Re: Pre War Service Index Groupings

Posted by BH On 2011/5/19 22:26:52

Sorry to be late to the party.

Using shop manual coverage was a natural for 55-56 and 51-54 installments, but things began to get blurry with 22nd-23rd Series. Thanks goes to Clipper47, way back, for suggesting they be covered in an installment all their own, 48-50, and then one for the Clippers, 41-47, which follows the 1941-47 Clipper Master Parts Book. That just leaves the non-Clipper models from the mash-up of 1942 offerings dangiling in the wind - chassis 2004-05-07-08-20-21-23-30-55.

Working back in time, to 1930, prewar shop manuals seem a bit choppy in their coverage, but parts books don't seem to follow a simple pattern of years/Series, either. Consider the coverage shown by the available reprints:

* 1935-41: 120 (35-37), 115C (37), Six & Eight (38-41), and Super Eight (39-41)
* 1937-39: Twelve, 15th-17th Series and 1937-38 Super 8, 15th-16th Series
* 1932-36: Twelve, 9th-14th Series
* 1933-36: Eight, 10th-14th Series (incl. Super Eight)
* 1930-32: Eight, 7th-9th Series
* 1932: Light Eight "900"

Owen_Dyneto's suggestion for combining the Light Eight with the rest of the Eights makes sense to me. Looks like the only 8-cyl. car for 1937 was the 120, which was a completely different chassis. So, do we go with "1930-32 Eights" or "1930-36 Eights" or "1930-32 and 1933-36 Eights"?

However, the lines between editions of the intervening years are awfully blurry to me. I can't tell if PMCC was trying to distinguish between Junior vs. Senior or what.

JW's suggestion of "1935 thru 1942 Junior Packards" is similar to what I had been considering, but it could easily be 50% larger than even the 41-47 Clipper installment. I also like the sound of "1935-1942 Juniors (12th->20th Series)" as a title, but I get hung up on the term "Junior".

I suspect that there may have been a parts book exclusively on 120s, at one time, but the catalog format was revised in 1940, which explains the markedly improved 35-41 edition. From what I can tell, as a mere layperson, it appears that the all-new 120 platform for 1935 was extended downward to the 115 for 1937, and these model became the Eight and Six, respectively, for 1938. Yet, come 1939, the Super Eight gets folded into the mix. Yet, come 1939, the Super Eight gets folded into the mix. Does this mean that the Super Eight was then a "Junior"?

Equally confusing, parts for the 1937-38 Super Eights are covered with the 1937-39 Twelves, but 1933-36 Super Eights are covered together with Eights of same period, rather than with the 1932-36 Twelves. Why is that?

On the other hand, I've see some Service Letter articles that cite application by SIX and/or EIGHT and SUPER EIGHT and TWELVE, rather than chassis or Series. Seems like the Customs fell under the Super Eight chassis designation for many years. Yet, if we group installments by motor, that could create an undue number of duplicate entries for other chassis and body topics shared between different engines.

I'd like to hear some additional input on this and previous posts in this thread - won't be much progress on the Service index without it.