Body Dash Numbers

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2008/10/11 15:05:09

From time to time there are questions about the large embosssed numbers which at various times Packard called Body Serial Numbers, Body Dash Numbers, and Thief-Proof numbers. I've been keeping a small database of these for some years and assuming there is some interest, I'll just give you a bit of what I know and/or have concluded over the years. Just to save excess typing, I'll call them BDN's for Body Dash Numbers.

I believe the practice of using BDNs started with the 6th series. They have always been six digits or an alpha character (A thru D) followed by 5 digits. I'm not really certain if they started at 000001 or 000010 or 000100 but the earliest BDN I'm aware of is 000126. They just continued to number sequentially as the years progressed. For all years except for some of the junior bodies in 1936 and perhaps 1935 the numbers were enclosed by triangles at each end like bookends; lacking that character on the keyboard we usually record them as <123456>. At some point in the 18th series, in the 500,000 range, they were not embossed onto the cowls, though the two triangles were still present. I have no proof of this but have always thought it might have been related to the impending transfer of the dies from Packard to Briggs.

When they reached 999999 they substituted "A" for the first digit, followed by 5 integers. This occurred during the 23rd series (1950 production). By the time production ended in 1956 the prefix was "D" and I believe the change from "C" to "D" may have occurred very late in 1955 production, though some data from you guys that own 1955 models would be helpful for me to fill in that gap. Also the very earliest numbers with the prefix "A' would help me fill that in as well. What I'd like of course is the VN number, the BDN of course, and where it has one, the Briggs body number. But please, not data from cars without their original factory Patent Plate (VN plate).