Jul 13 (edited)

Low Buck Improvements

Now and again I come across some inexpensive yet worthwhile improvements on my two older prewar restorations.  Put these new headlight rings in (Hershey find for $25)  last week.  Seems small but originals must have been a real mess - they were painted silver (see pic- yuck!)

@JohnBloom we sprung to swap plates out with the 560 SL last week as well.  $40 and 45 monutes at the DMV.  Early American plate belongs on a 40 Packard not an 89 MB!

What's your latest  small investment improvement?

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Jul 13, 2026

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Replies (12)

· Jul 13

Steve, those look great. I find that momentum is a big plus in this hobby. Sometimes a car is neglected for six months and I barely touch it, and then a half hour of detailing the tires one evening leads to a little project like yours, which leads to bigger ones and the next thing you know I’m going through my checklist of stuff I’ve been meaning to get around to.

We are packing up to move, but the cars are still here. I will find a little project tonight!

· Jul 13

Absolutely John!

Lots of little things on the Packard lately.

Trunk handle, headlight rings, new "Early American" plates and a deep clean, polish & wax.

Still chasing a hesitation/stumble under acceleration when hot. I suspect the accelerator pump is dried out so that's next...

Progress!

· Jul 13

Looks great! You going to Tom's today for the Packard social?
Small incremental improvements is the way to go without getting in too deep.

· Jul 13

Hey AJ - poor planning on my part so in the office today!

Hope the run down and back goes well!!

· Jul 13

Do you have a before picture that you could share?

· Jul 14

@BuickGuy68 that would have been the smart thing... here is an attempt at a before and after...
First pic is from back in 2022 when @TomLaferriere delivered the car. I made a few no dollar changes to the nose:
Grille guard & driving lights gone.
After the after pic below-

Crusty side mirrors replaced with round ones, generic repros but an improvement.

New headlight rings.
A little cleaner look now and maybe no longer nose heavy?

(edited)

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· Jul 14

Steve, I deleted the duplicate post. Was there an issue uploading the photos?

EDIT: Never mind. they are showing up now. If you had a problem send me an email.

(edited)

· Jul 14

@alsancle I would but blaming myself here got distracted by dinner or something mid- post so I figured that was on me as they say.

Did you drive the Reo to RI today?

· Jul 14

I chickened out. Need to do more local driving before I go 80 miles. I'll do a topic on the ice cream social if Tom doesn't. Nice turn out.

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· Jul 13

Hmm, I thought the concept of low buck improvements on old cars only existed in theory. Interesting. I’ll keep an eye out. 😉

· Jul 13

The critical step was getting the new rings for 25 bucks.

· Jul 14

Collecting parts is almost more fun than the car. And if you actually use the parts even better.