One other comment I"ll make is on the 1937 Packard Twelve, they already had 4 beams of headlights. Park (these were the factory parking lights), City, Country, and High Beam. So I guess the fender lights would be wired in to come on with the Park setting of the headlights then.

Well OK, I guess I'm wrong then. It just seems funny you never see an original pair anywhere or any old photos of cars with them on. I've seen lots of photos of Packards at meets back in the 1950, 60's, 70's and they were never on cars back then. It wasn't until the one accessory reproducer started making them in the 1980's that you see them all the time now.

BUT, is that wiring you refer to actually for the accessory Packard Fog King fog lights though? I'm still looking for a pre 1940 picture of a car showing the fender lights. It seems no such photo exists. Do the fender lights appear in the 1935-37 accessory list? I have always wondered if they were an invention by the company that reproduces them now.

Can someone provide a factory photo, period photo, or factory literature showing a set of those small fender lights you see on most of the restored 1935 - 37 senior Packards actually on a car? It seems to me none of these cars ever had them when they left the factory, but they all do now when restored. Personally, I don't like them at all as I think they (along with Trippe lights) ruin the clean lines of the front of the car.

Has anyone noticed on newer brake hoses the inside diameter the fluid passes through has gotten smaller? Here's my situation. Doing the brakes (wheel cylinders/hoses) on a 1937 Senior car. We last did them in 1991. I know this because the brake hoses we got from NAPA the last time we did them are date coded 1991. The inside diameter of the hole the fluid passes through on the old brake hoses is 3/16". Now 23 years later, we go to NAPA to get new hoses, and while they look identical to the old ones, the hole is only 1/8". They ordered another set for us using a different part number and they came back the same way again. I believe Packard used the same brake hoses for all the senior cars 1937 through 1950 (I know my 1948 Custom Series has the same hoses as my 1937 Senior car). Has anyone come across this at all? Am I worrying about nothing?

I got the new chain on. I gently tapped on the timing gear with a rubber hammer and that did the trick. The original chain is narrower than the replacements available, but the new chain does not seem to hit the timing cover, so I guess it's OK.

old chain.




new chain.




You can see why I wanted to replace it.

Just got off the phone with Kanter. They have the same replacement chain that's wider than the original sold individually. If you buy the gear set with the chain, it's actually a narrower gear set & chain than the original. So it looks like I can't get the original width chain from the normal parts suppliers.

Bought a new timing chain for the 1948 356 Packard from the large engine parts vendor in TX. The chain is one link wider than the original. Is this normal? I would think it would have been the same width. Furthermore, I can't get it to go on. I've had the original on & off several times with no problem, but when I try to put the new one on I just can't get the cam sprocket to go on. I put the chain on both sprockets, slide it on the crank first, then on the camshaft. I'm watching that the key is lined up too. Anyone experience any of this? The vendor says it's the right part and that it's wider shouldn't matter. I'm thinking of sending it back and going with a different vendor.

Since it's a small percentage of engines that have a "A" in their serial number, perhaps it's more along the lines of over sized rod or main bearings. As these engines were hand built, when Packard encountered a crank that was "slightly off" and had to be ground another .010 from the norm to make it work, the "A" in the engine number would alert them if a dealer or rebuilder ordered replacement bearings down the road.

When I pulled the head on my 356 Packard, the passenger side rear two head studs unscrewed from the block when removing the head bolts. I ordered two new head studs from Kanter. What's the best way to seal the threads in the block when I install them? Anyone done this recently?