Re: Packard 22nd Series Sedan Left hand door handle wanted

Posted by HH56 On 2012/3/10 11:07:57

Robert Neal is the expert and all I can do is paraphrase. He mentioned the early handles were found to be weak and were phased out starting in November 47.

Said they were primarily found on convertibles but some made their way to other bodies. Even with only a couple of months production, guess there could be a few thousand cars still out there having them. One being found on a 49 might mean it was one of the renumbered cars but again, hard to say without some numbers. Parts book lists each as applicable for "all" so they must have been interchangeable. A screw hole having to be either filled or drilled depending on the handle would probably be the main difference.

Doesn't say if the first style was still available for parts replacement after the second appeared so that might be a possibility. If an early one failed I wonder if Packard would have replaced all 4 or maybe just beefed up a replacement. There was a campaign to install reinforcing plates on the handles of some early production convertibles.