1939 One Twenty 1701 Deluxe Sedan

Car information

1939 120 Deluxe Sedan. After several months of negotiation, the vendor and I agreed on the sale price and the Packard became ours. At this stage actually driving it was a still just a vision for the future as in its current condition it certainly wasn’t anywhere near roadworthy. For the first six months in our ownership it sat in our garage while I got to know it. I had never owned a Packard before. I read everything I could lay my hands on and talked to others in the Club who owned and/or had restored a similar car. I then developed a project plan so I could work through the restoration in a logical fashion, given that I could only focus a proportion of my spare time on it.

During the next couple of years the Packard came apart into its component pieces. Each was photographed before removal and during dismantling, cleaned, labelled and, where small enough, placed in a zip-lock bag. Most of the smaller components were refurbished immediately and placed on the shelf ready to be reunited with the car at a later date. Larger components like the body, mudguards and chassis were bead-blasted, primed and undercoated and the required panel repairs carried out. Fortunately there was very little rust but there were a lot of dents and tears that had to be attended to. At this time the mountings for the seatbelts were installed and the wells for the side-mounted spares let into the mudguards. All the bright-work and jewellery were rechromed as well.

Progress was interrupted for a couple of years due to my recovery from a back injury followed by a move from the city to the country where I had to build a new shed to accommodate this project. On resumption, the brakes, engine, gearbox, overdrive and differential were attended to. Bearings and some gears were replaced in the gearbox and overdrive. The engine was bored out 0.020 inches, crankshaft ground and polished, and all bearings, valves, guides and springs, timing gear and chain replaced and oil pump rebuilt.

Once the engine and drive train were reunited with the chassis, the body was bolted down and all body parts were prepped and painted before reassembly. A complete rewiring followed and then the new upholstery, carpets and seatbelts were fitted.

After 11 years in the restoration process I am pleased to say that the Packard passed the roadworthy on first inspection. Fitted with its original number plates, it returned to the road after an absence of nearly 40 years. Since then it has travelled interstate on several occasions, as well as frequently being used within Victoria and is a delight to take touring.