I agree with your last sentence, Tim. Though the availability of repro parts keeps our cars on the road and allows us the enjoyment of same, many of them sure don't match the quality of the originals. For example, king pin kits with bronze bushings instead of caged needle bearings, pistons without autothermic struts, and a host of other examples. But I guess we have to be pleased that those parts are available at all, what would we do without them?

Not to belabor the point, but I'm not convinced that just because a battery has a higher amp-hour capacity, it requires more charging. I always thought the amoung of charging required was based on the amount of current drawn, not the size of reservoir it came from.

And yes, new generators are hard to find, but so are new engine blocks, and a lot else. But unless subject to negligence or some other unusual occurance, a set of $10 brushes every 50,000 miles and a few drops of oil annually should keep a generator going almost indefinately. And of course if needed field coils can be rewound and armatures repaired, though those eventualities should be extremely rare.

And of course the major advantage is that you keep the vehicle's historic originality.

Like Randy, I really have a hard time understanding why people make these changes to 12 volt systems and alternators replacing generators. It destroys the cars originality and authenticity, lowers value to many future buyers, and except perhaps in the case of an irate spouse who demands air conditioning, offers little or nothing in return. The engineers who designed these cars knew how to size a generator capacity to the electrical load of the car so unless you've dramatically increased the load, what's the gain - brighter lights while standing still? And why 12 volts? Seems to be this pervasive thought than prior to the advent of 12 volt systems in the 1950s, all cars built before that wouldn't start.

Randy, I strongly recommend a good bourbon, sipped slowly, with the eyes closed.

You think a couple of little drips is annoying? Have you ever seen what a Bijur-equipped car can do to a garage floor after 40 years?

I don't know if that's the general concencus or not, but I think the recommendation is valid. I'll note, however, after a rebuild I went to Dexron, had the groan, changed back to Type F (actually, Type FA) and have had 13,000 miles of flawless performance since.

It was not until well after WW II that Packard kept production records by body style so there is no quantitative answer to your question, though it could of course be estimated by knowing the highest VN production sequence known. You might contact the PAC roster keeper for that year/model to see if his has an estimate. In a general answer, the coupe victoria (or coupe/sedan to some) is relatively uncommon, though of course far more common on the junior chassis than the seniors.

The 1601 came in two wheelbases, 127 for the factory bodies, and 1602 (139 inch) for Rollston-bodied series of quasi-customs. 1602 is an Eight (120) on the long 148 inch wheelbase for the inexpensive limousine and 7-pass sedan.

Just to round out the picture for you, 1603, 04 and 05 were Super Eights on 127, 134 and 139 inch wheelbases. And 1607 and 1608 were Twelves on 134 and 139 inch wheelbases.

Commonly accepted production numbers were: Six (110) - 30,050; Eight (120) - 22,624; Super Eight - 2478; and Twelve - 566. As you can see, the Super Eight and Twelves, which are bona fide Classics, were far outnumbered by the inexpensive bretheren.

I'm not aware of a 1601A, but the 1601D is an Eight (120) on the 127 inch wheelbase that came only in a 5 passenger sedan.

1938 can be a tough year because it's the only year that Packard replaced the metal patent plate (containing the vehicle number) with a decal which more often than not has turned to dust. If this has happened there is no way to recover your true vehicle number except perhaps thru documentation.

If in fact your body is an 1195 (that is, the vehicle number begins with 1195-), then your car is a chassis 1601, called an Eight for that year but otherwise known as a "120", and the body was called a Club Coupe (2-4 passengers). For 1938 there were 4 Packard lines, starting from the bottom the Six (aka 110), your car, the Super Eight, and the Twelve.

Heatherdef, you had asked in your series of posts if Henney still exists, and I didn't see that anyone had responsed. The answer is "no", but you'll find a very concise and interesting history of Henney at www.coachbuilt.com/ , page down to the listing of professional coachbuilders and click on Henney.