Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hello everyone!!

Just buying parts for the mentioned car restoration.

I've been checking all the available rubber parts for it at Steele but nothing related to the rubber kit for the convertible top.

Is there anyone able to give a clue about where to find a fully comprehensive kit for the convertible top??

Many thanks in advance

Hello Mateo,
I've been through their catalog and they have a number of components for the top assembly. I'm not seeing anything significant they don't offer. Perhaps give them a call and if I'm missing something... let me know. Only item I'm concerned over are the rocker step plates. May end up casting my own from original ones if unavailable.
Mike

G'day Mateo buendia,
to PackardInfo, even though you've been a member for a long time, but first post.

And, I invite you to include your '48 Super Eight Convertible in the Packard Owner's Registry

I believe Steele still offers a service where they will email you a PDF catalog consisting only of items they have available for a specific year. If you request the catalog it might be easier to see if they have all the pieces you need. I did this on my 47 and it was a simple matter to print out the pages and then order pieces as needed and mark them off the page as they arrived.

There were a few pieces Steele did not have and of those, some I was able to source from Kanter or even NOS from Max. I also made a few small rubber pieces using repaired original pieces as a pattern to make silicone molds and then cast new items using urethane rubber. On the sills, there were repros long sold out but 3 or 4 years ago Max had another run of new reproduction 48-50 sill plates for sale but they were expensive. Unknown if any still exist. There were none for the 47 sedans at the time so like MJG mentioned doing for his car I cast my own out of urethane rubber. If you do the same, be advised that while the sills are the same size and fit the various 46-50 models, there are subtle differences in the pattern which varied by year.

It is a process and a half to get the correct series look when using a different year for a pattern (at least it was the way I did it) but my results for the 47 sills were tolerable. One negative about mine and I believe the repros Max sold is the metal support plate that was vulcanized into the originals is not included so you will need to figure out a different way of mounting them to the car. I and at least one other person who bought one of the first sets of repros used Velcro but they could also be cemented to the body metal.https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=15150&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0 There is another poster (Fish'n Jim) who was looking into making sills for a 50 two door that may be the same as a convertible would use. I don't know if any were made but if you need sills for your car he might have additional information.

If you have not already done so you might also call Kanter and request their specific year printed catalogs. They have one listed for Packard 40-50 and another for 48-54 models. Not sure which catalog would contain the info or best suit your car (maybe both) but Kanter did offer various size kits of weatherstripping rubber with the number of pieces depending on how involved you want to get. I have a 6 year old catalog where there is specific mention of a convertible top weatherstrip kit (Kit E) but since it is old information I do not know if they still offer the kit or if the catalog I found the info in would be the correct one for your car.

Thanks for posting that link and added commentary on the sills Howard. I vaguely remembered coming across that awhile back and remembered concerns over quality at the time. In another life and fresh out of engineering school I created tooling for new products at the plant I worked at and silicone was one of the mediums we used (I know enough to be dangerous and if low quality + high price is the only option... I may take a crack). It will be a while before I get to that point as I am building my restoration shop right now.

Mike