1940 Packard 120 Convertible Restoration

[theastronaut]

I've had a ton of guys asking about our next build so here it is. It's a 1940 Packard 120 Convertible Coupe with tons of rust. The owner is from Connecticut and heard about us from another Packard Club member who lives near us and stops by our shop regularly. It was bought as a driver but the owner kept finding more and more wrong with it so it came apart for a full restoration. He and his wife drove down a few weeks ago to meet us and check out some of our work and he decided to have us restore it. We had only seen pictures until now... had no idea it would be this bad! We'll be doing the rust repair, metal work, bodywork, paint, upholstery, and final assembly. The owner and a friend have already done the suspension and mechanical work.


This is it as it was delivered, we have the rest of the parts in storage. The owner was a helicopter mechanic and is very detail oriented so all of the parts were boxed meticulously; each box is labeled with a list of parts and hardware inside.

[theastronaut]

Pics of the rust. There won't be much original Packard metal in the lower 8" once we're done.











Trunk area.









Bondo check... used my 3" grinder to get to bare metal around the bottom edge. Lots of filler over caved in metal, and there are gobs of brass showing around all the "patches".

















Old floor "repair" with aluminum pop riveted over the original rusty floors. The rivets had fallen out long ago.

[theastronaut]

I made body braces out of 1x1 tubing with turnbuckles welded in so I can adjust the door gaps before everything it welded back in. Some of the body mounts are completely rusted away so it's doubtful that the body is still sitting squarely on the frame. This will also keep the body from folding in half once it's on the rotisserie.

[Ol Blue K20]

I'm in, love watching your work..plus I'm learning alot. Thanks for sharing. ..

[MP&C]

Ouch! Definitely have your work cut out! Subscribed

[duallyjams]

You like a challenge and it will keep the shop busy and we get see a Packard coupe.

[flashed]

Im in for another one.

[hopped up]

This is gonna be good!

[NONHOG]

Now I can feel better about your F100 project finishing!
Watching and learning.

[tune_1]

Great to see the next project. I really like the work that you do so please post a lot of pictures, and your explanations really help.

Thanks
Dwight

[theastronaut]

Started digging into the driver side lower cowl, rocker area, and lower quarter panel. It was tough to find the rocker seams in the door jamb since they were butt-welded from the factory. I took everything apart the way it was assembled so I could use the original parts for templates. I'll leave the other side together for reference until the driver side is back together.


The cowl was pretty rough, had stress cracks all over it plus rust at the bottom. Cut it out to get to the inner layers.









Made a paper template before cutting it out.





Inner door post.





Inner panel rust.







Starting on the rockers. Tons of lead and filler.










Trying to find the rear rocker and quarter panel seam.

[theastronaut]

Cutting out the quarter panel.













B pillar post base.






Removing the outer rocker.

[theastronaut]

Removing the inner rocker. Had to cut the inner fenderwell back.




Not much left to go by on the body mount areas.




Rear half of inner rocker removed.




Turnbuckle added to adjust height of body.




Cutting out the front pillar.







The way the inner brace and sheetmetal were layered made this hard to cut out without doing any damage.

[theastronaut]

Pillar and inner brace cut out.





Cutting out the toe board.











Front half of inner rocker removed.







Car is now halfway rust free!! That was the easy part.




Body brace/mount under the rear seat.




Made a template of 1/2 of the inner rocker.

[dantimdad]

Good Lord! I thought my truck was bad!

Off to a good start though.

Steven

[dantimdad]

I know it's going to turn out amazing.

[duallyjams]

Now that's peeling a onion.

[Bishops Trucks]

Watching this build. That's a rare piece right there.

[Clyde65]

IMO for a 74 year old car, that isnt "a lot" of rust but its enough to make the job a tough one! Thinking of where it came from (north East) it may be rust free!

I love seeing your work, very nice and professional!

[Ol Blue K20]

I'm glad you're not scared of it. Thanks for the pics and info

[alaska gasser]

I used to have my own custom shop till the old lungs said no more to doing it full time. It did and still does tick me off when I see a car that was "fixed" like this one so someone could make $ on an unsuspecting individual.

You have your work cut out for you and I'm in for this build.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by dantimdad

Good Lord! I thought my truck was bad!

Off to a good start though.

Steven

Originally Posted by dantimdad

I know it's going to turn out amazing.

Thanks Steven!!

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Now that's peeling a onion.

Not much left of the onion now...

Originally Posted by Bishops Trucks

Watching this build. That's a rare piece right there.

Yeah, not sure exactly how many were made or still exist but they're pretty scarce.

Originally Posted by Clyde65

IMO for a 74 year old car, that isnt "a lot" of rust but its enough to make the job a tough one! Thinking of where it came from (north East) it may be rust free!

I love seeing your work, very nice and professional!

Thanks, it's not as bad as it could have been for sure. Atleast there is a little bit left for patterns.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I'm glad you're not scared of it. Thanks for the pics and info

Welcome!

Originally Posted by alaska gasser

I used to have my own custom shop till the old lungs said no more to doing it full time. It did and still does tick me off when I see a car that was "fixed" like this one so someone could make $ on an unsuspecting individual.

You have your work cut out for you and I'm in for this build.

We see it a lot too. Since we're the only shop around that does glass/weatherstripping on older cars we get tons of cars that are fresh out of the paint shop. It's amazing how many are quickly patched up and painted and the owner never knows!

[theastronaut]

Pattern made for the rear half of the inner rocker.




Inner A-pillar support was straightened, repaired, and blasted.




Making a new A-pillar skin.









Making patterns for a new B-pillar bottom.





Made the part in three pieces. It still needs two more pieces on the front half.





Rear pieces welded in and smoothed.

[Russell Ashley]

Loving this build already. I'm definitely following along with this one. Going to be a beauty when it's done.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Loving this build already. I'm definitely following along with this one. Going to be a beauty when it's done.

Thanks!!


Got the B-pillar post done.