Re: Work on the 1953 Derham Formal

Posted by 58L8134 On 2017/6/15 12:22:46

Hi Stephen

Glad to see your '53 Derham Formal Sedan restoration project and blog is underway. It nice to know a car I glimpsed nearly a half century ago at a Transit Road garage survives and is being restored. Back then, I had just received my copy of the Turnquist book, was absorbing it, learning about cars I had no idea existed or had only seen for sale in the back pages of Motor Trend and in Cars & Parts magazines. Sighting of rarities were always an unexpected delight, an event which occurred far more frequently on small used car lots and repair garages then.

If you remove either the headliner or the padded top cover, I would be interested to see how Derham accomplished closing the window opening in the details of their work. The rear window appears to be flat glass which creates a thick 'brow' at the top of the opening. It's surprising they didn't source a smaller curved glass backlight from either the 21st - 22nd Series or some other car brand.

As Fred points out, factories were primarily concerned with building cars to the specifications for the model year at hand, documented any running changes. Additional or substituted options or equipment occurred at the dealer level or at the custom coachbuilder's shop in this case. Being a custom order special by a customer with Packard family connections, one can bet the dealer did his utmost to please in every detail.

Mr. Neal's 1951-1954 Packard book has all the definitive answers on these Derham customs plus much more. It is a worthwhile addition to your library even if you don't own this series of Packards.

Steve