Re: Under hood prop rod
Posted by Leeedy On 2020/10/22 22:13:45
Quote:
Let the ride decide wrote:
Leeedy,
The parts book lists a prop for 5588, and the radiator top splasher has a 5588 only part.
Parts book group;
0.0091
0.0092
0.00923
0.0095
And
30.87498
You think these were a late add asked for by the dealers?
I'm only going by what I know.
I've seen this car before. Of course the Packard here in these photos is quite obviously not a normal factory example of a 1955 Caribbean since there were no factory Caribbean hardtops for 1955. Meaning each was specially assembled and/or custom built. Which takes us far off in another direction and we can go over this all night long. What I'm talking about are line production, factory-spec 1955 Caribbeans.
1955 Packards were built according to orders that were teletyped to the Conner Avenue Plant. Very advanced technology for 1955. Another advanced technology thing that Packard did that nobody seems to know about today.
Therefore it would be easy to substitute one part for the other...OR it would be just as easy for a dealer to order one and do a pre-delivery or post-delivery installation. Piece of cake. Unscrew a few sheet metal bolts and swap radiator aprons. The support was built right onto the radiator apron.
As I said before... a dealer (or customer) could request the hood prop strut. But it was decided that these were not normally installed in 1955 Caribbeans. And the 1955 hoods were not intended to be leaded.
And as I said, they made the part, so obviously there would be a part number. But having a part number does not mean it was a line-installed production component for all 1955 Caribbeans.
Last-minute production decisions/changes rarely make it into a parts book which is usually already written and printed well before cars are at the dealerships. Sometimes if it is realllly important, then a service bulletin (or some similar thing) will be issued to dealers. Otherwise, it wasn't considered that big of a deal and service managers or sales managers were advised in regular updates. These are the kinds of things that people outside of the industry rarely know about. The danger of going by listings in parts books for any automobile. I wrote a few of these in my career-so I know.
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