Re: Thief-proof (body dash) numbers

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2013/2/1 16:45:14

So, Owen I'm not sure what your saying about the car?

Well, sure it's a 1931 and they were all 8 cylinder cars in 1931. What I'm saying is that we've now gotten a second photographic confirmation that Packard was using the later type of vehicle numbering system sometime during 1931 and not beginning in 1932, and of what the type font was.

The number type in your case is often called BTPPN (Body Type Plus Production Number) and can be decoded. Your number 474 decodes to mean a 1931 Model 845 DeLuxe Eight (top of the line, the "large" 384 cubic inch engine) 145" wheelbase with a 5-7 passenger sedan body, and its the 169th (179-10) such car built for the model year 1931. The prior type of vehicle number also in use in 1931 was just a 6-digit number more or less equal to the motor number from which really nothing more could be determined. So it's the photographic confirmation of the type font that was so intriquing to me.