Re: dash board color and texture

Posted by Stephen Houseknecht On 2011/11/24 23:39:54

I have been trying to get in touch with the son of one of the Ostendorf brothers of the Ostendorf Packard dealership here in Buffalo to see if he remembers anything about the Derhams. I figure he would probably remember the Derhams, his dad and uncle sold one of the first ones, which is now mine. The car was delivered to original owner on Feb 28, 1953. O_D supplied me with the Briggs build date, which I believe was late November 1952. (Could you please resend that bit of info to me Dave?)

The following quote is from Enos Derham in a letter reply to the late second owner of the car (I bought the car from his wife who went to school with the Ostendorf son).

"We converted the standard Packard Sedan into the Formal Sedan Type. 25 of these were done for the Packard factory and about 5 or 6 for export. My recollection is that the upholstery used in all of them was the standard Packard fabric. We have no records." This quote was an answer specifically to the 1953 model.

I remember seeing these codes when we did the Material Swatch Project. Interior codes that I believe ran 1951-1954.

801-dark brown broadcloth combined with tan broadcloth
802-dark green broadcloth combined with light green broadcloth
803-blue broadcloth combined with gray broadcloth
804-gray broadcloth
805-blue broadcloth
807-dark brown broadcloth

Also a 145-pound weight difference on the 53 spec sheet between Derham and Patrician.