I've been thinking about doing something of the same for my Mayfair (red/white) as the green doesn't match the car at all. How did you get the old green sheen off the aluminum facing? Your repainted instruments look great and will probably look better in your dash. Congrats.!

I think all of the knob locations are the same for 51-54. It is the tuning(s) that may make the difference in the opening in your dash.
For 51 there was:
Manual tuning- no pushbuttons or wonderbar
Manual tuning and button select(black)
Manual tuning and chrome wonderbar select- no buttons
52
same as above but supposedly no wonderbar offered
53-54
Manual tuning- no buttons or wonderbar
manual tuning and button select(chrome pushbuttons)
Manual tuning with chrome pushbuttons and wonderbar

The addition of both wonderbar and pushbuttons meant enlarging the middle radio hole in the dash.

I think the yellow and orange for those years might have been for taxi cabs only. Packard eschewed loud, bright colors usually, going for conservative, darker hues.

Oh. Cheaper than I thought. Around 200-275 for some of the Packard plastic emblems.

There is Emblemagic or someplace like the spelling on the web that had reproductions. They are not, repeat N-O-T cheap. I think a brand new grill emblem was around 4-5 hundred dollars. Just the plastic piece!

The grill used the same from 52-54.
The trunk was the same from 53-55 (senior series).
The 54 side pieces were that year only as the 55's had a chrome V holding onto the rear panel (for hinting not to subtly at Packards' first v-8)

I'll be definitly going Let The Ride Decide route of repainting my emblems and that will be that.

If the senior rear fenders were grafted onto the Carribean, then why isn't the tail light bulge the same as the seniors? The senior rear fenders have the bulge extending through the gas filler door while the Carribeans' tail light bulge only goes a few inches. In fact the bulge looks to be what the chrome extentions for the 54's (hardtop-convertable) were modeled from (same size, leangth).

You'd have to build a new garage cosidering its width and leanth!

Another weird piece of the puzzle.

In re-reading number 73 of "The Packard Cormerant", there was a mention of Al Prances' car, which was under personal cars of Packard designers.

"AL PRANCE of Briggs had a Twenty-fourth Series Patrician customized two-door hardtop, which prefigured the 1955-56 "long-boat" Four Hundred hardtops. It was painted a spectacular color, "black gold.""

Now did this mean a Mayfair was taken and upgraded with a Patrician interior and exterior trim or did it literally mean the body was leanthened for the 127" wheelbase as well as painted a listed but apparently unobtainable paint? Either way, pictures or any recall by anyone seeing that car would definitly be interesting. Especially since Packard could have used that car for a '350' series for better showroom traffic and luxurious hardtop, especially if it was a stretched 250.

How does the saying goes?

"youth is wasted on the young"

Maybe everything is spelled correctly? Try to deliberatly misspell something.