Owen, I guess these questions have been debated since the 1930's. I recall as a boy in the early 50's being told by my grandfather, a Packard owner, that the worst decision Packard made was to call the 120 a Packard and make it look like the "Senior" cars. On the other hand had they chosen a different name, ala LaSalle, and had they not included the Packard look would the 120 have sold well enough to save the company from extinction? Other makers had brought out lower priced companion brands to try to survive the Depression years and were not a success. Remember the Erskine, Viking, Marquette or Roosevelt? The Lasalle was brought out in 1927 so it had a good head start as a brand even before the 1929 Crash and in any event never exceeded the production volume of the Packard Juniors. One source I researched quotes 1937 production of the LaSalle as 32000 units while the "Junior" Packards production was 115,500 units. Was it the Packard name, look and cachet that brought the buyers? I suspect so.

ALK: Let me one of the first to give a hardy welcome. You should remember me from the AACA Packard Forum.

YOUR FRIEND

John F. Shireman

Thanks for the sage advice guys, I will let you know how it goes...

Hi Guys:

Just found this thread and thought I would give it a try.

Found a lot of good usefull info out here so I may check in from time to time.

Latest project is a 1956 Clipper Custom. I purchased this out of Charlotte NC along with 5 other Packards (a 55 pat., a 55 clipper 2dr., a 55 400, a 56 400(total disastermobile)
and a 47-50 clipper 2dr(a totally ambitous restoration) along with a 14 foot truck load of parts, grilles bumpers, etc. etc. I will post as complete an inventory as I have on the for sale forum. As to the Clipper, it was put together by a former Packard Employee named David V. Hedger(I am trying to locate a relative). The story that I got from the man I bought the cars/parts from, was that he had spoken to the mans son(but lost the contact info) and that the father had installed a fresh 374 engine and also put on it a set of twin 4bbl carbs. Another modification was the Caribbean twin scoop hood and a senior grille and bumpers. My aim is to clean it up empty out all of the spare trim and such that is inside the car and then try to get it running, steering and stopping and then paint it. Will post pictures when I can.


Talk to most of you later.

Hey Randy:
Just found this site. I would have answered you also but it seems that it has been taken care of. Talk to all of you later.

Clipper47, thanks for the nice words and you're entirely correct about the distinctions blurring after 1938. Although the chassis were entirely different, the 39-42 seniors (except the 39 Twelve) shared many body panels and othere hardware with the juniors.

Packard's luxury cache began to fade with the introduction of the juniors; just imagine the feelings of the owner of the manor with his fleet of Super Eights and Twelves in the carriage house, seeing his hired hourly help arrive in a Packard with many of the same styling cues as his fleet which probably cost 3-5 times as much! Shows the wisdom of GM's naming the high volume, lower cost Cadillac the LaSalle.

"Owen" Those are great posts.The Senior/Junior classifications was pretty easy between 1935-38 and as time progressed the divisions became much less distinct as chassis and parts were interchanged between models beginning in '39.

Thanks J.D., I appreciate the compliment. Another Junior/Senior close call that I didn't mention are the 51, 52 and 53 convertibles. These are generally considered to be junior cars (short wheelbase, small engine) and it's always been a mystery that a luxury maker that specialized in convertibles dropped the Senior convertible after the 23rd series until 1954. Although the 53 Caribbean was made from a Junior car, it's still considered a Senior because it was of limited production, high cost, and was almost a custom, having the bodies converted by an outside firm (Mitchell Bentley wasn't it?) despite having a Junior engine and chassis. Both the 54 convertible and Caribbean are of course Senior cars, both Packards and not Clippers and with the top-end chassis and engine.

I can't see enough of the carburetor to see if it's the correct one or not, hopefully the small triangular brass tag is still present. You didn't say what model your car (or engine) is; assuming its a 2301 (288 engine) there was a carburetor change during production and a WDO 644S (early) or a WGD 728S (late) would be correct. The Super Eight (327 engine) would be a WDO 643S and the Custom 8 (356 engine) a WDO 531S. The automatic choke cover and internal parts do not come in a carburetor overhaul kit so you'll have to find them separately, they interchange between a large number of Carter carburetors so you shouldn't have much trouble finding another carburetor with these parts.

As far as the under-dash item, I've owned one of these cars and worked on others but must say I don't recognize it. Perhaps it's the socket for the cigar lighter? Or perhaps the light socket that illuminates the switch labels (particular to the 23rd series only).

Mal,

Glad to hear you are able to donate blood. I can't for another 8 months. I was out of the country back in September so they won't expect a donation from me for a year.


Are you retired? Wish I were that way I can spend more time on old Bessie