ed to park it in his garage (it is a Packard Woodie station wagon). A deal was made, a list of parts needed was made, and Mike started brushing up on his woodworking skills since the wood came in a bucket. Once Mike had a good idea of what he wanted, what he needed, and a general clue as to what it was going to look like finished, he start- ed building it up. Mike drives his rides, this baby has been to Canada, so he wanted a chassis that worked well and was tough enough to crank down the miles. He had the pros at Scott’s Hot Rods build a frame that has a hidden trailer hitch. The front suspen-
sion is a custom Scott’s unit with tubular A-arms, AirRide, and big Wilwood discs. The rear suspen- sion is a Ford 9-inch out of a Lincoln sitting on AirRide with the Ford drums actuated by a Corvette master cylinder. Mike slipped in a 2000 LS1 with a Howell computer, a Flowmaster-based exhaust, and the matching 2000 4L60E electronic overdrive transmission. The chassis is finished off with 15-inch McLean wires wearing Diamondback wide-white rubber. The ’48 Packard is an impressive bit of post war design and Mike didn’t want to change any- thing other than simplifying the lines a little bit. JULY 2026 83
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