Hank:

During my perusal of various sites that sell auto fabrics, this one seems to offer some promise. I sent in a request for information about our mutual cloth and expect to hear back from them on Monday or Tuesday. Here is the site:

http://originalauto.com/products/n-o-s-original-seat-cloth-vinyl

It is Original Auto Interiors. Check it out. I will let you know what I find out.

Craig

Hank:

SMS may be the only game in town, but the only material I saw was for the senior Packards. Also, the site takes you to "55 Packard"" -- there is no delineation between a 400 and a Clipper. I am going to conduct a deep Internet search for antique car upholstery fabrics. If I can find out anything for you, I will let you know ASAP! Take care,

Hank:

The material of my seats is NOT velvet ... it just sort of feels a little like it. Velvet for car seats doesn't hold up worth a damn: definitely a bad idea. I just looked on the SMS Auto Fabrics website and did not see anything like the seats in a Constellation.

Being hard-headed is OK, as long as you are practical as well, which from all indication you definitely are. I pity your poor mother sewing little stars into the fabric for your car. You might be setting yourself up big time when it comes to pay back! Besides, from what I could tell during the PAC National Meet, even those judges are not that incredibly anal when it comes to understanding that an owner can only do that of which he is capable.

Finding the exact material used in a fairly rare car from 57 years ago might be on the same level as locating the exact brakepad cover used on a 1914 Apperson Jackrabbit, if you get my drift ...

Hank:

As you no doubt already know, the original upholstery for the Custom Constellation was vinyl and cloth that matched the exterior two-tone colors. The cloth has tiny silver stars woven throughout it. Herein lies the problem -- No one I have talked to has any idea where particular fabric. I have seen it in a Clipper Constellation once, but I did not have a chance to ask the owner about it and for all I know, it may have been original. The fabric in my car is straight black and feels a bit like velvet, though it is obviously strong material.

I would like to know how to get some of that original fabric in black if that is even possible. Considering how the man who restored the car in the 1980s worked, like you he tried to keep it as authentic as possible; but his correspondence that I now have with the records indicates his frustration with this issue as well.

I can send you a fabric sample that was included in his records if you'd like along with the name of the place that he got it.

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I'm sorry, Henry, don't mean to confuse you. I ordered plug wires from Summit and what I got did not seem to match the NOS plug wires that were on the car. Later, at the PAC National Meet I bought NOS wires. If the plug wires you have work for you, then please ignore my suggestion.

Also, I have been following your progression on the Clipper and I am in awe of the fantastic job that you are doing. Your car is going to be beautiful when you are done. My car was restored by a gentleman in Minnesota during the 1980s and I have a box full of letters and receipts from the process. I have to say that being able to shop for parts via the Internet and communication instantly by e-mail makes acquiring those goods and services a lot easier; but it still requires a lot of time and effort to accomplish the work you are doing.

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Hank:

I got those exact plug wires and they did not fit right, so I dumped them and picked up a set of originals at a Packard meet in Williamsburg, VA. You might want to contact a local club and inquire with members about getting the right plugs.

I can't comment on the radio or whether your car is haunted or not (you might call "Ghost Hunters" for that problem), but I would suggest that you invest in a disconnector switch to keep your battery alive. This is not a switch per se but rather a device that allows you to easily disconnect the battery when you park your car for a while. It is attached to either the positive or negative post (whichever is not the ground) and consists of a knob that you simply unscrew by hand when you want to disconnect the battery and screw down tight when you want to connect it. Another plus with this device is that you can unscrew it completely from the post and take it with you when you spend the night out of town, thus ensuring that no one can jump in and hotwire the ignition and steal your car.