Howard.
Those pictures are very interesting. When the interior was dismantled, I took most of the pieces to the upholstery shop but kept a few simple ones/complicated ones at home. These were mostly the ones that required the 1/4" trim molding, ie front kick panels, front seat side trim and back seat kick panel. When I uncovered the back seat kick panel their was obviously a round hole in the middle (covered previously) and two grill/speaker cutouts either side. The 1/4" trim strips continued across the grill cutouts so they were never meant to hold grills/speakers. It must have been an option. The question I have for future (still a ton of stuff {$$$$$} to pay for to finish) is: would this Dual Stream unit work under the back seat with heater hose plumbed in series. Seems like it would, just need the controls, plenums and grills along with the shortened stainless steel trim. My resto shop could likely cut the trim and hammer the ends to roll finish.....they are good......

Howard,
Was rummaging through inventory (long buried) in shop last week and stumbled into a Dual Stream heater that I had glanced at occasionally but never really studied up close. I remembered your reference to it but am certain it did not come out of this car. Only the Deluxe box. This may have been in inventory at Gibb's Machinery Co in Columbia that gave all of their Packard inventory to my dad when they changed over to VW dealership and inventory. Not sure why I looked at it last week other than "telepathic transcommunication (non hard wired). Wont rule that out. Thought I would just bookend that end of the conversation. a few pictures included of box as well as others of the interior taken by my "bride" who is a far better photographer than I will ever be. Thanks again for all of the information and encouragement. Much needed/appreciated as the car improves and the check book shrinks (disproportionately)

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My upholstery shop had a lot of scrap panel board that just ended up going in the trash to get out of the way. The B pillars and the small quarter trim are small enough to cut from the left overs. He might charge you a buck or two but saves you ordering a full sheet and then figuring out what to do with 90% leftovers.

Howard,
I agree with the "normal options". We also had the super clipper custom eight 5 passenger sedan (2106??) and I remember heat making it into the back seat from under the font seat. Drove a number of Packards including a 51 patrician, 52 200 and a 55 400 that I bought for $30 in 1968.....and drove it home! It did have a shattered push rod but managed to fix that in about three hours. Drove that car for another 35K miles

Howard,
I believe the choice of options in this car was limited since it was ordered from Gibbes Machinery, the Packard dealer in Columbia, SC, specifically(I think) as a funeral home "family car" meant to make fairly short trips. It came into our "family" in 1957.
When the interior was being re-done, I took a number of the smaller pieces, specifically the ones with the small 1/2 round trim and worked on those. The rear kick panel did have the framing to cut in duct vents so maybe there was another under-seat heater that could have been ordered for that. I believe one of the first pictures shows the stainless half round bead trim spanning those two openings. Yes, the B&B Deluxe heater is a bit bulky but it does mount fairly high under the dash compartment so foot room was still available. The switch for control was the "clamp on" switch mounted to bottom of dash. Not sure if that could be wired to the dash switch or not. This will be the last installation sometime late summer or fall. Some time to get feedback on that and always appreciate someone helping along the learning curve.

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This car never had the rear heater arrangement. Not sure if it was omitted since it was a SC car originally (and still is). The heater provided was a Deluxe box heater under the dash compartment. Worked well for the front seats. As kids we used the "blanket option" in the rear seating area.

Happy to have interior finished. ready to go back to shop to get doors, hood and trunk deck installed.

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I believe it is called automotive panel board. It is about 7/64" in thickness (slightly thicker than the original. Cuts easily with a box cutter after making several passes. Don't use a jig saw as it leaves ragged cut edges. Just finished replacing all panels in my 2126 7 passenger. Not sure if the "tacks" referred to are the ones holding the panel to the imbedded tack strip. Upholstery shops have those metal tack strips in rolls that clamp over the edge of the panel. The upholstery shop also might have scraps of the panel board that they will give you to get them out of their way. The upholstery shop did most of my interior but I did replace the right and left front kick panels and the right and left rear quarter window panels (larger than the ones in your picture) using the metal tack strips.

oh....The carpet remnant is temporary to make things more civil to work around...easier on the knees than the metal pan.

Have made some progress on interior with much of the rear seating in place as well as headliner etc. Have new rubber from Steele in hand and cannot seem to find the combination of installing the rubber to glass, pinch welds and stainless external trim. Tried a few different approaches but something doesn't seem quite right. Any suggestions from those who have tackled this problem. I see lots of discouraging comments on the 54-55 rubber and installing the stainless trim but that might be a different beast. Any way, a few pics

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