Day 570, The Seattle endurance run.

I don't know what possessed me to think it was a good idea to drive to Seattle, up and back in one day, but that was the plan.  My friends Tracy and Christian had signed on for the journey and we were leaving bright and early.  Christian was at my house by 5 am from Bend and we then picked Tracy up about 5:20 am.  The estimated travel time to Seattle was 6 hours, give or take, depending on traffic.  I had my truck fueled and loaded down with everything I thought I might need to bring back an engine block for my 42 Packard.

Naturally, I was not feeling good and I couldn't stop coughing, despite my medication.  I probably should have cancelled the trip and gone to see my doctor again, but I wanted to go.  I drove to Sandy, Oregon (about a hundred miles) near Mt Hood and we stopped for our first rest stop.  I was really starting to feel crumby and I thought if I could rest a bit it might help, so I let Christian drive.

Tracy in back, Christian driving and myself.

We made great time and actually arrived at Takwila, WA just south of Seattle, at 11 am.  I was feeling much better and was happy I was making the trip.

The plan was to meet the owner of the 53 Packard Mayfair convertible at noon, so we had time to eat and do a little shopping.  There was a great shopping and restaurant complex right next the warehouse area where the Packard was being stored, so we had lots of choices.  We were all hungry and ultimately decided to go to iHop.  Afterwards, Tracy went shoe shopping and Christian went to visit a Verizon store, which is the company he works for.  The timing was perfect, Tracy had two new pairs of shoes, Christian had a nice visit with the store and I received the phone call that the Packard was ready for us to visit.

1953 Mayfair Convertible

A few minutes later, we were at the warehouse to see the Packard.  It was even more impressive in person than the photo.  I started to look the car over from top to bottom.  The owner had done a great job explaining the condition of the car.  He had said there were rust issues and I found them.  The trunk area being the worst.  The front floors seemed to have held up better, but had a few holes too, as is common with most convertibles.  The car sounded good and all the doors were solid, trim was good, interior needed work, but nothing told me to pass on the car.  Probably the biggest surprise was the amount of crazing and fatigue that was happening at the back fender area where they are welded to the body.  The paint was getting ready to let go and this area will require attention soon.  I took lots of pictures which I will show to my friend Rick (who restores cars) to get his his expert feed back.  Christian and Tracy loved the car, and so did I.  The owner of the car was a super good guy and I told him my plans to show the pictures to Rick and get his input.  He was more than accommodating and assured me he would work out a deal if I was interested in the car. 

It's always a fine line when buying a car that needs restoration work, knowing what needs to be done, the costs involved and then not paying too much up front that it sinks you, is always a balance  Since I have to hire almost all the work done I can't invest much sweat equity.  Buying a car already restored is almost always the best way to go for someone like me and it eliminates the frustration of restoring a car.  However, I have always followed my heart and buy what speaks to me and unfortunately this car is speaking to me.  I fear an expensive restoration is in my future.

A wet 1949 Packard Custom

From Takwila, we headed an hour north to Marysville, WA to pick up a Packard 282 engine to rebuild and put in my 42.  With the help of Christian's GPS, we got there with no problems and our timing was perfect.  Naturally, it started to rain, but we still had the opportunity to look over a huge collection of Packard parts; I was in heaven.  Christian was in awe and was snapping up pictures to send to his brother in Denmark, where big American cars are few and far between. It only took about 20 minutes to have the engine loaded in the back of my truck and we were soon heading down the road and right into the heart of rush hour traffic on a Friday.

Seattle rush hour traffic

The traffic was unreal and what had taken us an hour to drive up was taking us three hours to do going home.  In all it took us 6 hours to get out of the State of Washington and we arrived into Portland at 8:50 pm, which gave just enough time for Christian to run into the Ikea store for a few items he wanted.

After a quick pit stop and refueling, we were on the road and heading for home.  As we started to climb the pass over Mt Hood, the rain and road glare was a bit much for Christian and we switched, so I could drive us home.  The roads were very hard to see in the rain with the glare of on coming headlights, but the rain soon turned to snow.  The snow was easier to see in but harder to drive on so I shifted into 4 wheel drive and kept going.  It was really snowing hard and it was actually nice to have the extra weight of the engine in the back.  It was a long three hours, but we were finally made it home.  I dropped Tracy off at 12:10 am and I was back home to my house at 12:20 am.  Christian then had to drive another 20 minutes to get home.

It was a long journey and one that we kept describing as crazy.  It was crazy, but also boarding on epic.  We had a lot of fun, just talking looking at the scenery and singing to the radio.  It is definitely a trip we will all remember.  If all goes well, the 282 engine will be rebuilt and live on for many years in my 1942 Packard convertible.  And as for the 1953 Mayfair, I might have just found the perfect tow car for the Traveleze. I just need to talk myself into it and run some numbers.   One thing for sure the memories of this road trip are priceless and will live with us for a lifetime.

I wouldn't have, or couldn't have done this trip without Tracy and Christian.