Howard -

Personally, I have seen far more aftermarket mirrors than OE. While may look period-correct, I have also seen plenty of other styles from much later years, but those with a rectangular-shaped head look a bit out of character to me. In either case, I see more of these cars with side view mirrors mounted on the door body.

The placement of a radio antenna may have some impact on the decision. Although the factory template allows for a mirror to be mounted on the front fender in that case, the end result looks a bit crowded (to me).

The aftermarket mirrors that are presently mounted on the fenders of my Caribbean Hardtop have a screw and joint that allows the head to be rolled left-to-right, but I'm not about to mess with that after so many years - especially since I'm gonna replace 'em anyway.

The head of the factory-issue mirror can also be rolled a bit, and having them mounted further forward on the fender increases the field of view.

BTW, my dad once told me that he did not use the factory template when locating the mirrors on the fender, but eye-balled them for best view (whatever that means).

However, he recently added that the reason he went with fender mounting was for the view through the windshield - specifically, that the wipers kept that perspective clear of rain/snow (unlike the view through either front door window). Of course, that might not be much of a consideration for fair-weather only use.

For 1956, did Packard and Clipper still use the belt-molding type mirrors that ‘51-‘54 had? My 1956 Clipper which I hope to have running soon will need mirrors as it has none now and I don’t want to use fender-mounted mirrors.

No, the mirrors did not mount on the belt molding.

Don -

The 55-56 version could be mounted on the front fender(s) or front door(s). Refer to the factory template that Owen_Dyneto kindly provided earlier in this thread.

See my previous post #4 in this thread where the mirror (though this is the bad one I got form American Arrow) is mounted to the body of the front door - located per the factory template.

On cars with twin rear antennae, I just happen to prefer a pair of mirrors on the front fenders.