Re: Help a new Packard owner

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2010/8/14 10:29:50

There was a good reason for the soft top in the center of the roof. This was a common feature of all makes of sedans in the early 30s.

The reason was, the steel mills did not make sheet steel wide enough to make a whole roof in one piece. Some expensive cars had steel roofs laboriously welded together from small pieces and the seams filled with lead body solder then hand filed smooth. The Cord 810 sedan had a roof made of seven pieces fitted together this way.But this was too costly and time consuming for a mass produced car.

It was in 1934 that the wide sheets were first made available. General Motors brought out their "turret top" models in 1935 but even then, their cheapest models still had the soft top insert.

The car makers had to invest in giant presses big enough to make a whole roof plus the press tooling, so it wasn't just a matter of buying wider steel. The Cord mentioned above came out in 1936. The Cord company knew they had to have a one piece roof but could not afford the tooling so they were obliged to make the roof the hard way.

The changeover took place between 1935 and 1937, by 1938 I don't think there were any cars with the soft top insert.