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The last couple of days have basically been playing "Indiana Jones" with the car. Just going through and making sure I know what the parts are and where they go so if I can't, I can ask Mark before he forgets. There were a whole bunch of parts in the trunk and one of them I believe to be what was originally the trunk floor carpet/mat. It is sort of like thick paper with short fibers attached. Sort of like flocking but I can't think of how Packard would think that that sort of arrangement would hold up very long at all. I took everything out of the trunk and replaced the "mat" where the shapes seem to dictate before carefully laying parts back into the trunk (I've got to get more shelving). I'm attaching (I hope) a picture to see if anyone can clue me in as to what this is made of. The picture isn't as good as I had hoped and I should have taken it before I re-loaded the trunk but by then my back was hurting too much from pushing the car around and into the garage on Sunday. What can I say.

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Hi Jim,

For whatever it's worth, I photograph everything with my mobile phone as I remove items. I literally have hundreds of photos already, and I've only had the Packard since 10/04/2014. My trick while disassembling is to use a low tack masking tape like Frogtape Painter's Delicate Surface Masking Tape, write the number of the parts onto the tape using my own smart part numbering system, apply all tape markings as a sub-assembly, then photograph it.

A smart part number would be something like "LHIDP001; LHIDP002, etc." That breaks downs to:
Left Hand Inner Door Panel 001
Left Hand Inner Door Panel 002,
etc.

That sub-assembly (the LH Inner Door Panel) is then placed into a large bag or box then sealed with the master part number "LHIDP "written on the outside. The tape I use fully releases clean up to 60 days. If the part has a delicate material or finish that can be ruined by tape adhesive, the tape can be removed before that 60 days is up, and a new tape part number marker placed on the part.

As I clean up and/or restore the sub-assemblies, I place them back into their originally marked bag/box until such time as they get reinstalled on the car. This system may seem anal, but it's fool-proof as long as you remember to mark the outside of the bags/boxes, and place the items back in them.

As to your question about the trunk mat, mine was pretty much totaled too. The mat in mine is spray-flocked onto a substrate. From what I could see, it appeared to have a substrate of a nylon or synthetic backing. Mine was still fairly whitish in color, but it crumbled or tore when lifting. As to Packard thinking it would/could hold up very long... well, it's older than me but still in better shape after 61 years.

That sounds like a truly excellent system. One of the greatest if not THE greatest tool for automobile (and I suspect other things as well) restoration has got to be the digital camera. I can well imagine that attempting to photo every step during the disassemble and label process during the old days of film processing, the lab costs could almost rival the price of the parts. Coming in for a close second is the zip-loc storage bags. Put the two together and, short of a total brain wipe, it's hard to go wrong.

With this car, I got it already taken apart so it was a little late. What I'm doing now is sorting through the bits and pieces with the goal of doing pretty much what you suggest. Perhaps in this case, one other source has come in handy - that of having two other '51 Packards as reference material. The guy I got this car from did have things bagged & labeled but I'm "translating" into my own system.

So when it comes time to put things back together I hope to have all the bits sorted, bagged and tagged with photos. And that should make things go quite a bit better.

As for the trunk mat, I think mine is made the same way but on finding a "just dusty" section, the color seems to be a reddish brown. As for "things holding up" my Patrician's body (even in parts) is doing better than my body.

Thank you for your suggestion - it's excellent.

for what's worth, there is a guy selling reproduction carpets for 51 Patricians. I got one for my 200, and cut a few inches out of it to make it fit in the smaller trunk.

David,

I bought the carpet from the fellow in Ohio. Perfect match as far as cut and dimensions but definitely wrong material.

Jim and PI,

I would further suggest while digitally archiving the dis-assembly that you backup all image files on at least one external hard drive in case of a catastrophic failure to a computer hard drive or corrupted card. Also shoot RAW and do a save as to JPG. If you start as a JPG capture it degrades on repeated openings. If you have to shoot JPG, go for the highest offered resolution. Details will come in handy if you have to start enlarging to see what you did and need to do.

A couple of images of my floor material.

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Continuing with the saga of "Indiana Jones and the Packard Patrician" I came across more artifacts today. One was a Registration Slip from Oregon DMV for the car covering the 1977 - 79 period. From that I now know the name of at least one prior owner and where he (and the Patrician) lived. I plugged the address into Google Earth and came up with a very nice house in a upper-middle class housing area with the houses being of the late '40s to mid 60s single floor vintage with large yards. I was also surprised to see in-ground swimming pools in the back yards of several of the houses including the address in question. For those not familiar with Oregon, the climate is such that in-ground pools are not that common even in up scale homes. Given the era the houses were built, there was a strong "keep up the the Jones'" ethic abroad at that time. I suspect that a sharp contractor made a deal to install one, which soon lead to him being quite busy building others for the neighbors.

With the amount of time that has passed I doubt if the people owning the Patrician are still living in the house, but there does seem to be a lingering appreciation for Collector Cars in residence. Parked in front was a very nice 1963 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coup.

The other was a tag for service at Deleigh Studebaker-Packard in Medford, OR for a Lube, Oil and Filter plus fluid level check. It's a little hard to make out the date, but it looks to be October of 1961. There seems to be another one under that I will have to get at a little later.

David - Thanks for the heads up about the trunk carpeting. Does he have a website?

Stephen, thank you very much for the tip on the photos. I had no idea about the degrading effect of repeated viewings in JPG. Keeping a separate storage system for the pictures off the PC is excellent. I have experienced that first hand. I recently bought a new Laptop to replace the Desktop I bought in 2003. One week later, before I got all my files transferred, the Desktop died (won't do anything) so I'm going to have to have the Desktop fixed just to get my files (sigh).

After the ice storm of last week, the temperature has warmed up enough (50 - 55 degrees) for me to do a few things with the car. I'm still in the "getting to know you" stage but I'm focusing in on cleaning up the engine. As the attached pictures show, it really needs it. The previous owner has taken everything off the front of the car so at least I won't have to be a contortionist to work on it. He also cleaned and painted the head so the contrast with the block and etc is "striking" to say the least. After I clean up the engine I'm going to make sure the valves are all moving throughout their entire range. I've had enough stuck valve related lifter problems with my '51 200 Deluxe to last me for the rest of my life. If everything in the valve department seems "up for the game" the plan is to order a head gasket, tighten down the head (if I can find all the head nuts), do a desperately needed oil change and do a compression check after spinning the engine - hopefully with the starter to get fresh oil in every nook and cranny. If the compression check reads good, I'll try putting the carb and fuel pump back, hook up some fuel line to the lawn more can (it won't be needing it for a while), install the new engine compartment wiring harness and see if she'll come to life. I rather think she will as she turns very easily and smoothly by hand with the head just sitting on the block. I'd like to have Santa grant me my wish for the engine to run by Christmas but we'll have to see. He might have a few issues with me over my behavior during the last year - but I'm hopeful.

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Not much done today. Found a can of "Easy-Off" Oven Cleaner under the kitchen sink which no one will miss since I redid the kitchen and installed a chest high self cleaning wall mounted oven. Wasn't sure if it was still any good, but took it out to the garage anyway and sprayed down the greasiest/dirtiest parts of the engine. The foam came out the way it should and looked about right when it hit the engine but we'll have to see about that tomorrow.

I've been looking at the trim options for the '51 Patricians. I can't seem to find what the difference is between the 500 trim codes (501,502,503) and the 600 codes (601, 602, 603). I know the 503 code uses dark blue seats and pleated trim while the 501 denotes an orange/beige seats and pleated trim and I strongly suspect that 502 is the same thing in green. The only thing I can think of is that the "600" codes mean the same colors but with leather.

If I had been around to order the car new, I would have ordered the 501 as I like the "warmth" of those colors as opposed to the dark blue and grey. I looked through the literature but my search came up empty. Can anyone point me to where I can find the answers?

Since almost everything needs to be replaced I'm giving serious thought to changing the interior to the 501. The only thing giving me pause is that all the surviving '51 Pats I've seen either in pictures or in the flesh have the 501. If the 503 is rare, it would be one thing that would make keep the original colors.

My thanks to everyone who has helped with this projects and in advance on this question.

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted or worked on my '51 Patrician. But with weather and health issues the time has just flown by. (RIGHT!)

Taking a hint for some of the other projects I tried Easy-off on the greased up sections of the engine. That stuff works really well! I used the heavy duty version that comes in the yellow can. I just sprayed it on, let it sit over night and Ta Da! Using a stiff piece of plastic, I was able to peel the grease right off the sprayed sections without any problems. Areas where the grease is thicker - like the front of the Harmonic Pulley (which puzzles me) I've sprayed twice. Knocked it down to where the grease gets hard again then sprayed the Easy Off a second time. Unless I've grossly underestimated how thick some of this grease is, I think 4 or 5 cans should do the trick. Not just on the engine but the surrounding areas of the frame too.

Knowing that I was going to need to find some reference for the Patrician "400" interiors, I bid on and won a copy of the exclusively Patrician "400" Brochure for 1951. It has answered most of my questions but also raised one. However I'll take that up at another time.

I want to scan and send the '51 Patrician Brochure to the site so there will be one for the future reference of others but am not sure how to go about it. So Kevin or Howard or ?, Please let me know how to do it.