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New to the Packard world, so may not know all the vendors or panel players. Putting 47 Clipper 21 series 120 wheelbase back as a 42 Ike staff car. Got front floor pans from C2C but I need the entire trunk floor including the spare well, all is rotted through. C2C does not offer anything. Since I will probably cover with flock or carpet or mat, I can get away with just a sheet metal flat main floor trunk pan, but the spare tire well is beyond my fabrication skills. Any leads on a replacement trunk floor or suggestion to move forward. It will not be museum quality, so worse case scenario is flatt metall all the way and just lay the spare in flat using the original threaded rod, disk and thumbscrew, but if I can get a little close to correct, I will strive to do so.

Same answer as for the poster who is looking for a 48 spare tire well. Being mounted sideways across the floor between the axle bumpup and the gas tank makes finding anything that might fit a bit more difficult so you are mostly limited to making something with a basic shape work.

C2C did sell a trunk floor for the Clipper body based 48-50 models but it is not an exact repro and will need some additional work and trimming to fit in a 47.

Wat has 9 Clipper bodies. One has a good trunk floor. One. That's a 11.1% survival rate.


Looks like someone would make one. Then again . . . .

They make "universal" spare tire panels. Mostly in the hot rod shops, etc. Try AMD, Danchuk or one of those suppliers. They used to run a bit over a $80 or so. Just have to buy the right size/width. That's a tough panel to make without a stamping press. I(custom) decided to do away with it. It could be made and I'd patch, if necessary, but takes many hours. Most slap some fiberglass over the holes and tar and feather...
Don't "flat panel" as it'll "oil can" and not be useful. Have to roll some flutes in to stiffen.
The trunk floor I got from C2C really sucked. Not even close. I decided to make it fit, but project is on hold. P or "B" used a deeper die than what's available today, and I have not seen or found any that match the P profile. Therefore, I suspect they were stamped vs rolled. Without a stamping die and large tonnage press it isn't going to happen. And how many P trunk panels will you sell? They've been out of business now 64 years and less survive each year. Just because someone wants "one" isn't a viable market.
A good parts car is a blessing. But then you run the gamut of which one do I fix up? the one with good sheet metal or the one I started with bad? Someone wanted an entire roof fro a rotted one, and if you don't realize how much work is involved is sounds good, but likely to end in a frankenstein model. ie the wrong project. Choose your poison wisely.

if u was closer, i would give u a floor pan and wheel well, i have 2 55 400s and 1 55 clipper, parts cars

It's your car, do what you want. But why another bogus "Ike staff car?" He never had such a thing. He, Omar Bradley, and some colonels had '42 160 or 180 Clipper staff cars in Europe, but that was it.

Why not keep your '47 Clipper as it is, good enough that Consumer Reports, who always got it right then and now, gave the Packard 120 or its Clipper variant their Best Buy rating in its price class every year 1938-47.

You've got a terrific car as is, like my friends' 1936-37 Cords, the "right" size, certainly more nimble than my 127" wb '47 Super Clipper dreadnaught. You're on the same smart wheelbase as the postwar Bentley Mark VI, R-R Silver Dawn, but better looking than either, same wb as the nice 1950-57 Jaguar Mark VII saloons, for which the XK engine was originally designed for.

Don't muck it up with war memorabilia.

If you want a war tribute, vote for anyone fighting for VA benefits, body and Humvee armor for "our troops," volunteer at a local VA hospital.

Or make a donation to Columbia University, Ike its president before his first term in the Oval Office.

So, which model is this a photo of? This is the look we are trying to replicate.

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I do know that Packard providey cars to the war effort as staff cars. And, telling the President of the Georgia Military Vehicle Preservation Association to "not muck it up with war memorabilia" is going to go in one ear and out the other.

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Without seeing the dash or knowing a vehicle number it is difficult to know from the exterior if 41 or 42 with 100 percent accuracy. Since it has the grill extensions I am going with it being a 42 as I don't believe the extensions were available on the 41 Clippers. Seriously doubt they would have been added after the fact to a 41 during a war but I suppose a person with enough clout could have about anything he wanted.

I seem to recall reading that before production stopped and the factory was converted the government ordered and Packard built out a very large number of Clippers and conventional body 42s which were then stored in warehouses to be allocated as needed. During the war years a few were even assigned to civilian use for high priority individuals. Also remember seeing a photo similar to the one above showing rows and rows of cars in one of several warehouses which were located in different parts of the country. Believe it also said several cars remained after the war and those were eventually sold off.

Can't remember if the article was in one of the Packard books or maybe something like Life magazine where they had several articles on how it was for civilians during the war.

I call the grill extensions "whiskers." It looks like they had Fred the cat in mind when Macauley Junior had that "brainstorm." I hate them - the whiskers, not Fred. The '41s don't have them and neither do the 6 bangers. That Ikemobile in the photo must be a '42.


FWIW, the Packard that we catch a brief glimpse of at night in Patton sure as Hell looks like one of the bathtubs to Wat.


Do your car as you see fit, because 'Murrika!!!