coming!

[theastronaut]

Been awhile since I updated this. We were waiting on a local fab shop to make new floor braces so I could go ahead and start welding in my new panels... but we weren't happy with the pieces they made. So all that time waiting was wasted. As rusty as the original braces are, they were still stronger than what the fab shop made. So we decided to patch up the original braces by reinforcing them with steel plate and bars.

3/4" x 3/8" bars that'll be cut and shaped to fit in the recess.




Put an arch in the bars using our tubing roller.





Some of the body mount areas were thin so I cut and bent 1/8" plate to reinforce them. Not pretty but they'll be between the brace and floor pans so they'll be hidden.







We took the body off so the owner could change the transmission out to an original overdrive trans. He also took the center section out of the axle and had a new crush sleeve installed.


Once the body was back on I braced the right rear body mount to keep it from collapsing. I leveled the body on the frame so I'd have a good starting point to start setting up floor braces at the right height. I'll get the floor braces blasted, then weld in the reinforcements and start welding in the new metal.