I tend to feel more pain buying all of the small pieces. the larger parts for our cars I have found are relatively fair price.

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Interesting....but it's only sold in Europe. Probably not cost effective.

Interesting thought as I've felt the same way at times. But I think the reality is just the result of supply and demand.

Between April 1964 and the end of the model year 1970, Ford produced over 2.5 million Mustangs. For those keeping score, that's 2.5 million cars in just six years and more than Packard produced in total. On top of that, the Mustang also shared many parts with the Falcon, Fairlane and Torino as well as their Mercury cousins. Add in all of the trucks and standard Fords and Mercs that shared powertrain components and the numbers increase exponentially. For that matter, numerous first-generation Mustang parts interchanged with Ford products all the way into the late 70's. Simply put, you have total parts production figures that simply dwarf what all of the independents produced in total.

Also, having worked extensively on a '68 Mustang, I can tell you first-hand that there is a huge variation in the quality of aftermarket parts for these cars. Can you get a $30 oil pump for your small Ford? You bet. Would you want to use it in your recently rebuilt 289? Likely not. Thus far, I have yet to experience that with Packard parts. While I'm sure there are some less than stellar products floating around, I've generally felt that I've received fair quality relative to the cost paid.

Since you're discussing parts for your '55, I would think that a better comparison would be with parts for a contemporary Studebaker or even Mopars of similar vintage. Their numbers were certainly greater than Packard's but neither cranked out the numbers that Ford or GM did at the time.

Good to know and I may even try some!

These guys are still selling graphite oil 🤔

https://xenum.com/home/products/oils/engine/graphite-oil/gp-10w40/

I have extras also. What's your location?

Then maybe for top hold-down straps?

Whoever built this and from whatever it was made, I agree with TxGoat that it looks good. Certainly banning something like this isn't a solution either. Then you would need to ban Ross and his Packups and remove the entire modification section. Where do you draw the line? Adding disk brakes? Putting in third-party and aftermarket components? Replacing panels with new ones?

I forgot to say that this is the convertible model

Thanks, guys. Good ideas all around. I’m trying to take it slow and steady. I want to get this right.

I do think the clamp and blocks idea is worth a try to stabilize the fender. It may not be needed, but can’t hurt.

To be honest, I’ve thought about the general location of where I’ll put the clip, but I really hadn’t thought about how to actually set it down. I need to look in to that. I know I can get a pallet. That may help. I also have quite a bit of foam packing material that I can put under in places to as well. I’ll think on that some more.