Re: Found! Body number plate. When mfg?

Posted by 28Pack526 On 2015/10/24 21:06:04

Hi rrhorton,

I too tried to answer to the same question for my 5-26. As I'm sure you know, the body, VIN, and engine numbers don't match, but should have roughly the the same relative low or high values if original.

For instance, the brass tag on my rear floorboard indicates 303 (Sedan, despite what the model index on this site says) 2989. That suggests it's an early 5th series--a conclusion also supported by my low VIN, wooden steering wheel, and high-mounted choke / advance knobs.

The best resource I could find for production numbers and dates is the Packard production record from 1930. See page 16 specifically. The 1929 record is interesting too, but doesn't provide end vehicle / motor numbers.

As far as pinning down an approximate date, here's the best I could come up with: My VIN is 129004, which means it was the 3,991st 5-26 manufactured of 41,787 total. Production of the 5th series ran from July of 1927 through July of 1928, so all things otherwise being equal (which, granted, isn't a safe assumption...), there were ~3,214 5th series cars built per month. My educated guess, therefore, is that my car was manufactured around August of 1927, although it's titled as a '28.

If you figure out a more accurate method, I'd love to hear it!