Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi All

On the 56 400, what was used between the body and the skirt
for cushioning?
What is being used now and what method of attaching to the skirt is
used.

Also when I first bought my car, it had been painted all black, yes
even the engine compartment in most places but not all. My question
is what color was the sheet metal pan covering the space between
the radiator and the grill, same a the body or black?

thanks

Many of us have used hood lace or anti squeak webbing from Restoration Specialties for the fender skirts. 1/16 is maybe a bit thicker than the original but it works. If you can find thinner that would be better. McMaster has a couple of all cotton fabric strips at thicknesses less than 1/16 about the right width but I don't know how water resistant those are. The Restoration Specialties items are not the correct width needed so you will have to buy a size you can cut down or cut two strips from.

The original was stapled on but that is difficult now unless you have the tools or if enough of the old staples can be removed and are reusable. Pop rivets and water resistant adhesive have both been used to attach the new.

The splashers would seem to be a combination of black and body color if this factory photo of an AC install is a judge. I did my 56 with the side pieces in body color and one downside is viewed headon from a distance, the light colors do show thru the grill and is not the most attractive visual. Possibly there was a change somewhere along the line to black for the side seen thru the grill.

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what color was the sheet metal pan covering the space betweenthe radiator and the grill, same a the body or black?

If you mean the upper splasher between the radiator and the grille, the one that contains the hood latch, it should be semi-gloss black regardless of car color.

OK
Thanks guys...

I thought it was black, while I was doing some sanding I did not
see any "Heather" color

The skirts I pulled all the staples.. I'll check out other site
for the fabric..

WHen I did my Caribbean, I bought the complete rubber gasket set from Kanter which included the rubber lacing for the fender skirts. I am pretty sure that all of the pieces from Steele Rubber Products and they will send you a listing of all of the rubber parts that they offer for your car....at no charge...if you give them a phone call.
I was able to salvage the original staples from several sets of skits that came with my car and picked out the best of them, cleaned and painted them and installed them with the 3m adhesive used to install the other rubber gaskets. I dry fitted them first for size then worked from the front edge applying adhesive until I found the holes where the original staples were located, punched small holes through the rubber and pushed the staples through the holes and tapped the staples tight on the back side.
It involved more work than just gluing or using pop rivets but was closer to original.
The long and short of it is that once they are installed....no one is going to see how you attached them.
I have used lots of parts from Restoration Specialties since they are good people to work with and are located a few miles from my home. I have no idea how their prices compare with Kanter( who also offer a catalog restricted to the 55-56 Packard) or Steele Rubber.
Since you are just getting started, I would suggest that you get catalogs from all three as well as Max Merritt.....and dig out phone numbers for Mike Dulinski and Tucson Packard.
All of the parts are expensive, but those folks helped me a lot.
Good luck. Just take your time and have fun.
RJR