Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

As I mentioned previously, this is the year to get locks properly keyed and functioning smoothly. Indeed, one kind participant kindly offered to come by and help.

Those of you who or had wives know that the plan, also known as "her plan" is something only visible to you in fragments on a need to know basis....so we have thus far been unable to connect.

What I wanted to do is remove both door locks, the ignition switch and the glove box lock and get them all on the same page.

The clip on the driver's door worked as it should, and I have the handle free. That was my one victory.

On the passenger door, the segment of clip that you would grab to remove is gone. I have no idea what to do there.

I can't fing anything in the manual about removing the glove box lock, so I could not get it out.

The manual treats the ignition switch as nothing at all to remove, but provides no picture. We also had a go at removing the glove box, but chickened out. Peeking in the side, the ignition switch appears to be something slightly smaller that a can of those wretched Vienna Sausages. Where and how do you compress the mysterious invisible spring?

As always, your experience will be appreciated.

If you mean the long retainer clip for the outside handle, about the only way is to get it from the inside. Remove the inner door panel and lower window stop to drop the window past the normal bottom point a tiny bit to avoid chipping anything. You can get a long screwdriver or something similar and while it won't be a straight shot, you can get to the end to drive the retainer out from behind. If the end of the clip was already broken, will probably be rusted and a P.I.A so dose it liberally with PB blaster or similar and let it soak.

Here is a shot of the ign lock. It's held in by 2 pins that lock in tabs in the bezel. Hold the bezel against the dash in front then from behind, push the ign switch against the spring and bezel and twist slightly to the left (looking from behind) to line up the pins with the slots.
NOTE: You won't have the copper part in the setup in the second picture. That is an old picture of another little project I did making a piece to repair bezels with broken tabs.

Will have to look at the glove box lock tomorrow and refresh the memory unless someone posts that method before then.

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If I had had those pictures this morning.....images make such a difference in understanding.

I found a picture of a glove box lock on Ebay. It appears that one undoes the screw on the back which releases a retaining outer tube and the cylinder pops out. Maybe.

Interesting sidelight: my 14 year old grandson spent three hours inverted under the dash helping. We didn't get much done, but we didn't screw anything up, either. I have never seen his attention span last past five minutes; although he is polite, I've never seen him express any interest in anything I find interesting. A great bonding experience!

WARNING: The ignition switch bezel on the 55 and 56 Packards is extrmely flimsy and delicate!!! It will break very easily.

To remove the ignition switch:

Hold the bezel FIRMLY against the dash with one hand. Do not allow it to turn or push out away from the dash.

With the other hand, reach under the dash and push the ignition sw. toward the rear of the car about 1/4 inch and then twist it about 1/8 turn to release it from the bezel.

Again; the ears on the chrome besel are extremely weak, fragile and flimsy. U have been WARNED!!!!

patgreen -

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Originally, ignition and door locks were coded as a matched set to a key with a round head, and the glove box and trunk locks were coded as a different matched set to a key with an octagon (cornered) head. Convenient for valet parking.

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This is not uncommon, and Howard gives good advice. IIRC, Kev ran into same problem with his '54 sedan - might be covered in his blog. Those clips were used 51-56 and have been repro'd - but not cheap.

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That will get it out of the door, but you cannot further disassemble the lock cylnder without the matching key; leave that work to an old-timey locksmith.

Again; the ears on the chrome besel are extremely weak, fragile and flimsy. U have been WARNED!!!!

I also priced the bezel/clip..... The problem I had was that I thought there was another spring clip that had to be released, which we could neither feel nor find, Long live pot metal.

Originally, ignition and door locks were coded as a matched set to a key with a round head, and the glove box and trunk locks were coded as a different matched set to a key with an octagon (cornered) head. Convenient for valet parking.

Good point. Glove box lock is fine and it's key works. Forgot they were different. Scratch that fix.

been repro'd - but not cheap.

Particularly the beryllium copper version!

Also remember that every door uses a different door handle clip, and they are not interchangeable side to side, or front to back.