Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Took the seat out of the old girl yesterday to get easier access to wiring in the dash and found some pretty cool stuff!!! lots of old coins!!!!!.....and these 2 things that im not sure what they are for or if they are original.

The first pic shows a piece of wood stained and sealed with a long slit on one end and a single hole on the other. These pieces of wood where between the seat bottom rails and the pan....almost like it was raising the seat up 1".....is this standard (original)???????

And the second picture shows a spring that was just laying there one end is secured to the floor pan and im guessing the other end should have been attached to the seat somewhere. My guess is it is used to help slide the seat????

Thanks Pat

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you're exactly right on the spring - it's the return spring for the seat adjustment.

The hardwood strips were supposed to be fitted by the dealer to adjust the height to the principal driver's fit.

Bkazmer.....Wow thats pretty cool that they would do that for a buyer. So i guess it wouldn't hurt if i tried the seat without the blocks to see how the seat would fit without it?????

try it or a different size one. I must admit I don't know how many cars have the "standard" size vs adjusted height.

4 part numbers are listed for prewar shims so I would think it means 4 thicknesses were available. At least yours was hard wood. The Clippers have 1 part number and it was pressed cardboard about 1/8 thick. My 47 had 1 shim at the rear of the track and several stacked at the front to tip the entire seat assy back a little. Water had done a job with the cardboard at one side.

Yeah i am impressed with how well the hardwood held up....

I have one last question......I looked at the bottom of the seat ind cant see any holes or slits where that spring would hook too. too assist moving the seat. Can/anyone have a pic of where the spring is hooked on the seat?

Thanks in advance Pat

Here is what was done on the prewar Clippers and several of the postwar models. The seats and springs are bit different but maybe conventional bodies used a similar method of attaching the spring to one of the braces. Other postwar models had the spring directly attached to the seat tracks.

On Clippers the spring is located on the left upper side of the trans tunnel with the front fixed mounting tab welded to the floor. It is a special spring with the front hook normally centered on the spring but the rear hook goes out to the side. The rear hook inserts into a hole on the side of a front to back brace. In the parts book the spring for the conventional bodies looks like a normal spring with centered hooks and if that is the case maybe the attachment is hidden under a brace.

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