Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I was about to take in the wheels from my 1956 Clipper to be cleaned and powder coated (don't ask why, the car didn't even run yet!) but I see that there are two different types, both the same width and bold pattern. Three are like the one with the tire but the loose one is different with a smooth center and looks more like those on my 1954 Patricians. It does show signs of the original red paint so did Packard possibly use two different wheels on the same car or might the different one have been the spare? In any event, there is apparently no spare so I need one should anyone have one laying around that looks like the one with the tire and can get it to me quickly.

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As an addendum, I bought this car back in the late '70s or early '80s and it had been painted solid grey long before that. It sat for at least a decade before I bough it and all the wheels including the odd one have the grey on top of the original red. If a wheel had been replaced, it done in the car's early life.

The rim with the smooth centre is an earlier style so likely used for replacement at some time

Thank you. Which years and models would it be from?

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If 5-1/2" wide it would be for junior models up to about 1950

For 6" wide rims used on senior cars there does not seem to be a cutoff. I have seen this style as original equipment on a very late production 1955 Patrician

Thank you again and I suspect you're right about what it fits and it is the same size as the other three on my car. It must have been on it for at least the last forty-five years if not more.

Curious what would have held on the wheel covers on a pre-'51 model as there were no full covers then and the wheel shows no sign of ever having had clips. The holes are there for them but no wear or marks where the rivets would have been drilled out.

I'm a bit perplexed by the color or my wheels which appear to be pink (Flamingo?) and even look that way in the photo that I attached. Was that a color offered on the 1956 Clippers and where do I find the actual color and trim codes to know what my car should be?

Check this trade letter for info on some late additions including the flamingo color.

https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/TL/T-56-1004.pdf

Very interesting information and fun to read although it appears to have been published after the Executive replaced the Clipper Custom, which is what mine is and I suppose it would have helped if I had said so. I'm not sure if it coincided but I imagine it was also about the time that the Custom was dropped that the little Packard script appeared on the trunk of the remaining models of Clipper.

I'm still not sure what the odd wheel is from but apparently the wheels for 1956 were specific to that year. Mine are part number 6480024 and fit 5640, 5660, 5670 which covers all the Clippers including the Deluxe, Super and Custom and the Executive which was based on the Clipper Custom. Does anyone have an idea of how the 1955 wheels differed or any photos of theirs without the wheel cover?