Regarding the saga of the incorrect VIN on the title of our '38 Twelve, believe it or not, the Washington State Patrol accepted all of my documentation, including the crayon vehicle number written on the underside of the rear seat cushion, and has officially corrected the title to the change the incorrect "A" to the correct "4". I was afraid they would only assign it a state VIN which would make it look more like a salvaged vehicle.

The only concession was the installation of a state tag (stamped with the correct Packard vehicle number) and the steel stamping of the chassis with the Packard vehicle number under the hood near the steering gear box.

Kudos to the Sea-Tac Inspection Station of the State Patrol.

We finally got this Packard 12 shipped and are now working on it. This morning, I pulled up the back seat cushion and there it was, the entire serial number written in yellow chalk or crayon. It is indeed a misread of a 4 that ended up on the title as an A. So, this car is number 14.

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Thanks - Interesting that your car is only 20 later on the TPN and 19 later on the engine number than my car. Especially given that the TPN apparently is sequential for all production. These two twelves must have been ordered very close to the same time. I am curious now on how the TPN's were assigned. Was a TPN issued to a specific order at the time of order processing or, were cowl / firewalls stamped with the number at the time of initial pressing or, was the TPN stamping a separate process that was done after the firewall raw piece was pressed where it was now assigned to a specific order. Need a time machine about now.

Thanks all. This has been very helpful and enlightening. Is there a location anywhere else on the car or chassis that would have been stamped with a sequence or serial number? As we work on this car, it will be interesting to see what is on the back of the original door panels and under the seats to see if there were any crayon marks to indicate a body number that might help narrow down the serial number mystery. Unfortunately, even if I were to come up with the actual serial number as it should be, it might be a battle not worth fighting to get the Washington DOL to correct the titled number. So, this Packard may forever be know as 201A for title purposes. I have guessed, based on the early range you state of the known numbers, that the error on the title might have actually been a misread of -2011, -2014, or -2017 depending on how it was hand written on an old document.

I am in the process of acquiring a 1938 1607-1136 (V-12 Club Sedan) which, of course, is missing its "Decalcomania" (Packard's word, not mine). So, having read several of the posts here related to the TPN and other numbers, maybe you can offer up some guidance here. Here is what I know:
Title VIN: 1136201A, TPN: 411772, ENG: A600171
Do these numbers make sense?

Thanks all for the tips. I thought I may need to make something. No problem. I did add this to the registry.

I am looking for a source of the '55 Clipper Tail Light to Body Gaskets and Back-up Light Gaskets. Tail Light Lens gaskets too. Any thoughts?