Re: Restoring 1946 Deluxe Clipper

Posted by su8overdrive On 2012/5/22 4:11:08

'umbly, perhaps there be times when we might diverge, upgrade from what Packard did, especially when it doesn't alter the car in any way that a future owner can't easily reverse, should he or she be dying to carpet their car in,
for example, hogs hair...

1946-47 Deluxe 8s and Supers not only used coarse hogs hair, but in the front compartment, a bonded rubber matting.
The stuff held up in cars used as routine transportation, with driver and passengers tracking in mud, snow, not an issue today. Such trim was a trade off between practicality while not looking too cheap.

Always thought it hilarious how many Packardites fawn over Darrins, which were, especially the 1938-40 models, strictly slam, bam, get 'em out the door no two of 'em alike; what would later be known as "radical California customs." Dutch used door handles off junked Hudson Terraplanes; when the convertible tops wouldn't go down deep enough his shop simply smashed down the inner rear fender well. Everything for show. Brunn built a lone '40 160 victoria in the style of a Darrin, but with their typically top drawer workmanship. What a difference. Certainly this is what Darrin victorias would've been like had they been built at East Grand Avenue.

But God/Gaia/Great Spirit/Zeus/Minerva/Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea forbid we should tastefully upgrade an already better quality Detroit factory production Packard.

Have never fathomed the Ford Model A Henry way or the highway mentality visited on upper echelon automobiles like Packards. Especially when so many Packard owners are already slapping on whitewalls that were originally on perhaps one car in 40 in the day, fog or driving lights you never saw. Bob Mehl wrote about his Pittsburgh, PA 1940s car-crazed boyhood, recounting how he never saw fog/driving lights back then. Deluxe hood ornaments. All this stuff you rarely saw then.

And these same folks think nothing of painting their engine accessories a shrill gloss black, when Packard painted them matte or semi-gloss. Somehow, that sort of nonsense is "okay."

But tastefully upgrade your carpet the way i and the fellow with the '41 180 LeBaron Sport Brougham did -- why, perish the thought! Armand could've done what the factory did for either of us, but we both, coincidentally, chose something else tho' in the spirit, understated.

I'm a big believer in sticking with authentic for the year Packard paint colors. But hogs hair? Really?

Saw a beautiful '36 Lincoln K Willoughby Sport Sedan once.
The door panels, headliner all done in a heavy, sumptious English broadcloth twice the thickness of the original mouse fur in so many Detroit cars, Packards included, regardless of make, cost.
So i did the same in the '40 120 i had then, tho' with the original stitching, etc. Looked stunning.

There's a vast difference 'twixt such tasteful upgrading and a Packard street rod, butchering a fine automobile; the yahoos who two-tone 1935-40 Packards.

Funny. Had a rare '39 Packard accessory tachometer in that car. Packard likely offered it that year to dramatically promote the overdrive they finally got around to offering, five years after Chrysler.
I was young and dumb, so felt compelled to enter a show now and then. Recall the clipboard-wielding martinets docking me a point or two because it wasn't a "1940 option," even tho' the dashes were the same, it replacing the clock.

When the judging was over and the awards decided, they skulked back to study it and ask where they could get one.

Don't let such low horizon sorts torpedo your lovely car.
You're not "supposedta" have whitewalls. You don't "hafta"
order an off the rack upholstery kit from LeBaron Bonney or anyone else. Leave that to the Model A Ford and '38 Buick Model 40 crowd.

Remember, Packards were still production automobiles, built to a price. We're allowed to use better lubricants, tires, batteries than existed in the day.

Just some thoughts. However, should you decide to stick with hogs hair and a faithful recreation of the front compartment rubber floor matting, Armand has done many, many such Packards over the decades, as has his father, and his father before him.

I sent a friend with a '36 Cord Westchester to Armand, who faithfully recreated the entire interior, but my friend mentioned Armand's seams were straighter than the work done at the Connersville, Indiana factory, and those "Duesenberg One Twenties" cost twice as much new as a '36 Cadillac Model 60.

As mentioned, your '46 Deluxe 8 is a better automobile than a concurrent postwar Silver Dawn or Bentley R-Type on the same 120-inch wheelbase, other than interior trim. And you can easily, subtly, tastefully remedy that.

'Course, i never had the least interest in Model A Fords and the like, no offense to any who dally downstream.