Re: info needed on a 1939 Packard

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2011/3/30 14:14:22

Your body number, <482230> is actually a body dash number or thief-proof number never intended as a real vehicle identifier though it would be possible thru records probably now lost to the ages. All it tells me is that the cowl stamping was made about 1/3 of the way thru the 1939 run.

As to the 1701A, the 1701 denotes a 1939 "120" or junior eight model. I believe the suffix "A" indicates that it was sold as a commercial chassis (i.e., without coachwork). Is it an ambulance/hearse or perhaps a limo? With local coachwork? Got any pictures of it? Another 1701A that I have some data on, 1701A-2136, was exported to Finland in 1939 as a chassis to be fitted with local ambulance coachwork. As a chassis, it would have been shipped with factory coashwork only from the cowl forward.

The second part of the vehicle number, 2177, indicates that it was 177th 1701A assembled (the starting number was 2001).

And if I can ask, is it a right-hand-drive vehicle? South Africa was an RHD destination, right?