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

Very rare aftermarket headlights?

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The girl in the pic. Is that Constance Talmadge???

Not only the headlights and the girl but additional the white inner-tube valve looks interesting. Is that an extension, known from inner dual tyres?

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Gusha, I believe what you're seeing is a nickel-plated valve stem dust cover. Valve stems were metal, vulcanized in or mounted into the tubes with threaded plates and rubber gaskets, and covered with a plated metal stem cover. Used on early cars and Packards (and many others) thru 1934 though some judging manuals say 1934 used rubber stems. Easily contradicted by the many factory photos of 34 Packards all of which show metal stems.

Here's a picture of some old ones from my 34; made then (and still today) by Schrader, or atleast licensed by Schrader. The open end is internally threaded to match the external threads on the actual valve stem. Style varied considerably over the years.

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Thanks for clarifying that, Dave. It obviously is a light reflection instead of a white valve.
I visited the company's website. Founded in 1844! The early bird gets the worm.

"...We were founded in 1844 by German pioneer August Schrader, inventor of the now famous Schrader pneumatic tire valve; the very same patented valve which is used on every motor vehicle in the world today..."

An unerring instinct led me to this wikipedia entry: "Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 - July 1, 1860) was the first to vulcanize rubber, a process which he discovered in 1839 and patented on June 15, 1844."





[picture source: www.zdf.de]