Re: need a carpet sample for V-8 blue

Posted by BH On 2007/8/7 21:51:16

Randy -

There is some merit to what you say, but playing one's cards too close to the vest could scuttle a project that otherwise might succeed.

For example, a fella in the Cosworth Vega Owner's Association had done the legwork on having hood blankets repro'd privately. On one hand he could have them molded and die-cut as original, which was pricey; on the other hand, he could have had them simply die-cut (IIRC) for a lot less. This was put forth in a post at an independent online forum, but the project almost died due to a lack of response. Luckily, that fella went on to present the details during the Director's meeting at one of their national meets, which are open to the member rank and file. The Directors quickly crunched the numbers, figured the break-even, took a vote by show of hands on who would buy one, and then took it on as their own National Project AND gave the people who stepped up to the plate to buy one a substantial discount on their purchase. If it weren't for the open nature of that meeting, an exacting reproduction of part that had long been NLA might never have been made.

With membership in the hundreds, not thousands, the CVOA does a fantastic job on parts projects that no vendor would ever touch. In contrast, PAC's National Projects are awfully weak, and I have met more than a few people who have a real negative opinion of that organization. However, I have seen some fine stuff from the Mid-Atlantic and Motor City Regions and would buy from them. (Heck, after talking to Mr. Pushbutton at-length this past year, I am inspired to convert the one Patrician I have with manual selector to push button control!)

Yet, I digress...

I just checked the parts book and sure 'nuff, in addition to black, there's just grey, blue, green, and copper for '56 - technically five colors. I guess I was confusing some '55s I'd seen with red, turquoise, etc. carpeting, but I'm still thinking there was something special about the black (or even all colors of) carpet material that Packard used?

Meanwhile, I am confused as to the driving force behind this project when Kanters has been offering carpet for years. I just checked their color catalog from 2004, and the colors seems awfully close - except for the lack of a copper.