Re: 22 series super 8 convertible restoration

Posted by HH56 On 2019/10/18 11:24:34

The instrument lights may still work well or could be completely shot if the luminescent paint on the needles and numerals has dried and fallen off or been subject to bright light over the years. As nice as your car looks we will hope it is one that has been well cared for and the paint is intact. The Packard 22nd and 23rd series "Flite-Glo" instruments used a luminescent paint and had a UV filter over the light bulbs to energize the paint. The result was the instruments had bright green glowing on the hands and numerals but the overall illumination in the cluster was a very dark and almost invisible purple. If the paint properties wore out or paint flaked off, the instruments become very splotchy or if worn out, almost useless at night. In those cases some owners removed the UV filters over the bulbs and the instrument cluster reverts to the more commonly seen incandescent yellowish illumination over the entire face.

Modern green glowing luminescent paint is available today but taking the instruments apart and repainting is a tedious process. A few have done it and those that did report their results said it worked but was a painstaking process they would rather not do again. As far as I know the only place you could find the UV lenses if those have been removed would be from a parts car.

Some of the prewar speedo needles changed colors at various speeds but I believe that was not carried over postwar. Radios thru the 21st series 47s had a color change on the dial with different tone settings but I don't believe that carried thru on the 22-23 series.

If you don't already have it there are owners manuals you can download that might answer some of the questions. There are two or three versions for the 22nd series on site that reflect some of the running changes during the series production.

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