1941 Packard 160 Army Staff General Car Questions

Posted by David Terrell On 2008/10/21 15:12:02

I received a 1941 Packard 160 from my late grandfather in 1999. I have been trying to do some research on it in order to start the restoration. Here is what I know. My Grandfather purchased the car in a military sale in Texas in the mid 1950's. It was painted olive drab with the white star. Later during a restoration my grandfather had the car repainted Packard Blue. However they did not sand off the paint but just painted over the original paint. I know this because upon removing the headlights, the olive drab paint was still present were it was covered.

The main questions I have are:

The location on the upper firewall under the diver side hood where the Patent Plate should be is a plain black plate with numbers stamped on it? I originally thought maybe someone just painted over the original plate with black paint but there was nothing under the paint.

How many Packards were used stateside for the military?

Is there a way to carefully remove the top coat of laquer paint with out messing up the underlying paint?

Where would the military serial number be located?

How would I be able to track down the military history of the car?

Thank you for your help.