1937 Packard 115 coupe

[Skip]

I am sure this car would look perfect in most any color. Now that I said that, there are a whole stream of colors running through my head that would not do it justice.

It looks great in this color, for sure. [cl

 

[Torchie]

[cl [cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[zzrodder]

I agree on the color matching the car^^^^^
My first thoughts were, Wrong Color but, now I think it's perfect

Thanks! It grows on you after a while, I think it fits the whole resto-rod theme, also being a common color for Packards - less chance of upsetting the "keep it original" anal types

 

[Old Iron]

Thanks! It grows on you after a while, I think it fits the whole resto-rod theme, also being a common color for Packards - less chance of upsetting the "keep it original" anal types

[cl

 

[Skip]

Thanks! It grows on you after a while, I think it fits the whole resto-rod theme, also being a common color for Packards - less chance of upsetting the "keep it original" anal types

[ddd At least until they take a closer look.

 

[BillM]

Really nice ZZ, as always.

 

[zzrodder]

What's wrong with this picture??[S
I hate myself

 

[soltz]

[S pry tell ?

 

[MercuryMac]

I stared at that picture for a long time. Then I took off my rose coloured glasses. All I can see is the front wheel doesn't look centred in the wheelwell, but with a straight on camera angle it will be perfect. There's nothing wrong with the car.

 

[Torchie]

I stared at that picture for a long time. Then I took off my rose coloured glasses. All I can see is the front wheel doesn't look centred in the wheelwell, but with a straight on camera angle it will be perfect. There's nothing wrong with the car.

I'm with Mac on this one.[S [S
[P [P [P [P
Torchie

 

[zzrodder]

I stared at that picture for a long time. Then I took off my rose coloured glasses. All I can see is the front wheel doesn't look centred in the wheelwell, but with a straight on camera angle it will be perfect. There's nothing wrong with the car.

Not just the front wheel that isn't centered, the rear is off by 1". I didn't see it until I put the rear wheels on that they are too far back. I've been looking back at earlier mock up pics and it didn't look so bad, but now that full weight is on the suspension, as the leaf springs move up, the diff moves back.
Can't believe this got by me, a major screw up. So at first I was thinking, just drill new pilot holes in the mounts on the diff to move it ahead 1" and shorten the driveshaft. But rather than jump on that, I put the front fenders on (only a few bolts in them at this point) and it's obvious that the fronts are not centered either. Just moving the rearend forward 1" would also be a mistake as the wheelbase is supposed to be 115", not 114" (that's why it's called a 115C model, it refers to the wheelbase). I want to blame my tape measure, but that won't fix it . So now the only way I can see to correct it is to move the whole body back on the frame 1". No minor thing now that the interior is finished, body bolts are hidden under carpet and various panels, the shifter will be too close to the dash (bendable) but the hole in the floor will need to be opened up, the brake pedal arm wont fit the hole right, steering shaft needs to be longer and the whole rad/grille shell mount needs to be moved back too. AArrrgghh!!
I can't move the frame mounts or redrill the body mount holes so right now I'm thinking to make 1/4" thick offset plates with studs welded in them to do the job. Fortunately there is enough room between the fan and rad for the move back..... Not looking forward to tearing it apart and lifting the body up at this stage but it can't stay like this.

 

[Old Iron]

I done that on the front end of a Pro Street 68 Firebird and had to cut the crossmember back out and move it forward.
I feel your pain on this one.
At this point the average Joe would leave it but, that's not you and the quality of work you do demands it.

 

[BillM]

Ouch ZZ.....like OI said, I feel your pain. It's one of those things that will haunt you forever if it's not corrected though - to me, nothing can throw off the aesthetics like poor wheel placement - sorry if that adds to your pain. Hopefully you can come up with a relatively reasonable fix for it.

 

[zzrodder]

Yeah, it sucks but I just have to face it and fix it. Measurements for the frame were taken from a stock 37 frame and body mounts, axle centerlines, etc. seem to be right on - or did I goof on the front wheel centerline to front body mount measurement? Dunno, but looking at earlier pics, I can see the rear wheel was a bit off center then, but it was riding so high unloaded, I didn't account for it moving back under load. I'm used to doing 4 link bagged suspensions and that just doesn't happen.
Another wrinkle is the fact that on the stock 37 Packard, the front tire originally looks too far back, biting the rear of the fender opening, basically what I've got happening (see pic of yellow stocker) so maybe it wasn't just me? (that's what I'm telling myself ) Another pic of a street rodded one (red) also has the front tire too far back to my eye. So am I really just changing what was originally made that way??
Something that was common on original leaf sprung cars of this era was that the rear tires looked too far forward (see 37 Chev pic)for the same reason I guess, that the wheels move to the rear under compression.

 

[Skip]

ZZ, I believe your standards are a bit higher than the original Packard engineering department. You got this.

 

[Torchie]

Hmmmmm
We all understand were you are coming from.ZZ.
It seemed to me that every time I looked at the Dodge the wheels looked like they were in a different position.
I would suggest getting it outside (if possible) and taking a good long look before you start going at it. If you haven’t already.
The wheels on the Dodge looked forward on the stock pictures. I ended up moving my entire body forward about an inch. And I still catch myself looking at the front wheel in the opening.
I agree with your comment about the cars from that era all looking that way.
Stay strong.......
Torchie

 

[zzrodder]

So after some soul searching and studying pics of other cars I've come to the realization that the issue with the front tires isn't as bad as I was thinking. What is a problem is tire interference with the fender lip when turning due to a couple factors #1 is the quest for lowness and #2 is the 1" wheel spacers. I put on the spacers to bring the tires closer to the fender, which seemed OK when there wasn't much weight on the front end but now they will hit. So I took the spacers off and now there are no problems. Another thing that makes the wheel look uncentered is that the radius of the wheel opening increases to the front adding to the effect.
Now the idea of moving the whole body back is, well, insane I think, way too much work that could compromise a whole bunch of things. Going to go ahead with moving the rear end forward, first though I'm going to finish putting the front fenders on.
On unrelated problems, I changed the thermostat housing gasket that was leaking and found the thermostat was put in backwards (not me!), wondered why it took so long to open[S. I also put a check valve in the fuel line just behind the carburetor, seems that when it's sitting for a while, the fuel drains back into the tank. I put in a safety pressure switch for the electric fuel pump so it won't come on until oil pressure comes up so the result is with the fuel drained out, you have to crank the engine for way too long to fill the carb up again to start it. Pesky gremlins.....

 

[Torchie]

Whew...........
Torchie

 

[Old Iron]

[cl[cl[cl

 

[zzrodder]

Let there be light! Tried a couple different LED bulbs till I found a nice bright one, the 41 Plymouth park lenses in my lowered headlight mounts look like they were always there Oh, mounted the bumper and found it was too low, as Dutch warned me long ago in mock up, wish I'd listened then . So, a little slice and dice on the bumper irons and now it's 2" higher, same as the bottom of the grille shell plus it closes the gap to fenders. Thanks Dutch [cl

LED lights for the rears too, put on the plate/hidden hitch/license mount.

This contraption is my hidden antenna that mounts under the running board. A piece of brick edging, 25 ft of wire connected to the core antenna wire, the outer wire gets grounded. Tested it and it works perfect, didn't want one of those stick on the window ones or an external antenna cluttering things up.