Construction of the pitman arm. I needed to lengthen the pitman arm where it mounts to the box in order to clear the horn of power. I took a standard pitman arm, cut off the splined end and turned it round. Then I machined the extension the length I needed, and bored it out for the splined section to fit it. The splines were then welded in. Then I cut a radius on the end, and made a cap for it. Then welded the rest of the arm on, and added a rib. This is how the rear drums were adapted to the rear end. These are the only custom made pieces for the chassis that were not made in house. I drew them up on a piece of paper and they were CNC'd. These are just the front axle mounts. And another use of the Kyle plates, and a couple terrible photos of them installed. Wishbone mount, and bad photos of it installed.
You know it actually took a while for it to sink in. When it first came off the table in bare metal to go to GNRS in 2015, I was going through some personal stuff, so when it sat on the ground, I wasn't really in the moment. But, it was cool to see it on the floor at GNRS. But, in my head it is still a project, so there wasn't a sense of completion. And then ramping up to GNRS '17, we were so busy working on it right up to the end, that you didn't really take a step back and look at it. But the real cool moment, was when it was on the ground as a finished car in building 4, and I saw it move under its own power for the first time. That was a cool moment. If I remember correctly, it is part '36 and part '37.
Frame with engine removed. Backside of the front spring pivot. Horn of power connected to actuator. Fiting some fish plating on the front horns of power. That's it for now. Gonna try to mess around in the garage for a bit, and I've gotta charge the computer.
Hey guys, Sorry I've been MIA. I went to Chicago with the car, where we did very well. We went up against the Ridler winner for the Legend cup, and we brought home the trophy. Couldn't be happier! Anyway, here is an early test of the front suspension actuator. Rear end with drums installed. Here is the rear shock arms in progress. How the rear shocks mount in the frame rail. This is the beginnings of the front shock arms.
This is the beginning of the rear most crossmember added to make attachment points for the pivots for the rear body, in order to make the disappearing top function how we wanted. This is an earlier photo mixed in. Engine is mocked up, as are grill, and a mock up front fender brace. In the lower left corner, you can see a template from a wishbone mount that I redesigned to the current design. Back to the rear crossmember. Inside Outside finished.
The first time the car came off the table This is the inside of the front shackles that I made showing the nut covers. The outside Screens added to brakes.
Here is a test of the rear body hinge Beginning to figure out roof profile. The front frame horn caps mentioned earlier. Front shock Layout of the skirt structure. The die pieces used to form the structure. The inner structure after a 3/8" deep draw on the pullmax.
Congrats on the success in Chicago. Kool to see a Kustom built to such high standards. Makes me wonder what other builds the Packard will generate from other builders. Thank you very much for posting all of the kool build pics & videos.
Haha! That's me. As I recall, we were taking a video for the customer, and I was eating for them to get ready to film it, and they were taking way too long. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here, I'm working on figuring out the roof shape. This is a detail I put in the fender skirt structure for the skirt latches. Mocking up the tail lights to be modified. And adding skulls because everybody knows, the more skulls, the cooler the car. After finishing the stanchions. This is when we were shining up all the sheetmetal to go to GNRS. So much sanding! We didn't have hubcaps completely figured out before going to GNRS, so I had to come up with something. I used the old stock caps, cleaned them up, and mounted them to discs. These ended up influencing the final hubcap design. During, and after cleanup.
Fitting the skirts and structure to the fender. Starting on making a header for the roof. Door structure in the background. Here you can see the fences that were made to put the beads in the rear body. Working on the hood door linkages. Beads put in rear body, and header materials. I tapered the bottom tube, the started fitting the primarys. Then bolted them together and welded it up. I had to make a repair to the Latham, so here is when I had it apart. It was cool to get a good look inside this thing.
@cretin my apologies in advance should this be common knowledge, did this Thunderbolt Retractable influence the top design or decision on this Packard? http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1941_chrysler_thunderbolt/images/21381/
Still working on roof shape. Checking to make sure our roof fits. Here is an early test of the mechanism to flip the roof. Column drop. This is an in process tail light trim, and a finished one. Finished trim. And here is the finished light. That brings us to the end of what I have on my computer. I'll have to see whats on my phone.
No it didn't. Thats very interesting! As far as we knew, a roof hadn't operated like that before. I'm going to have to look into that car. Do you know where there is more info on it? Well we knew of the retractible Ford of course, but nothing with a one piece roof.
I was snooping around for Crosley pics of all things and saw that and thought of the Packard right away. There are several links but haven't found extensive info but thats a real cool machine and right up your alley.
I've looked into it a little already. Pretty cool! Just goes to show you, it's all been tried, whats different is how you package it. Thanks for posting that!
No problemo...This site below has some good info and pics. It really makes what you guys did more period than you imagined. If I find any more specifics I will pass it on. Congratulations to you and the team on your continued success. Thank you for the art show as well. Picasso's of Metal... Links... http://netcarhow.blogspot.com/2013/12/1941-chrysler-thunderbolt-concept.html?m=1 ...I swapped out some dead links here and put a new link of the 41 Thunderbolt... I found the old post at a good link... https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Yr/1941/thunderbolt/index.htm
Awesome! Thank you. Right, I didn't think the roof was quite period, and I'm surprised. I know the car is not 100% period, but we went to great length to make it so you couldn't tell by looking at it. It gets tricky to hide all the things you want, but want nobody to see. And thank you, the response to the car has been really amazing. It's been quite a journey so far.
Continued thanks for posting these Kyle. Some phenomenal work went into this car and it is fascinating to get a glimpse at how it was all accomplished.
The more I see the more the same question keeps popping into my head, just how many frick'n hours of labor are in that thing ?!?!?!
Well, the build was 6 years, and a few hearts and souls. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
