My friend who painted it mixed his own ivory without a paint code - kind of a little of this, little of that, until it looked right. I think the tiny amount of pearl that he added makes it look even better.

Funny you should mention this now. Just this week, I had my wheel from my '54 Clipper done. It was originally painted green to match the dash. - the paint was chipping from the wheel. Rather than try to match the existing paint, we painted it to look like the optional ivory wheel. We did the turn signal and shifter knobs also.
I'm very happy with the results. It dresses up the interior. My wheel was in good shape. It had one small crack near the edge of the wheel which was filled with epoxy before painting.
The wheel was painted with ivory paint that had just a small amount of pearl added, then a little airbrushing of amber gave it a bit of an aged, or authentic look. - Finally 4 coats of clearcoat.

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Again - congrats Lynn. I have a very similar '54 Clipper Club Deluxe in the same colors. I love my car - and what surprises me the most after owning it a year is that I still really love to drive it. Once you get it sorted out, you'll have a very enjoyable automobile. This forum will save you a lot of headache - benefiting from all the others knowledge and experience.

And that was good advice about dropping the trans pan - even though my car had only 25K original miles and ultramatic trans worked fine, dropping the pan revealed a mess of sludge and slime - which I was happy to get cleaned out.

Thanks for posting te Hudson Pic. Now that I see it the picture I realize I have seen it before - maybe that was subconsciously my inspiration. The yellow graphic on the red air cleaner looks great. On the Packard air cleaner Lee went with mostly white and silver over the black.

Thanks for the compliments - credit should go to my friend Lee - who ame up with the design and lettered it. I just asked him to put "Packard Thunderbolt 327" - he made it look like something from the era...

I guess if someone wanted they could send an air cleaner or something else to Lee and he'd do his magic. If someone is really interested PM me and I'll give you his contact info.

It would be interesting to see if it is similar to a Hudson air cleaner graphic. Lee didn't have a reference - just went with something that looked appropriate.

OK - somehow the thread turned into oil filters instead of oil bath air filters - but thats fine with me.

I just finished fitting my oil bath air cleaner to my car - thought I'd give an update. I decided to go with the orignal air cleaner element - after I spent a while cleaning it and getting all the loose material out of it. I don't want that junk getting sucked into the carb! So after i cleaned up the old air cleaner housing (Laquer thinner takes off the paint easily) - I had it powder coated.

I put it on the car and found out the bracket I had was too short - must be for another model or air cleaner. - I fabricated a new bracket and everything looked good. The main reason I changed to the oil bath air cleaner (I have to admit) - is I like the way they look.

But it seemed just a little too plain. I know that is what it is supposed to look like - but I thought it could use a little snazzing up. - Purists don't get mad. It is just an air cleaner. I had my friend letter it for me. Here is the result. Now I need to get the rest of the engine bay looking good.

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I ordered the Purolator. It looks about the right size. For $8 - I'll certainly give it a try. Thanks.

Thanks - I did look at old posts on the subject, and never really found anything specific - like a particular aftermarket filter that fits.

My current idea is to find a normal round air filter and put it in the oil bath canister with no oil. The way I understand it, the original filter took air in around the solid sides, then it passed down over the oil and up through the oiled mesh then across through the big canister, then down to the carb.

In order to use a normal round filter (needs to have a diameter of about 8 inches) I would block off the path of air from the bottom of the filter. The air would simply pass through the sides of the filter and up in to the big canister. Without a diagram - this may be hard to see. I thought maybe somebody has already done this, and could let me know which filter and how it worked out.

If not, I guess I'll try it, and report back.

I am fitting an oil bath air cleaner to my '54 clipper (2 bbl -327). I need to replace the filter element (falling apart). Does anybody have a source? As a second solution - I would consider putting in a paper or K&N type filter and skip the oil. Anybody find a good solution for this?

OK - another 2 cents. I don't really disagree with what has been said here - but I will relay my own experience.

I have a '54 Packard with the original tank and fuel line up to the fuel pump. The tank has never been off. The float isn't working - but that problem existed long before I got it, and probably before the use of newer fuels.

Anyway - I have been using the Packard after many years of very little use. (only 25K original miles). I use 87 octane fuel with the standard amount of ethanol and no additives. I have had no problems whatsoever. I have put roughly 1500 miles on the car this way, which is quite a few gallons run through it.

Now - separately - I have restored quite a few motorcycles - and seen many, many problems with all kinds of tank coatings. The problems fall into two categories, a coating that cannot withstand ethanol fuel or a coating that improperly applied - usually the tank was not perfectly clean or rust free inside.

The coatings break down, sometimes in little chunks - and clog your filters and carb jets. It is a major problem.

I have seen problems with the red coating that radiator shops use, and with the old Kreme product, and newer epoxies. (The epoxies usually is a bonding problem)

For these reasons, I will not coat a tank unless it is absolutely necessary.

Wesley, It would be my assumption that there is a problem with the coating that was applied to your tank. The broken down coating is now wreaking havoc on the engine and fuel system. - Of course I'm not there to see it, nor the expert, but based on my experience - it is likely,